Veterans Affairs committee  I believe you're referring to the caregiver investigation—or caregiver supports—that we are looking to do. The definition of “caregiver” is fairly narrow at the moment, and we believe that this may be unfair. There are so many more types of care and people who give this care that

Veterans Affairs committee  Again, our report last year identified this exact issue and actually went a step further. The department acknowledges that the family's mental health as it affects the veteran's mental health is important, and where the family's mental health is affecting the veteran, the family

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. I absolutely agree. I believe that we should be asking for that data and perhaps asking for it to be given in a disaggregated form so that we can see much more clearly all the demographics of veterans who are affected by these wait times. I absolute

Veterans Affairs committee  As a matter of fact, we will be publishing a report shortly on an investigation we did on the adjudication of sexual dysfunction, because we suspected that there was a sex-based bias in the manner in which the department was adjudicating these claims. It's sexual dysfunction as a

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. I'll try to answer in French. Actually, I'm going to speak in English, because I have the translation in my ear. As I said in my statement, I think we can get very much lost in the statistics. Were the numbers over this past year or over the past fo

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely, it's a very good question on the face of it. We have not done a study of this, and I need to preface my remarks that way and to make it really clear that it is not my role to speak about the processes that the department may or may not choose to implement after its st

Veterans Affairs committee  The most important ones to me—and remember that I've been in the job for just over a year—are the two reports that we published during my tenure on mental health support for families and peer support for survivors of military sexual trauma. I know there has been progress on the p

Veterans Affairs committee  I would again go back to the first report that we published during my tenure, and that is on the mental health supports for families. As I said when I first appeared before you a year ago, when a member serves, their family also serves. Support for anyone who has a service-relate

Veterans Affairs committee  I am not aware of anything along those lines. The department could answer that question better than I can.

Veterans Affairs committee  I believe anything that the department can do to better understand the nature of the person making the claim and their circumstances will go a long way to providing the support that our veterans need.

Veterans Affairs committee  Right off the top of my head, it would be anything that helps the department understand the person behind the claim. I would leave it to the department to determine the best processes for doing that. Again, my number one concern in this whole issue of disability claims is the im

Veterans Affairs committee  I will agree that it is the thing that disturbs me the most, and it is the reason for my comments today. We can get lost in the statistics, the numbers—how many weeks, how long—and the backlog. It is why today I chose to make my comments to you about the impact of these disabilit

Veterans Affairs committee  You're asking me which of the recommendations we've made with respect to wait times—or the top two or three—are most important to us. The most important to me, with respect to what I've just said, is to understand who the person is who is applying for this disability benefit. In

Veterans Affairs committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to speak to you about the wait times faced by veterans looking to obtain a decision on their disability benefit claim. Today, I am pleased to be joined by Duane Schippers, deputy veterans ombud. H