Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, members of the Committee, I would first like to thank you for your invitation to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs. This is my first appearance before a parliamentary committee and I am pleased to be participating in

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. We certainly agree with what is proposed in the present bill. Certainly it rectifies some of the deficiencies that have been identified to date in regard to income loss and EIA and PIA. It also looks at the base salary in terms of income loss. Any recommendations in referen

Veterans Affairs committee  The one concern we might have there about the base salary under the income lost is the fact that there is a difference between the regular force and the reservists. That's a bit of a concern. As we go back to the “one veteran” theme, it doesn't make any difference what was your s

Veterans Affairs committee  In fact it's yes to both questions. At the first level of intervention, which is the level of information provided, our front-line officers, our client service representatives, handle the calls. We do handle about 2,000 calls per year. These are people who are seeking informatio

Veterans Affairs committee  I certainly can't give an estimate, because I think we have the same difficulty internally in the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman as DND and Veterans Affairs, and it is the problem of tracking. Given the fact that a lot of the veterans are self-identified also, it's almost impos

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, but not my last.

Veterans Affairs committee  In my presentation, I did not really go into detail about our future priorities, but I would say that our upcoming systemic review will address precisely these concerns. Certainly the Department of Veterans Affairs does not distinguish between an individual's immediate and long-

Veterans Affairs committee  I wouldn't say incompetence, but there is certainly a lack of education and experience, given that this is a relatively new subject. It is not an easy subject, particularly when we're talking about post-traumatic stress. It calls for relatively specific experience. While I won't

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, the “one veteran” concept obviously is aiming towards that, certainly aiming for that in the future when programs are developed, whether it be something of the sort of the new Veterans Charter, that we don't distinguish between types of veterans and service where and when.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think it would be. I think you're right, it would be helpful. But I think we go back to the self-identification process. Are they willing?

Veterans Affairs committee  To my knowledge, we haven't received any complaints in that area, but certainly I see it as a portable entitlement. It's something that you earn. I went through that situation in my previous position at the office, where in fact I left the service with six weeks entitlement of le

Veterans Affairs committee  Not at this point in time.

Veterans Affairs committee  What we have is the capability, for instance, to contract out to people to help us in investigations where we don't have the skills and knowledge. So we could have a mental health specialist hired by the office under contract to sustain an investigation in process.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't think it's important: I think it's essential. I think it's critical. There needs to be more work between the two departments so that in fact issues of transition and tracking, for instance, are handled right from the start to finish. There have been a lot of stopgap measu

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, definitely.