Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. After the Veterans Ombudsman's report and recommendations were released, the VRAB came out with their action plan to remedy a number of the key issues raised by the Veterans Ombudsman's report. One is looking at their mission vision, but they've also been working very hard on the decision letters.

Veterans Affairs committee  One of the gaps highlighted in the Veterans Ombudsman's report was the lack of free legal representation in going to the Federal Court. That might be one of the reasons only 1% of all of the VRAB decisions go to the Federal Court: because the veteran has to pay for legal representation.

Veterans Affairs committee  We're very similar, except that the Bureau of Pensions Advocates are lawyers and service officers. Most of us have military experience and we provide the same type of representation at all three levels: the review, the appeal, and the request for reconsideration.

Veterans Affairs committee  The two key primary mechanisms are through either the Bureau of Pensions Advocates or the Royal Canadian Legion service officers.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think the evidence requirements need to be looked at to see if they're actually too restrictive. That's why I raised the issue of the VRAB adjudicative guidelines, the application of the benefit of the doubt and how that's being applied, and the composition of the board. If you had more military experience on the board, with people who understood current operations, maybe the evidence requirements would not have to be so stringent.

Veterans Affairs committee  The Veterans Ombudsman, in his report, was very clear about some of the issues. When they go back to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board, they're not necessarily overturning the decisions; they're sending them back to the board to have them reheard, because there may have been legal issues relating to those decisions.

Veterans Affairs committee  I agree.

Veterans Affairs committee  The ombudsman was very clear in his recommendations on the study. I think it was a very important study on the Veterans Review and Appeal Board process.

Veterans Affairs committee  There are six board members with military and RCMP experience—five with military experience and one with RCMP experience.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, that's correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  The Legion has been proactively advocating for many years to have military or RCMP experience on the board to represent those who are appearing in front of the board. It's important to have a balanced board with both military and non-military experience, but if you have the military or the RCMP experience in front of the board, the requirement to have such stringent evidence may not be required.

Veterans Affairs committee  As I mentioned in my presentation, one of the issues is that the evidence requirements are onerous. The burden is on the veteran. At each level, additional medical evidence is required. That's one of the issues. The other thing is that it's not quite so easy as saying that Veterans Affairs delivers 20,000 decisions, and 75% of them are favourable, which is about 15,000, so those are the other 5,000 decisions.

Veterans Affairs committee  I just wanted to respond to your first two questions, Peter. Our Legion president meets with John Larlee, the chair of the board, at least annually. I have a once-a-month teleconference with Ms. Dale Sharkey, the director general, and I raise very specific issues. When a veteran identifies at a board hearing, or particularly at a review hearing, that they have concerns with the presentation, all the hearings at the review level are recorded, and we ask that they go back and review the hearings.

Veterans Affairs committee  As we've said in our presentation, we believe the role of the VRAB is very important as a quasi-judicial organization. However, the benefit of the doubt clause and its interpretation is probably the most misunderstood application. That needs to be revisited from a legal perspective, in terms of what it means and what the evidence requirements are.

Veterans Affairs committee  Are you addressing the question to me?