Government Operations committee  —but I think that's the way to go.

Government Operations committee  No. I have never even heard of it. I released, my second time, in 2012, so most of this is brand new. The thing that I will say is, again, bet on us. Bet on every single one of us, because odds are you're going to come up as a winner. Whoever the hiring manager is or whoever the

Government Operations committee  All right. Fair enough. I think one thing you did was to sort touch on the fact that almost all of those employment equity groups—

Government Operations committee  Four are protected right now. We're not. I'll go to the meat of it and say, yes, that would be a fantastic idea for veterans to have a cut. The problem is, take a look at the four of us here. We're almost the demographic of the Canadian Armed Forces. We're four white males and I

Government Operations committee  If you guys don't mind, I'll jump on this because I prepared a little bit for it. When the EEA was implemented, it was because they recognized that certain groups were being marginalized and excluded from public life, from commercial life. That was way back when. That was women

Government Operations committee  Do you mean the guy who left and didn't shake any of our hands or want to know who we were? I'm sorry, but that answers it right there. We're thrown to the wolves. We have degrees, diplomas, professional accreditations. Quite frankly, trying to get us into the civil service, it

Government Operations committee  Based on my experience with the situation, the reason was that they didn't want to hire me. It was an excuse that they found for not hiring me. The reason wasn't that a crisis doesn't mean an emergency or an emergency doesn't mean a crisis. The words are synonyms. It was just an

Government Operations committee  I'd say that the same barriers exist everywhere. It's the same mentality from department to department. Human resources are the issue in the various departments.

Government Operations committee  I did the research. I was the one who told the public servants about the restrictions or requirements of the legislation at the start of the process, in 2012, 2013 or 2014. I was more of an expert than they were.

Government Operations committee  What we're looking at is that there is no benefit for hiring veterans. We're talking about getting veterans into the civil service, where our pensions can be topped up, for those of us who have them. For those of us who don't, we're a little closer. We're talking about getting us

Government Operations committee  I'm their biggest cheerleader, sir.

Government Operations committee  For the record my name is Robert Thomas Hicks. I have a degree, a diploma, a secret clearance. I'm somewhat bilingual, but in any case, I can manage. I am currently studying to obtain both my PMP and CMP. I've served Canada twice. I hold the Queen's commission, and almost 20