Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and honourable members. We're always very pleased to appear here. This is, I think, our third or fourth appearance. Hopefully we've been helpful in answering your questions. As for Canadian aboriginal veterans, in 2012 we celebrated 200 years of defendin

Veterans Affairs committee  You're from Saskatchewan?

Veterans Affairs committee  There is a change from military mode, which is a culture in itself, to civilian mode, and that's what transitioning is all about. The native people, of course, had and have a pretty strong culture to go back to; it's innate in them. We don't see as many problems with people wan

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, there is something you can do, madam. What needs to be implemented or brought into VAC's consideration or adjudication is the benefit of the doubt; that's not there now. The veteran is not given the benefit of the doubt on an injury because it may not be on his record. In m

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, that's—

Veterans Affairs committee  No. That's why we're advocating that they have a staged release, to become familiar with that software. Using the software, if you go onto the My VAC Account and start the process, the first thing that comes up asks you for your banking information, and that puts a lot of people

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, strangely enough, the federal government requires contractors to be ISO compliant. We're having a problem with service delivery with Veterans Affairs. The way it's set up, it doesn't have standards, per se—obviously not—so we're suggesting ISO 9000 compliance. I worked in

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, there is so much proof of that, we don't need to ask.

Veterans Affairs committee  We've been advocates of that since we became aware of some of our members who were being released medically, because at times they could be there for two years. I'll give you an example. A young lady was driving a vehicle, a small Jeep. There was a bus and suicide bomber arrive

Veterans Affairs committee  It was after the armistice, madam; any service after the armistice, when the war ended, and the shooting ended—

Veterans Affairs committee  Our experience is that we have good communications. Canadian aboriginal veterans have good communications in the north. As a matter of fact, I get daily hunting reports from the Arctic Ocean. They just nailed a couple of seals yesterday and one young fellow got his first seal.

Veterans Affairs committee  Our position has been that a person should have a staged release when leaving the Armed Forces, and people should be releasing with a picture ID and a VAC account. They may use that account. They've got 120 days to apply if there's a problem at the time. That card could go in a d

Veterans Affairs committee  We have a broad range of veterans, of course. Many of them are dealing with Veterans Affairs. One of the problems is that there is this delay and denial. They put in a claim and 18 or 20 weeks later they get a reply back that their claim has been denied. It's so frustrating for t

Veterans Affairs committee  We'll move ahead to our last point, which is important to us, with respect to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. We have been made aware that the quasi-judicial proceedings of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board have produced marked criticisms for the board's superficial dec