Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair and Mr. Hayes, the ombudsman has a unique capacity to do detailed work because he has full access to the Veterans Affairs files and data and statistics. Many other people try to do an analysis of Veterans Affairs, but the Privacy Act and other legislation doesn't permit

Veterans Affairs committee  The Veterans Ombudsman has published a number of really quite thoughtful and well-researched papers over the past year about the problems in the new Veterans Charter. Recently, Mr. Parent came out with his proposal, which I suspect didn't come out by accident, saying, as Ray brou

Veterans Affairs committee  That's not a new idea. I think in 1987 or 1988 when I was in National Defence headquarters—and I'll use my common expression for it—or Fort Fumble on the Rideau, there was a green paper that was circulated within both ministries and we were asked to comment. It was being staffe

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, we don't have the time to go into the evolving new Veterans Charter. As General Dallaire said very succinctly this afternoon, it was an ongoing process, but for reasons—dare I say it here, perhaps political expedience?—the new Veterans Charter was brought forward an

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair and ladies and gentlemen, within CPVA we work very diligently at trying to recognize nationally and locally the good job that the vast majority at Veterans Affairs and the VRAB actually do. You always hear about the 10,000 widows, if you will, who get service, but it's

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Larry Gollner. The following occurred at a VRAB hearing and was reported by an experienced Legion and CPVA service officer. While we have no doubt that the conduct of this hearing was an anomaly, it was un

Veterans Affairs committee  Madam, we know that in aggregate terms 800 people are going to disappear from Veterans Affairs—550 involved in the transformation and 250 subsequently—but behind it all is a Treasury Board study, the Coulter report, which was done in 2010. We have been trying desperately to find

Veterans Affairs committee  It's certainly a concern, because wherever there's doubt, there's always concern. With the scale of the transformation and Veterans Affairs going from 4,000 to 3,200, that's a pretty dramatic change, and the veterans population is not going to change that radically in the next th

Veterans Affairs committee  It is an initiative of the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association. Lots of people throw slings, deservedly sometimes, at Veterans Affairs, but we feel that there's a host of very good people in Veterans Affairs who work hard and do a good job. Often they're at the coal face,

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, Mr. Casey, I was not part of the advisory group. When the new Veterans Charter was first passed by Parliament, a group of us were brought in to advise the minister and senior staff from veterans associations across the country. We helped draft the regulations. To be

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, I want to focus on the spirit of our association. Ours is first and foremost a veterans association that strives to support and sustain our members and all Canadian veterans. We are veterans who help other veterans, pure and simple. We work co