Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The National Association of Federal Retirees is the largest national advocacy organization representing active and retired members of the federal public service, Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and retired federally appointed judges, as well as their partners and survivors.
With 176,000 members, including over 60,000 veterans and their families, the association has advocated for improvements to the financial security, health and well-being of its members and all Canadians for more than 50 years.
I would like to begin by recognizing Veterans Week, the service, dedication and sacrifice of our military and veterans, and their families, including members of the National Association of Federal Retirees.
Thank you, committee members, for inviting the association to speak today. My remarks will be supplemented by a written brief, and our association stands by to participate in other future areas identified for study by this committee.
The transition to civilian life can be especially challenging for those who are dealing with illness, injury or trauma, as you've heard. Unfortunately, this transition is often further complicated by the absence of any systemic approach to ensure transitioning veterans have continuity of their access to primary medical care.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further negatively impacted veterans' ability to access the hands-on medical assessments and reviews needed to support Veterans Affairs Canada claims, which may have downstream consequences on workload and backlog. These issues are compounded by unreasonable wait times for disability benefit processing at Veterans Affairs Canada, which results in lack of veteran confidence in a system they must rely on. For some, the wait times are retraumatizing or compound an existing moral or institutional injury.
A system focused on rebuilding trust with veterans is critical.
The infusion of $192 million to hire temporary employees to reduce the backlog is welcome and necessary, and the department should be commended for continuing to address the backlog through the challenges of 2020. However, we must recognize that systemic issues led to this backlog. Already, this investment will prove insufficient to eliminate the backlog in 12 months. There is little data on how a gender-based analysis plus, or GBA+, lens is being used with this funding to ensure the backlog is addressed equitably, because we know that women and francophones are disproportionately impacted by the backlog.
The report of the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman on timely and transparent decisions from 2018 noted that anglophone applicants waited on average 24 weeks for a decision while francophones waited on average 45 weeks. That's a 21-week difference, or almost twice as long, with applications most often delayed during the adjudication stage.
Veterans Affairs Canada recently shared that nearly one-third of decision-making staff are now French-speaking, and it shared with stakeholders that the department has implemented a focused approach to triaging and processing francophone veterans' claims.
Just last week the department shared that it anticipates success in addressing the backlog of francophone claims by the end of the year, a goal for which the department should be commended but also held accountable.
Women today comprise over 16% of the military, and there was a goal to have 25% serving by 2026. Women veterans suffer injuries and illnesses resulting in medical releases at higher rates than do male veterans, which makes women the fastest-growing segment of Veterans Affairs Canada's clients, a trend that is likely to continue.
Wait times are one of the many issues that disproportionately affect women veterans, the group also identified in the Veterans Ombudsman 2018 report as waiting longer to have their claims adjudicated.
Forty-two per cent of female clients waited over 40 weeks for a decision while only 26% of male clients waited that long. We are aware of cases that were left pending for female veterans for more than 104 weeks or two years. Less is known about the experience of RCMP women veterans with respect to claiming, processing, wait times and backlog at Veterans Affairs.
VAC should know why the delays are happening in processing women veterans' claims and should have a targeted plan to fix those issues on an urgent basis. While the department has undertaken a GBA+ strategy, systemic biases and research gaps need to be closed. The sex- and gender-specific issues and needs of women veterans must be equitably addressed within the department by the federal government. Specific measurable goals and accountability are essential to rebuilding trust in the system.
GBA+ is a mandatory imperative that must be mainstreamed into everything Veterans Affairs does. This should be prioritized and properly resourced.
As the veterans' ombudsman said:
It is unfair to make veterans and their families wait unreasonably for compensation to which they are entitled, especially when a favourable decision can also provide access to needed health care benefits.
Thank you very much.