Evidence of meeting #43 for Veterans Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was board.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Greg Kerr
We'll learn more from Mr. Stoffer. Thank you very much.
We'll go to Ms. Adams for five minutes.
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Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Thank you very much, gentlemen, for joining us today.
I'd like to build on some of the remarks you made regarding the appeals process. I'd like first to confirm that the Veterans Review and Appeal Board is an arm's-length agency, separate from the minister and separate from government.
3:45 p.m.
Director, Disability Programs and Income Support, Department of Veterans Affairs
That's correct. It's at arm's length from the department.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
When it makes decisions, it makes those decisions independent of Veterans Affairs, the minister, or our government. Is that correct?
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Director, Disability Programs and Income Support, Department of Veterans Affairs
That's correct.
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Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Okay.
Can you quickly walk us through what happens when a veteran contacts the department with a complaint about his or her benefits?
3:45 p.m.
Director, Disability Programs and Income Support, Department of Veterans Affairs
A veteran can contact the department about a complaint and the veteran will be informed of his or her rights. The veteran is informed when the decision is made. As I said in my comments, the veteran will receive a letter in writing. It will talk about the reasons for the decision. It will also talk about what recourse the veteran has.
The veteran can contact the department or go to the Bureau of Pensions Advocates, which will represent the veteran even at the first level. They will give the veteran advice, help him or her with the decision, and provide additional material regarding the options the veteran has, such as going directly to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board or filing a request with the department for a review. Veterans have a few options.
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Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Mr. Christopher, you mentioned legal support that's available for veterans. Are you aware of any other country that provides that type of legal support?
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Director, Disability Programs and Income Support, Department of Veterans Affairs
I'm not personally aware of that, no.
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Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Mr. Butler, are you aware of any other country that provides legal support?
3:50 p.m.
Director General, Policy Division, Department of Veterans Affairs
No, I am not. To our knowledge, Canada is unique in this respect, in providing free legal services to veterans who are seeking redress before an administrative body dealing with their issues.
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Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
The Veterans Affairs ministry will render a decision. The veteran can then either appeal internally or go to the independent body. If they choose to go to the independent, arm's-length body, they would have their legal services paid for by the taxpayer.
October 1st, 2012 / 3:50 p.m.
Director General, Policy Division, Department of Veterans Affairs
If they choose to do that, that's absolutely right. Yes.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Thank you.
I'm going to ask this question of VRAB when they come forward in the second hour, but I was hoping to get your thoughts on this item also. How many VRAB decisions are currently being sent to the Federal Court for judicial review?
The reason I ask is that I've heard from the Veterans Ombudsman that 60% of the cases reviewed at the Federal Court are overturned, but what's the actual number of cases that are referred to Federal Court?
3:50 p.m.
Director General, Policy Division, Department of Veterans Affairs
I'll make a stab at that, Ms. Adams.
Other than those statistics quoted in the ombudsman's report, we would not track cases necessarily going to the Federal Court, because they are not sent to the Federal Court; these are cases of veterans who are unhappy with the decision of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board making a decision, based on advice that they may receive or otherwise, to seek judicial review.
It's a process that is open to Canadians who are unhappy with decisions of administrative bodies regulated by the federal government. There is a process before the Federal Court, but they are not sent there as such. It's strictly an option.
The board may have more detail. They may track them. The department doesn't, necessarily, so I could not give you a precise number.
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Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Can you tell me how many decisions are rendered each year by Veterans Affairs?
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Director General, Policy Division, Department of Veterans Affairs
Yes, we can.
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Director, Disability Programs and Income Support, Department of Veterans Affairs
Yes, I can tell you that.
For first applications, I would say that there are about 20,000 per year, on average, and there were around 18,000 in 2011-12.
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Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
You say there are 20,000. You mentioned earlier that your approval rate is some 73%.
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Director, Disability Programs and Income Support, Department of Veterans Affairs
That's correct.
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Conservative
3:50 p.m.
Director, Disability Programs and Income Support, Department of Veterans Affairs
That's correct.
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Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Okay.
You also indicated earlier on that the decision is very clearly communicated to the veteran, so 73% of those 20,000 are approved, and for those that are not approved, the veteran will receive a letter indicating why the decision was made not to approve benefits and the options available to that person.
You've introduced a new plain language initiative. Could you perhaps speak to that very briefly for me?
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Director, Disability Programs and Income Support, Department of Veterans Affairs
Sure. We've looked at our higher-use letters and we're going through those. We have people who have experience in developing plain language who take out some of the more bureaucratic language to make them easier to understand. We now have 15 letters that we've created or changed.
We've also decommissioned a number of letters that are no longer being used or may be duplicates or a little more confusing. There are about 250 that we decommissioned, so—
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Eve Adams Conservative Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
The idea behind this is to make it very clear and very simple and straightforward for the veteran to understand why the benefit was not being offered and how they might go about providing additional information—