Veterans Affairs committee  I'll be brief. Thank you, Deputy. Mr. Chair, we finally got the information. As the deputy said, there was delay due to the pandemic. We're compiling that information, and we will be developing recommendations for the minister on how to proceed with a policy.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. It is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging that the land from which Paul and I are talking to you is the traditional and unceded territory of the Abegweit Mi'kmaq first na

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, that is correct. That is the commemorative partnership program. It's community-based. There are smaller, community programs for initiatives, and some larger initiatives. It varies from year to year, but that's about it.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct. I don't have the math in front of me, but yes, that sounds like a proper average.

Veterans Affairs committee  I do. Every year, the program is heavily subscribed. The recipients are very eager and keen to get that funding, and provide the support. This year was a bit different in that we had to shift dramatically, because some of the events we supported were in-person events, so that ch

Veterans Affairs committee  The department is certainly working on a strategy to make sure we are commemorating the modern veterans. We've shifted, over the past several years, from a more traditional, single large conflict type of commemoration, where you had a fairly homogenous group of veterans who serve

Veterans Affairs committee  What I would say to that is, yes, we are going to commemorate and we do commemorate those. One suicide is obviously too many. The department has any number of programs to try to make sure that number is as small as it possibly can be and hopefully zero. That being said, if someon

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. The consultation process has started. I will say that in developing the strategy we worked very closely with the commemoration advisory group and then began to consult and share some of the strategy. We're going to be going out more widely. Of course, the pandemic put a bit

Veterans Affairs committee  Do you want to take that, Paul?

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, there are a number of things. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, there's been a shift to the point where 94% of the veterans we serve are considered to be modern veterans. I don't like the name, but it's the one we're using right now. Post Korea would be another way

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, we've done a number of things and we've learned a number of lessons. When we realized that the ceremony for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands was not going to happen, we had to immediately shift gears. I have to say that it tested the resilienc

Veterans Affairs committee  I can confirm that the program does provide support for overseas memorial sites. That was the case with the Juno Beach Centre. However, in the specific situation you just mentioned, I don't know all the details. I don't know whether an application has been submitted. I could ask

Veterans Affairs committee  Are you talking about the support for the Juno Beach Centre?

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, that's right. The conditions have changed, because some small communities, especially indigenous communities, cannot afford to pay for an event or a monument. They have to share the costs. For these reasons, changes have been made. In some cases, the department will cover

Veterans Affairs committee  I would like to start by saying that we get a lot of requests in a financial year. A lot of organizations have built monuments or sites with private sector donations but have run out of funds because of the pandemic or other reasons. So they apply to the department for more fundi