Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 17th, 2012

[Janice Burke]

Currently we're very committed to multi-channel service and we've been providing service to veterans via the telephone, via walking into offices to obtain the information, through email, and through written communication, and this is simply another channel. Having said that, again it goes back to the fact that we're always going to be very cognizant of the needs of our veterans and their families. As their needs change, so may the policies and the services, but it is guided by what the veterans say they require.

This benefits browser is an example of basically building something in response to what our veterans and our stakeholders have said: “Your website is too complicated. I can't seem to understand what programs and benefits might apply to me.” That was because they had to go to various spots on the website. Today, this week, they now have one area they can go to and obtain the information that's relevant to them, and also obtain the policies that are relevant to any of the decision-making around their eligibility.

All I can say is that at Veterans Affairs Canada, we truly are committed to ensuring that we understand the needs and that we continue to meet them.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

I do appreciate that. My staff talk with your staff, and with the staff at EI and Service Canada, every day. I appreciate what you're dealing with and your commitment to providing these services, but my point, on behalf of veterans, is that it's becoming increasingly difficult to get a human voice, to get a response, and to get guidance.

This is a tool, but my concern.... I'll be watching, certainly, that this is not the thin edge of the wedge in Veterans Affairs of trying to funnel people in a direction that doesn't provide them with the kind of service they deserve.

[Janice Burke]

No, exactly. Perhaps I could add as well that not only have we improved the online component, but our colleagues here previously were talking about cutting red tape. I believe at our call centres, for example, we're now down to waiting two minutes to receive a live voice, so we are making improvements in all of the channels, not simply the online component.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to our last questioner of the day.

Go ahead, Ms. Adams, please.

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

I know this isn't your specialty or your focus, but perhaps we could reassure members of this committee that veterans can continue to receive home visits, that they can continue to visit their caseworker for further information, that the human-to-human contact will continue just as it has, that veterans can now go to any Service Canada outlet and receive information and access to information, and that this dramatically increases the number of points of access for our veterans.

[Janice Burke]

Yes, that's absolutely the case.

I believe home visits are unique to Veterans Affairs Canada. Our case managers go out and visit veterans and their families. They do assessments. They work with veterans. They provide information through that kind of face-to-face interaction. In terms of access to in-person service, veterans will now be able to access and obtain information on programs at more than 600 sites across the country.

If anything, then, in terms of getting more information out to our veterans, when I think about where we were two years ago, we have certainly increased our reach to veterans, including veterans in rural communities. We're working more with community organizations to provide information on programs and services.

In addition to that, we're working very closely with service providers, the health professionals who are actually seeing our veterans. They are becoming much more aware of the benefits and services that Veterans Affairs Canada provides and can guide veterans to those services.

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

The idea behind the browser is to provide as much information as possible for veterans, and they don't necessarily need to go through the question-and-answer portion. They could simply put in a keyword. They could put “disability” into a keyword search—I'm sure everyone here is familiar with Google or a keyword search—and every relevant result would pop up for them. Then they could explore what benefits might be available to them. That's what we were hearing.

We're also reviewing the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. We heard as part of the testimony at this committee that when veterans are more aware of the types of benefits out there, they avail themselves of those benefits more frequently, so I would imagine....

Perhaps I'll put this question to you: do you imagine there will be a greater uptake of benefits now that veterans can go online and do additional searches to find out what types of benefits might exist?

[Sheri Ostridge]

That's definitely an important part of our work. Our objective, even under the communications policy of the government, is accessibility and transparency as part of it. If Canadians don't know about the services, how can they have uptake?

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

This is exactly it. Certainly our Conservative government wants to make sure that veterans are receiving every service they are eligible for.

I'd like to ask you a quick question about the mobile application. I went online using my BlackBerry while you were speaking. Could you tell me a little bit about the types of services from the benefits browser that are available through the mobile application?

[Sheri Ostridge]

Absolutely.

It speaks to what the future will bring, as who would have thought, even five or six years ago, that we would have a mobile app and it would have multiple platforms of use?

Many of our veteran clients are of an age that they are savvy about technology. We've talked a lot today about those veterans who don't access it, but there are thousands of veterans who are actually telling us that they want mobile apps. They've been asking for email. They've been asking for things such as My VAC Account, so it's in response to that.

As for the mobile app and what we've shown you today, the full functionality that you've seen is available on smart phones and on multiple platforms. We're really thrilled that we were able to do that. We also have a mobile app for commemoration and for Veterans' Week. That's a really exciting part. We've had very high uptake on that.

We also have a connection so that you can go in through a mobile app and access where offices are or where events for Veterans' Week are. We use geomapping. People can actually, on their mobile device or iPhone or whatever, type in their postal code and find out where on Remembrance Day, for example, the nearest service is located.

Again, that's speaking to what the user needs. I think it's continuing to get the messages out, not only in service and benefits but also on the commemoration side as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Do you have one more quick question?

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

No.

It's a wonderful outreach tool that I know was very popular in years past. Students would go on it to see which Remembrance Day ceremonies they could attend.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much, Ms. Adams.

That completes our rounds of questioning.

I want to thank Sheri, Janice, and the gentlemen for joining us today. I think we learned a lot. If we pass along questions to you, I know that you'll send back written information. We appreciate that.

That would be the business of the day. We're going to knock off early so everybody can go and enjoy themselves before the votes.

The meeting is adjourned.