Thank you very much.
In-person hearings are something claimants really appreciate having access to. When a claimant's case is being considered, their credibility plays a huge role. But telephone and video conference hearings make it difficult to establish a claimant's credibility.
What's more, the wait times are simply inhumane. Some people have to wait up to an entire year; meanwhile, they have no access to benefits. So what do they do? They take the first job that comes along or they turn to social assistance. And once the decision is finally made, it's too late.
Wait times are a huge problem. The tribunal has a duty to provide timely decisions. We would like the government to reinstate the previous mechanism, which was extremely efficient. Inordinate delays of this nature are unacceptable. That said, the problem was foreseeable given that the number of decision-makers was reduced to 39 for the entire country, with the creation of the tribunal. That clearly isn't enough.