Veterans Affairs committee  Exactly. Because we have offices across the country, we've taken the strictest standard for records conservation and that, I believe, belongs to the Province of Quebec where they have—don't quote me—I think about an eight-year rule. So all of our files across the country are kep

Veterans Affairs committee  No, not quite. What we do is we work up a case with the client that the client is happy with. The decision on whether or not to proceed rests solely with the client. What will happen is this. When the department renders its decision on the first application, at the bottom of th

Veterans Affairs committee  That's right. Those are the claims counselled out. Basically, it's giving the client a second opinion, and when they're happy with that opinion, if it happens to be not to proceed and they accept that, then it's counted as counselled out.

Veterans Affairs committee  It depends on the particulars of each case, of course. Let's say the client receives a decision that is partially favourable. The board has agreed at review that, yes, you should be getting this pension, and we think it should be at x%. The client may decide they're not happy wit

Veterans Affairs committee  Correct—except that's not a permanent decision. If next week, next month, next year, or 10 years from now the veteran decides that some information has suddenly come to them that they either weren't aware of at the time of their application or they'd just plain forgotten about, t

Veterans Affairs committee  Sure.

Veterans Affairs committee  Good afternoon, and good morning to you there. First of all, thank you for inviting me to do this by video conference. It's a technology that we're using more and more, and it makes us more efficient and certainly more cost effective. By way of opening, I'd like to say that th

Veterans Affairs committee  Do you mean between what the bureau does and what the Royal Canadian Legion does?

Veterans Affairs committee  The Royal Canadian Legion does a lot fewer cases, as you know. In many of those cases, we actually co-represent with them. We both provide support to that particular veteran. Generally, the kind of representation they do before the board is quite similar to what we do. What the

Veterans Affairs committee  If I could add to that, in fact we do a lot of training for the Legion for the work it does representing clients before VRAB, so there's a close working relationship there.

Veterans Affairs committee  I believe so, yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll give it a first shot, and then I'll defer to Charles, who's more operationally based. It generally has to do with evidence that is more difficult to find, either because of the passage of time, because of the great many different bases or locations the member has served in,

Veterans Affairs committee  There may be some instances of that. The retention of medical records has become much better in recent years because the Canadian Forces has made a greater effort to keep that documentation. It's fair to say they have come to recognize the importance of a complete medical record.

Veterans Affairs committee  I understand, and I appreciate your concern about how this might affect our relationship with the board. What somebody else might tell you, I can't really speak to. You may find they say something different, but they may not.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, that's correct.