Veterans Affairs committee  I'd like to explain why they do that. Most of the women, and not all of them but a large percentage of those who are in the Canadian Forces, tend to do administrative or personnel, which I think is most of us who are here, other than the engineer across from me—and a lot of them are in caring-type positions, like in the medical field.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm not sure that's the case with Kristin. Perhaps she could expand upon that, but a lot of it is about controlling their time and having flexibility. For a lot of us, we have families we have to take care of. In my case, I have a special needs child, so I do need flexibility. I have to be able to take care of him when required and be able to get him to the hospital or whatever else we have to do.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think it's an interesting suggestion. I think they'd have to look at the demographics and look at it. Yes, if you do have someone who is severely disabled, then why couldn't the spouse pick up on that if the veteran can't do that because the spouse will have to provide for the family if the veteran is disabled to such an extent that they can't?

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't have the specific number for the business program that you mentioned, but I know that we have dealt with approximately 60 female veterans. I don't have the breakdown of the numbers.

Veterans Affairs committee  As I mentioned before, we do have the MVP team that is specifically there to attract veterans of all types, males and females. One thing that we find with veterans, which might go back to one of the questions you mentioned earlier, is the issue of family. To help out family members....

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Do you mean specifically in the area of business?

Veterans Affairs committee  That is one thing that we have found at Willis where I am working. That is what women want. They're not interested in cyber, which a lot of people are focused on, but the female veterans do want business. That's consistent with what everyone else here has said.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to speak today. My name is Patricia Henry. I served in the Canadian Armed Forces for over 37 years and retired as a colonel in 2019. Since my retirement, I've had the opportunity to go back to school and access programs from Veterans Affairs Canada, or VAC—in particular the VAC education and training benefit.