Veterans Affairs committee  There is a lot that can be done in addition to providing income support. They would get full treatment under the public service health plan. Their kids would get treatment coverage. We could provide counselling to the spouse and to the children. Under the VIP we can provide all m

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, yes and no. The yes is that they are residents of the province and have insured care, as do the veterans in Colonel Belcher.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, if the care is needed for the pension disability, it's paid for by the federal government.

Veterans Affairs committee  If it's not, it's part of the insurance system that a person has as a resident of a province.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, some of what they are recommending requires authority of resource, so that would be a new change, such as this catastrophic injury payment that they have raised with us. That's a decision to be made by politicians when the evidence is put in front of them. The others are

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, you did look at practices and principles in an earlier version of this in this committee. That was helpful, and that's what we've done. To look at the new Veterans Charter equivalent for the U.K. and New Zealand and France and Italy—those people who serve in, for instance,

Veterans Affairs committee  There are some major themes in there. We've talked about early intervention. We have, on the new veterans charter advisory committee, a chap named Wolfgang Zimmermann, president and CEO of the National Institute of Disability Management and Research. He's a worldwide expert on re

Veterans Affairs committee  The only thing I would add is that what you as politicians focus on is going to be very important. It adds evidence. If, for instance, findings of this group on notion A, B, and C were the same as the veterans organizations on A, B, and C—the special needs advisory group, the new

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm talking from memory here, but one major one was what happens to individuals who have disabilities that are so severe, maybe no table of disabilities can compensate for them? Their position there is that perhaps there is some merit in considering something like a catastrophic

Veterans Affairs committee  For my part, we're kind of stumped on that one. We're not finding the same example in the material we have that you have in the material in front of you. Maybe to generalize here, what can happen.... There may be an error in the French-language version. In one case, there may b

Veterans Affairs committee  I can't really comment, as you know, on the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. I understand that there can be frustrations with the pension system. That's one of the reasons you don't have to have a pension or an award in your hand to get access to the new Veterans Charter. If an

Veterans Affairs committee  I think one needs to remember that when there's a post-traumatic stress disorder or an operational stress injury involved, if you want to set people up for failure, as the rehab specialist will tell you, put them in vocational rehab before they're ready. They'll be worse off than

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. You've raised a really important point. As was mentioned earlier, not all the psychological illnesses conveniently arrive at our door when individuals leave the military, or even when they get back. They're late onset. Sometimes situations arise that no one can control. So

Veterans Affairs committee  When the soldier has died in service or as a result of service, the assisting officer from National Defence would be the first one there, as you would expect. But the individual, when they're ready.... And you don't want to rush on the bereavement process, but they need to know t

Veterans Affairs committee  The children can get counselling and support through the health services provision under the Public Service Health Care Plan, and that's available to the survivors as well.