Canadian Heritage committee  Remembrance Day? I would note that...I think her name's Wilma McNeill. She reached out to me a couple of years ago on the provincial level. It hasn't been a high priority because your government sets the priorities for us and with the level of discord the veterans are confronting

Canadian Heritage committee  To answer your question—

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. First of all, for my part, there were no ambiguities on what this bill was bringing forward. I never thought the statutory conversation would be happening here, quite frankly, because it was clear to me what this bill was about when Mr. Harris brought it forward, just

Canadian Heritage committee  We don't field members. We're a director-based organization on purpose. I do not believe in charging disabled and wounded veterans or their families a membership fee for services that I feel are a duty. We have three directors. We're dedicated to effecting legislative change on a

Canadian Heritage committee  We're very active.

Canadian Heritage committee  Sure. I don't have to give it to you in writing. I'm consulting almost every day. I spoke to four veterans this morning. Two of them are visiting here today. We are very active on Facebook and social networking and all that, but it's the personal interaction that I engage in, whe

Canadian Heritage committee  No, the point is that we're here for a reason. You have an obligation at the federal level. You can fulfill that obligation quite easily without jeopardizing statutes or laws or anything. You can raise that national level. On a secondary level, that's a provincial statutory issue

Canadian Heritage committee  At a parliamentary level, no, there's not. This is about you. This is about Parliament, the 308 parliamentarians sitting in the House of Commons. This is about your fulfilling your obligation to those who have done their duty for you. We talked about this and that and small busi

Canadian Heritage committee  It's not really my place, but I do. I think you're missing a valiant opportunity here at a Legion level to embrace the spirit of the nation, to stand forth. If I were Dominion president and you passed this bill, the first thing I would do is send in a letter to all my branch pres

Canadian Heritage committee  We speak to respect again. I hate bringing up that word.

Canadian Heritage committee  Let's break it down again. What we are doing here is important, not in the sense of a statutory—

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely, and I believe that there will come a time in this nation when all provinces will embrace the concept of the national holiday for it and it will be statutory at that level. But I understand, and you must understand, that what we're doing today, while it may not have th

Canadian Heritage committee  I think the spirit is alive and well, and that after 12 years of vicious combat in Afghanistan and 158 trips down the Highway of Heroes, that spirit is very strong. I say “honour the living”, as you know, and I mentioned that when we take our poppies off we've fulfilled our obl

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, my name is Michael Blais. I am a disabled veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces. I'm the president and founder of the Canadian Veterans Advocacy. I would like to thank you for inviting me to committee today to speak to this issue regarding the Holidays

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't think that's any of your business.