Veterans Affairs committee  They're not always. Back in 2000, Parliament legislated that a serving member could collect a pension at the same time, so the member does not necessarily have to leave the forces in order to collect a pension or an award.

Veterans Affairs committee  First of all I'd clarify it's not just women who are affected; there are men affected as well.

Veterans Affairs committee  We have had successful cases like that, but I have to say that they've been few and far between. Most of the cases we get involve either musculoskeletal injuries, hearing loss, or psychiatric conditions, and then we get a smattering of others including those involving sexual hara

Veterans Affairs committee  I couldn't speak to that. It's a good question.

Veterans Affairs committee  That is a good question. First of all, they do have one last chance before the Veterans Review and Appeal Board after an appeal, and that's called the “reconsideration”. However, whereas under review or an appeal it is completely up to the veteran whether to proceed or not, th

Veterans Affairs committee  I am going to first of all thank you for the opportunity. I would like to say that I've been at this job for about 10 years, and in those 10 years I've noticed two things. I've noticed, as I've probably mentioned, that the conditions that are being presented to us are shiftin

Veterans Affairs committee  The 195 per se is not. We recognized that in the last few years cases are getting more complex, so that number has dropped from over 200. I can't remember what the exact figure was a number of years ago, but it has dropped to 195. It's the growing complexity that makes it difficu

Veterans Affairs committee  We do, on what we call the initial claims study. The initial claims study is a label we give to the first contact with a client. If the client contacts us to discuss pursuing an appeal, then we give the lawyers five days in which to initiate the claim. That is the standard that w

Veterans Affairs committee  Sure.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, not necessarily. The system that exists in the department is the system that is best suited to deal with the vast majority of the cases. BPA is set up to deal with those cases that are much more difficult and complex to deal with, which couldn't really be dealt with at the f

Veterans Affairs committee  That's exactly where the medical reports come in. The lawyer will send a letter to the doctor explaining what it is the lawyer is looking for, the client is looking for in support of their redress, and it is the doctor who provides that medical opinion.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's their doctor or a specialist who is acting for the client, which we pay for.

Veterans Affairs committee  We don't necessarily keep track of hours. We keep track of the number of files completed, because whereas one file may take 30 minutes, another file may take 30 days depending on the complexity of the particular file. We don't have billable hours per se. We monitor the lawyers' p

Veterans Affairs committee  It's mostly around departmental reviews. When the client comes in and says they applied to Veterans Affairs for benefits and they were turned down or they didn't get as much as they were hoping to get, we'll look at the file and we'll say that if we do x instead of going to the b

Veterans Affairs committee  No, generally the case management side of VAC is dealing with other issues unrelated to what we do in the pension and lump sum award disability benefits.