Veterans Affairs committee  I would ask the indulgence of the committee to make sure that the witnesses get that as well. Mr. May, on a point of clarification, I understand that the ability of women in the military to come forward is out there, from a theoretical sense. However, based on past history and

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. As a point of clarification, sir, the status of women committee that it got moved to doesn't apply to the military women. If you're still serving, you are not allowed to speak outside of the military. That venue might work for women, but it's not going to work for wo

Veterans Affairs committee  There are a couple of things to say. Does it happen often? I can tell you right now that female veterans across this country reached out as recently as 15 minutes before this began. They reached out to me and said please. I'm reaching out right now to every one of you members

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, sir. Thank you for the question. Many organizations have a service office. This is the second organization in which I'm working as a service officer. What happens typically is that a veteran who is having a difficult time navigating the system reaches out to a service offic

Veterans Affairs committee  There are lots of service officers out there, I can tell you. I'm not sure. I'm going to hook up with Tina later to make sure that we do have.... A service officer and an effective service are two different things. There are lots of organizations that have service officers out th

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I can tell you that, many years ago at a stakeholder summit, I was told by Deputy Minister Natynczyk and also the minister for the moment, Seamus O'Regan, that they were going to make sure that they looked into intergovernmental—so, the CRA, Health Canada, all these things—t

Veterans Affairs committee  If I may, “continuum of care” is a term that's used in the medical profession. It's critical, from inception to completion, to make sure that continuum of care happens. All of these programs you mentioned, and we've spent $84 million on these, that's great because at the initial

Veterans Affairs committee  Let me read to you the response I got from an organization that is specifically designed to deal with women in the military: “I can honestly say that 99% of women who have served have been sexually harassed or assaulted. We have proven ourselves in service and do not deserve to b

Veterans Affairs committee  I can say that, since that happened, I have been getting contacted by females who have been assaulted, raped and abused in the military. Some are still serving. They're absolutely terrified to come forward. In their words, this has said that women are second-class citizens in the

Veterans Affairs committee  Let me first say that the Veterans Affairs staff across the country are doing miracles with the system that is designed, which is very complex but really doesn't get to the heart of the matter. Do I think the government's programs are effective? I think from a percentage standpoi

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, sir. We spend vast amounts of money. We send it out, and then what I see as an advocate and a service officer is that the money, those sums of money, are put out there to the public across Canada to say, “See, we're addressing and fixing the problem. Look how much money we s

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Part of the challenge for the people who answer the phones and get the questions is having a lack of understanding of who's on the other end. Typically the advocates end up making those calls and answering some of those questions. One of the biggest chall

Veterans Affairs committee  Good afternoon to all the participants and all Canadians who will be able to watch these proceedings across our nation. Welcome to my brothers and sisters who have decided to dial in as best they can across this country—because this is about you. You have served our nation.