Not all avenues have been adequately explored, and I'd suggest that this change to GECA is premature at best. There are other possible options.
As members of the RCMP, we already are eligible for access to Veterans Affairs Canada through the Pension Act for permanent disabilities. Members who receive a permanent disability related to their service to Canada can apply for a disability pension through VAC. VAC is an independent adjudicator, separate from the RCMP, with internal avenues for appeal such as the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. Through the discussions on disability management, we made the suggestion that seeing as Veterans Affairs Canada is involved at the back end on permanent disability, why not have them involved at the front end making the initial adjudication, so that there is consistent service delivery across the country.
With Veterans Affairs, we've had those discussions with the deputy minister and they are on board. They are interested in doing that. What we would have to provide to them are the business rules that we want to follow. For example, do we want to follow WSIB's business rules? Veterans Affairs would then train and staff-up their staff and provide that service delivery across the country. However, RCMP management was not interested in entertaining that option.