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Results: 1 - 15 of 451
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
I'm sorry I won't be back too, I have to say.
I was invited to visit the base in Vancouver, and then I was invited to visit Nova Scotia as well. At the naval base in Vancouver, some of the men said to me, “Mrs. Wayne, would you come and look at where we live and how we have to live?” I said, “Certainly I will.” I have to say, Olga, that I was really shocked at that time. That was a few years ago. The report says that the CFHA is saddled with a portfolio of PMQs, most of which were built in the 1940s and 1950s. In Nova Scotia, they had gone to the private sector to raise funds--and this really broke my heart--to put a counselling centre on the site where their families lived because the children needed counselling when their dads or moms had to go away for a long period of time. I looked at the children there and in B.C., and it disturbed me greatly to think that these children were living in these kinds of accommodations.
I know Janko isn't here. I honestly believe in my heart, Olga, that 98% of the people in Canada put our military first. They don't all speak out that way. Some of us do, and some don't. But I really believe they feel strongly about our men and women in uniform. They feel very strongly that they should be the number one priority when it comes to housing, looking after them, counselling, and so on. We haven't done that over the years.
This brochure is entitled Accommodation in support of the Canadian Forces: A Vision for 2020. Is it not possible, Colonel, to have a vision for, say, 2009, so that we don't have to wait 16 years for us to turn this around? I think we have to try to step it up for them. I don't think you will ever be criticized, so help me God, by anyone. Even if I'm not here, if anybody criticizes them, you're going to hear from me one way or another. I honestly think it has to be a top priority, after I saw how they were living. You can't do this to the children, and you can't do it to the families. I was told that this is death by a thousand cuts. It's the thousand cuts in the military that have caused these things to happen.
I feel strongly that we must try to step it up, Colonel, just a little bit, and make sure that every man and woman in our military is treated with dignity. Their way of life and quality of life have to be number one, and we should make sure of it, sir.
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
I have a question. Is the base in Ottawa going to close? That's the one you went to, Jay.
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
Because of the way things have gone there, we wondered if that's something they're looking at. At our last meeting, the colonel who was here was bringing 2,000 men back from Afghanistan, but he could only replace them with 600 because he didn't have enough.
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
First and foremost, I have to say I agree with you. I noted your article in the National Post today. It stated: “I simply can't sit back and watch Veterans Affairs abuse veterans any longer. It's time for you to treat us with the respect and dignity we deserve.” It talks about how your clothes were sprayed, your beds were sprayed, and your sleeping kit was sprayed. I'm horrified to think this was happening to you, Mr. Cotter, and yet we have not done anything to assist you.
Having spoken with you about all the problems you have had, I really am horrified to think there are so many more. How many Korean war vets do you think we have out there now, Mr. Cotter?
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
I feel very strongly that our committee, Mr. Chairman, should be looking into this for them. In British Columbia, as you know, there are those who were subjected in Suffield to the mustard gas, and we have finally been able to resolve that. We owe it to these people to look after them as well.
In Australia it took seven years before they completed their study. Did they get the proper recognition, proper pensions, and everything after that length of time?
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
Is that right?
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
Thank you very much.
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
I think we should also have the national president of the Korea Veterans Association, as well as Cliff Chadderton.
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
Thank you very much.
I personally want to thank you. I think you do an excellent job, you really and truly do. You keep the politics out of it, and that's the way it should be. We've monitored that for some time.
The same thing has to apply when it comes to the veterans. I'm sure if you were the ombudsman for the veterans, all of those widows, not just the ones dating back to 1990, would receive the VIP program. I had a call from one widow whose husband died in August 1990. He was a veteran. She didn't get the VIP program, but a lady across the street from her, whose husband died in September 1990, did get the VIP program. The widow who called me was crying when she called.
I think it's very important when it comes to the veterans that we have an opportunity to have someone there who will not play politics with them but who will do what's right for them. They're all now becoming very senior. Most of them are not that well, they certainly are not, and we need to have a voice for them.
I'm wondering, do you have enough time, do you think, or are you too busy to take on another burden like this?
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
That's right.
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
I have to say that Mr. Tanner was in touch with me many times from B.C. with regard to the mustard gas situation. In fact, I got another fax from him again today, God love him. But he certainly sang your praises and said how much you helped him.
I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, that I fully agree that we need to have...however we work it out, whether it's an inspector general or someone underneath the ombudsman who can work on this, under his guidance and so on, or however he feels is the best way to go. I think that is something we should definitely look at and do as quickly as we can.
Thank you very much.
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
I just want to ask, because I stated I'm not running again in the next election, does that mean I can't go to Normandy? Is that accurate?
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
I had a call today from a veteran in P.E.I., and I'll ask my question if I get an opportunity here, because it has to be addressed by our presenters.
An hon. member:Mr. Chair, I've heard you tell Elsie where to go before.
Some hon. members:Oh, oh!
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
I had a call today just before question period from a veteran in P.E.I.
You will recall, Verna and Pat, that I was over in Dieppe, France. I have had a couple of trips with the veterans.
Now, this veteran was very concerned about the veterans who were going because of their having to be two to a room in the hotel. He was very upset about that. He said some may like two to a room, but not everybody likes that; it doesn't work out well. He asked me, are they looking after us this time? When I asked him what he meant, he said, well, as you'll recall, we were in a hotel that was so hot.... And I do remember that. It was Mr. Mifflin at the time. It was a hotel downtown. The veteran said, we didn't have any air conditioning, and when they put us outside, they sat us in the sun, but all the officials and everybody had covers over where they were seated, so the sun wasn't at them.
Now, Verna, I don't know if you remember, but we had a gentleman, when I was over there, who collapsed. All the time I was there, I wheeled him in the wheelchair. They called his wife to bring her over, but she had to pay her way over. When she got there, they didn't allow her to stay in the same hotel as that veteran. And this veteran must have been with us, because he remembers that.
So these are things that we have to make sure are corrected.
I remember also that the cadets came to me and asked me if I could get them an iron and an ironing board. I went down to the desk and they gave me an iron. The iron was like the one my great-grandmother had. I heated it on the stove and took the whole rear end out of my dress.
Remember, Verna? It took the whole end out of my dress. I kept that dress.
Finally I got in touch with Mr. Tobin, and he went down and got a proper iron. But you see, that was in the other hotel.
So we have to make sure the veterans are put in a hotel that is stated as number one, where they have air conditioning, where they do have an iron and an ironing board for the cadets and everything else. And when they go out there, if they're going to sit on the beach, we have to make sure that they do have some kind of seating arrangement whereby they're not going to be in the sun.
That's all I'm asking, Verna.
View Elsie Wayne Profile
CPC (NB)
Okay.
I remember when I was there, Mr. Chair, we went up into the French cemetery to have a service that night. I was wheeling that gentleman, that veteran who had collapsed, and all of a sudden this lady came over and said, “Oh, darling, there you are; oh, my God.” I thought, oh, we're in real trouble now; he's married back home in Ontario, and he has a woman up here. What am I going to do? But it was his wife, who'd flown over there.
Thank you, Verna.
I have to go to another meeting, Mr. Chair.
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