Veterans Affairs committee  Not necessarily. What has happened in that context.... We've actually had the meetings with, first of all, Veterans Affairs Canada, which said that it was the responsibility of DND. We subsequently met with the chief of military personnel in DND, who said it was a Veterans Affair

Veterans Affairs committee  It's a pleasure to be here today to contribute to the important work that your committee does to ensure that Canada faithfully repays the debt owed to our veterans of the Canadian Forces and the RCMP. They have served with unlimited liability, and we should repay them with fairne

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. First of all, Gary Walbourne is the director general of operations and also the deputy ombudsman. He accompanies me any place where there are going to be some hard questions.

Veterans Affairs committee  I was not aware, no, but probably I was not interested at that time. I would pay more attention now.

Veterans Affairs committee  I would say it's a high percentage. We have 5,000 people, on average, coming out of the forces every year, and 900 to 1,000 from the RCMP. I'm sure many of them would need that kind of transition. It should at least be made available. Right now it is not available.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's a very good question, Mr. Chair. We used to say in the military that the military is not a career, it's a way of life. You're surrounded by a culture of interdependency in the forces. A lot of things are provided for you, without you having to queue in line or anything li

Veterans Affairs committee  Certainly we could, depending on the situation or the case; we are there for all veterans.

Veterans Affairs committee  In fact, this is another good question, Mr. Chair. Because it has to do with access to privacy, it's out of our jurisdiction, so we would not be able to assist him. We are concerned with the access to privacy of any veteran. We certainly have put measures in place in our own or

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. Moving in the right direction, Mr. Chair, I think would be a fair comment. We have mechanisms in place, as a follow-up action to the report, to look at decisions, letters that will be produced in the next month or so. Normally we look at a six-month period. Certainly we'll

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, any improvements to the new Veterans Charter are welcome. Given the fact that it was supposed to be a living document that was on life support for five years, it was nice to see that there are finally some improvements that were made.

Veterans Affairs committee  Certainly in time for the review. I think the review is mandated for two years in the legislation. I'm not sure what the timeframe is, but we are certainly going to be prepared to produce something to have some kind of presentation to the committee for that timeframe.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, definitely.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's a very good question. Mr. Chair. There's probably a lengthy answer to that short question. This “Reasons for Decisions” report was the start of a concept to look at the whole spectrum of disability applications, from the time of the initial adjudication to the Veterans Revi

Veterans Affairs committee  That's a good question, Mr. Chair. On that particular issue, in every meeting with the minister it's certainly a subject that we talk about. We have been told they were working on it. Again, this is easily understandable, at this point in time, for the financial aspect of this p

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. It's a very good question. In fact, Mr. Chair, I've expressed that position before the office. We think to look strictly at the assumption that the population will diminish and there will be less requirement for resources is wrong, because there are other populations that