Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, it's good to see you, and some of you again. Thanks for the work you are doing. Thanks for the invitation, actually. I think just being here with Phil and Cheryl has made my day. I'm going to take advantage of all of Cheryl's work and continue to

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm here representing the experiences of Soldiers Helping Soldiers as it relates to this phenomenon, not to speak entirely on behalf of all the experiences of those in it. For those who have not heard of or met Soldiers Helping Soldiers before, here is a very brief who we are and

Veterans Affairs committee  What we're witnessing is that identification is a challenge for the homeless, period.

Veterans Affairs committee  Identifying someone who is homeless as a veteran is another challenge. Who you are, having an address, and whether you served, are sometimes for some people elusive, and they can't answer them.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Going back to the community base—

Veterans Affairs committee  Part of the procedure for admissions at emergency or otherwise is to ask the question, establish the contact, and have a relationship which pre-exists finding a person. Go back to the ecosystem of folks who provide services to the homeless, including health, and include them in t

Veterans Affairs committee  Number one, citizen identification is a problem if you don't have an address. The veteran's status and affirmation is a challenge. One of the services we provide is to find people's service records so we can help them establish their military identity, while at the same time wo

Veterans Affairs committee  I can only speak to the Ottawa experience, because we're not in all those other population centres yet. It's completely anecdotal, but my read of this as it relates to those who find themselves homeless is that they need the full inventory of options to get off the street. That i

Veterans Affairs committee  Because we're working with those who provide those services, they have the information. We don't, so I'm really not competent to speak on that.

Veterans Affairs committee  The first thing is that if you're looking specifically for homeless veterans, you have to know who's already engaging with them. Civil society has an incredible number of organizations and volunteers. Here in Ottawa, for example, you have the Shepherds, the Mission, the Salvation

Veterans Affairs committee  Anecdotally, scientifically, rhetorically, every population centre where homelessness exists, you'll find veterans amongst them. To get back to the size issue, there's no single authoritative source of measurement on the quantity of homelessness other than the fact that it exists

Veterans Affairs committee  All ranks.

Veterans Affairs committee  Veterans who find themself homeless include people who wore a uniform for six months. The military experience wasn't the dominant part of their life experience, but because they wore a uniform for six months, they're a veteran. You can just imagine any citizen who finds himself o

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Chair. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the invitation to participate in your deliberations. I'd like to thank you for the work you're doing to shine a light on all aspects of transition. Through you, I'd also like to thank those who have testified before, inclu