Veterans Affairs committee  I should add something, though, to clarify. Because SISIP runs the vocational rehabilitation programs within the forces, that is seen as a constraint, because they have one approach, and then VAC needs to have the continuity. That's been a big issue in terms of the lack of integration and consistency between the two.

Veterans Affairs committee  Can I add a quick point to this issue of accompaniment? There's also a major problem with the kinds of rehabilitation services across Canada. Unlike Australia, we don't have a federal rehabilitation system that has a quality control mechanism. It's all provincial. As somebody who's worked and returned to work in rehabilitation for years--for all my clinical practice I've worked in the U.K., Australia, and here--I can tell you that there is a huge variability.

Veterans Affairs committee  In terms of the programs, I think we're talking more about the economic issues than anything else. We're not talking about other programs per se.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.

Veterans Affairs committee  We recognized early on that RCMP veterans are veterans. They are looked after to a large degree by the Department of Veterans Affairs, although there are some significant differences. So while we didn't articulate that, we were including them in that grouping.

Veterans Affairs committee  We hear you, and Don is actually—

Veterans Affairs committee  Is it possible to have Dr. Loisel just make a quick comment? He wanted to respond to Madam Sgro.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's an important question, and it's one that Patrick and I are particularly concerned about. Having considered “return to work“, we became interested in communication with the employer. This came up in the meeting, and I think Patrick will add to what I'm going to say. But we didn't actually spend the amount of time that it would take to discuss how this could happen.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm going to ask Joe to respond to that.

Veterans Affairs committee  Our particular committee obviously has the three working committees under it. That has functioned independently, to some degree, although obviously with the discussions having Veterans Affairs staff present, there's a lot of informal communication as we discuss it, but there has been no separate group struck.

Veterans Affairs committee  Don wanted to add something quickly, if he may.

Veterans Affairs committee  Definitely. I would make a comment and then the general will follow up. The issue of financial literacy--I really like the term--is critical. I think quite frankly in the past, and still it's currently happening, there was a tendancy to think, “Well, here are the benefits for you; you should embrace them, and that's great”, without really spending enough time helping individuals to understand what this means.

Veterans Affairs committee  No. Basically, no. That would be my very short answer, because we really haven't. There was a very open and honest discussion at the very beginning, with Darragh Mogan present. We have it, I'm sure, in our record of proceedings somewhere, but he said very clearly “Make this report as honest as you want to make it, because we need to hear from an independent group”.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll make a comment first, and probably my colleagues will want to add something too. Certainly in terms of caregiving, when the new Veterans Charter was written it was intended to cover some of those gaps that were present in the old system. Again, Don makes the quip many times, and I'm going to share it because I think it does illustrate the culture, which is if we wanted you to have a wife we would have issued you one.

Veterans Affairs committee  Actually, I was asked a similar question by General Dallaire at the Senate when I appeared a couple of weeks ago. We were set up as an advisory committee to advise the department. Having sat on VAC-CFAC, I had an understanding of what that meant. We had as our framework some very brief goals.