Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members. It is indeed a pleasure to be here this morning and to have the opportunity to speak to you about Veterans Affairs Canada as we enter what is a very exciting but challenging time in our history. I am pleased to

Veterans Affairs committee  I have some information on the last post fund. Currently they administer, for instance, our funerals and burials program on our behalf.

Veterans Affairs committee  When we speak about our modernization agenda or transformation, we're looking at making sure we have the right resources where we need them. This is critical, because as the number of traditional war service veterans declines, we'll be reallocating resources from the areas in whi

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you. There are many, and they cover the range of our service delivery. First of all, we want to improve our turnaround time from when a veteran asks for a service to when the benefit is received.

Veterans Affairs committee  We will be publishing our service standards. We have improved our service standard for disability programs--first applications--from 24 weeks to 16 weeks. That has been measured, and we're now meeting that target consistently. That's a key improvement, and that is the program tha

Veterans Affairs committee  They have various means. One is our client satisfaction survey, which we encourage all of our clients to participate in. We work very hard to reach them. In the last little while we've taken new measures to reach out to the newer veterans to ensure that they're responding to that

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. We haven't set a target to reduce the number of requests the ombudsman will get. Having said that, we believe the changes we're putting in place are certainly going to have an impact on that number. I say this because we work with the ombudsman's office and have

Veterans Affairs committee  Pardon me?

Veterans Affairs committee  It includes, for instance, the disability pension, the disability award, and treatment benefits, which are for a veteran who has a disability pension for—

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct, yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, it's very important. The youth of Canada today, unlike people of my generation, whose fathers or grandfathers may have been directly involved in the military, have less of a direct relationship at times. As Bernard mentioned, there are a lot of things happening at the school

Veterans Affairs committee  We're certainly taking a look at the study, and it will help inform us. I want to tell you, though, a bit about what we're doing. We will always look to be informed by any new information that comes forward. We understand homelessness is a very difficult issue. It's very difficul

Veterans Affairs committee  The first thing is to understand when a veteran has an issue. So our case managers, who are the front line in many cases and the first point of contact, are being trained to recognize the indicators of mental health issues, and it's a sensitive area. It's very unlikely that peopl

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Butler. Good day. I am very happy to be appearing before you today. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity today to speak to you, particularly about our transition process. Bernard has spoken about the new Veterans Charter in general terms. We have also had an

Veterans Affairs committee  We ensure that we have at least one annual meeting. We also have meetings during the year on an ad hoc basis as required. We have a good relationship and open communication with the Legion. Their service officers are working with our front-line staff across the country, so as iss