Veterans Affairs committee  No.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I mingled. At the time we got our treaty status back, in the nineties, that's when my grandmother was quite ill up in Churchill. As I recall, or from what my mom said, the hospital was saying, “Well, your grandmother obviously has to be a treaty Indian. Where is her card?” I

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, I didn't see any advantage. I was so immersed in the military culture. I was certainly aware that the ancestry was native, that's for sure. I grew up with bannock and tea. I thought every family grew up with bannock and tea. My mom was like, “If you don't want it, that's

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, the discussion with the Legion is very interesting. What was pointed out to me, it seems people who live on the street especially, because they have a military background, have their own clique or culture of how they help each other and stuff like that. I had also done some

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, it's a volunteer position.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm still on that uphill learning curve, that's for sure. The main reason the Aboriginal Veterans Society of Alberta...has been the bold eagle program, but my vision is we need to reach out more to the veterans. There are a lot of younger aboriginal veterans out there. We also ha

Veterans Affairs committee  From what I've seen, the lingering effects of colonialism are still quite evident today. I don't have a ready answer. We just try to reach out to these guys and channel them into certain areas where they can get some help. I know the first time I went on a reserve—I've been on a

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't find that the case with Veterans Affairs here in Canada.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's very difficult dealing with a civilian who, as we say in the army, “never walked in our boots”.

Veterans Affairs committee  In my opinion, it would definitely help. I have a hard time connecting sometimes within the different indigenous groups. I feel like sometimes I'm caught between two worlds, really. I'll give you an example. I was invited to the elders group for the World Indigenous Games last ye

Veterans Affairs committee  That's something I'm trying to get a hold of. I was talking with the people down on Boyle Street, just telling them that an aboriginal veteran showed up and that this might let them know it's okay to access some benefits. To be honest, I really don't know.

Veterans Affairs committee  In my time, no, definitely not. It certainly wasn't consistent. When you release from the service, the clerk gives you a questionnaire. In fact, my workplace was so poisonous that the medical officer and the psychologist had to pull me out and put me to work as a driver at the ba

Veterans Affairs committee  Because I was diagnosed with PTSD, some things I had seen overseas were having an impact on my work performance. My marriage was suffering and I ended up going to see a psychologist; and it took him probably six months before he'd say, yes, I had all the classic symptoms of PTSD.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think so, yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  I remember another incident where, actually, I was in another unit and of course we say we don't have racism, that everybody is the same and that, but this was before I got my status back. It was on an exercise and we were doing a night navigation march. A member in our platoon,