Veterans Affairs committee  As far as I know, it has disappeared. This is something that has been actually going on at the department since 2002. The report, Keeping the Promise, from the GAC, was really the ultimate conclusion of some very hard work. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk about the needs-ba

Veterans Affairs committee  I'd like to add that Keeping the Promise had a model, a screening tool that is in place in the Province of Quebec to determine the needs.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'd like to add something to that. If you look at the bill as it stands, basically at paragraph 5(a) it reads that the Governor in Council may make regulations “identifying insignia of cultural significance and the criteria to be applied”. In other words, you're approving a bil

Veterans Affairs committee  No, I think that's good.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think that would be very difficult, as I had pointed out, because of the number of medals. I just talked about the World War II medals and gave you some statistics. We also have some statistics for recent medals that were awarded for what we would possibly call a “modern vetera

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, I think one of the biggest challenges for the museums is that they are going to require some funding to carry out this role you are bestowing on them. This bill doesn't come with any funding, so you're asking these museums to basically do something without providing them th

Veterans Affairs committee  I would like to add something. In this case, we held consultations not only internally, but also with outside organizations. This position is shared by our colleagues from other veterans' organizations. The opinions expressed today are shared by the Army, Navy and Air Force Vet

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  I would suggest that—

Veterans Affairs committee  We at the Royal Canadian Legion and other organizations feel that this bill, and I quote from our brief, “would infringe on the rights of Canadians to own and dispose of their private property as they see fit. This is a right that should not be trampled on lightly.” It simply go

Veterans Affairs committee  We have looked into it and we suggest that you simply amend that act, since this bill contains criteria that are not very well defined; for instance, when it comes to determining what is culturally important.

Veterans Affairs committee  I might want to add a couple of things to that. I think part of the challenge with Bill C-208 was that the last clause basically said: Every person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction. So here we are. We have private right

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm having some fundamental problems. If you pass a law that's not enforceable, the law doesn't mean very much. Yet within this proposed law, you're saying here in clause 4 that every person who contravenes this law is “liable to a fine in an amount that does not exceed five time

Veterans Affairs committee  There are certainly limits, but you haven't even determined any in this bill. You state the following: The Governor in Council may make regulations (a) identifying insignia of cultural significance [...] You did not define the notion of “cultural significance.”

Veterans Affairs committee  The bill failed to do so.