Blake Richards

I want to interrupt you for a second, because it's not just about some things that were expressed in the Toronto Star. These are things we've been hearing from veterans for the last few years. I'm sure you've heard them as well. It's great to say you're going to follow up on these things we read in the Toronto Star, but we've been hearing these things for a few years, and nothing seems to be [more]

On that note, I want to give you an opportunity to speak to how much of a difference this would make. It's about taking away some of that need to deal with a heartless bureaucracy when you've experienced what you experienced. It's about having the benefit of some time on bereavement leave so you have time for the grief, rather than facing a financial decision of having to go back to work long [more]

Rob and Rachel, do you want to add to it as well?

Thank you to each of you. Some of you I know but haven't seen in a while, and some of you I'm just meeting for the first time. In all cases, I know it's not easy to share your personal experiences like this. I want to thank you all for your courage in doing that and the extra purpose you give to the lives of your children by helping them, through your voices, to make a difference in the way that [more]

I appreciate that, but I don't think it's just confusion. There seems to be.... We hear all the time that their benefits are being threatened, and things like that. There's obviously an issue there. Is that something that's considered acceptable under this contract? What can you do to put a stop to that?

Thank you to both of you—particularly you, Briana—for the courage it must have taken to share that with this room. I'm sure it's not the first time you've shared it with a room like this one, but I just want to commend you for the courage it must have taken. Your son was Marlow. Hearing you speak about Marlow, it's clear how much love he had to have felt in that short period of time you had with [more]

Go ahead, Madame Lapointe Tremblay.

There seem to be two versions of the story here. We're hearing today that everything is wonderful, that it's all great, that things are going great and all these improvements are happening. Then there's the story we hear from veterans. Even some of the veterans in the room with us today expressed, during the break, how frustrating it is to listen to this today, because it's not the reality [more]

In 2023, this committee released a report on the implementation of the PCVRS contract. There were several recommendations made in that report, essentially none of which were acted upon. I would suggest that this is at the heart of how this government is failing veterans. There's a failure to listen to and act upon concerns being heard from veterans and those who serve them. I'd like to go [more]

It's interesting, because that's not the story we heard from them.

Okay. Well, I can tell you that there seems to be a lot of confusion around this and there seems to be a lot of concern around this. I would suggest to both organizations here today that you need to do better in this regard. Let me turn to the second recommendation of that report. It was essentially indicating to the government that they need to maintain regular communication with the Union of [more]