Thank you, Mr. Chair.
When I left the Canadian Armed Forces, I had no other choice. I was released on medical grounds under paragraph 3(b).
Those who leave the forces are left to their own devices. When we're in the forces, we're well looked after, but when we leave, we don't know what to do or where to turn. We have problems, but we don't know who to turn to. When I submitted my first applications, after I got out of the forces, I was lucky because my wife knew someone who worked at Veterans Affairs Canada.
This person was able to help me by telling me what forms I had to fill out. Of course, I had to wait two years to get answers to these applications. I had problems with my lower back, middle back, neck, right hip and both knees. It took two years before I got answers to my first applications.
Now I also help people who have left the forces and have problems. When I see that they have problems, I ask them if they have applied to Veterans Affairs Canada, and often they tell me that they haven't.
So I help them fill out the application forms, because now I understand a little bit better how it works. Those who apply now get answers faster than I did. The wait times are shorter now than they were five years ago when I left the forces, but there is certainly room for improvement. Let me explain. When people leave the forces, their medical records are sent to the archives in Ottawa, but they are not sent to Veterans Affairs Canada. So when we go to Veterans Affairs Canada, they don't know us, they don't know who we are. If they had our medical file in hand, they could find out about our problems more quickly.
I suffer from diabetes and sleep apnea, two conditions for which I have to submit applications. The army paid for me to have a CPAP device and was providing me with diabetes medication. Now I have to submit an application to show that it is really the army's responsibility to pay for it and I find that incomprehensible.
These are the problems we experience.