Veterans Affairs Committee on Dec. 11th, 2006

[Brian Ferguson]

I don't know exactly how it works within DND, but when they actually are leaving the forces, we work with DND to encourage everybody to have a transition interview with one of our social workers, one of our area counsellors. We've been very successful in that. We've had a very high participation rate.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

But there are a number of cases in which you don't catch it right away, and even down the road—

[Brian Ferguson]

Absolutely. You're quite correct. And even with the transition interview, you may not pick this particular malady up until years later.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

That's right. A year or two later, we have dementia and we have tremors. How difficult is that, then, for the veteran? It's one thing when you have an injury report, but how difficult is it for the veteran to get service when they reconnect and there is no evidence that anything happened?

[Brian Ferguson]

The one thing with these unseen injuries is that there rarely is any evidence of the traditional type to make that determination. But certainly for anybody who is out of the system for a number of years, the new Veterans Charter was designed to be able to help those people. If they come back to the department and they can demonstrate—and we help them demonstrate, actually, with medical advice and other assessments—a service-related re-establishment need, they can go directly into this rehabilitation program that Ken talked about. If they had that particular ailment, they'd be able to come in and get some psycho-social rehabilitation, and would also be eligible for the vocational rehabilitation that would follow it.

Ken, is there anything you'd like to add to that?

[Ken Miller]

I would add to that. Thank you.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Just before you add to that, Ken, is there no assessment? Would they roll right into it?

[Brian Ferguson]

No, there would be an assessment. That's what I'm saying. There would have to be an assessment as to whether or not there was a need, based on a service-related re-establishment need. That's our technical term for that process of assessment to determine. There would then have to be follow-up assessments of the degree of operational stress injury, and then there would be a diagnosis of that. There would have to be a treatment plan, and they would be eligible for benefits under the veterans' charter.

[Ken Miller]

It's an extremely good point, because you're quite right. Not everybody at the time of release is necessarily aware, or perhaps they are aware and they just simply don't wish to deal with it at that time. Both of those situations happen.

We intentionally, as part of the design of the new Veterans Charter, designed a new gateway that veterans could come through other than the entitlement gateway. This is the rehabilitation need entry point that Mr. Ferguson refers to. What we've been seeing in the nine months that the new programs have been in place is, in fact, that approvals for the rehabilitation program are at 94%. Most of the people who are asking for supportive benefits under that program are in fact being approved.

There's another extremely interesting point. I was just looking for the number, but I couldn't find it quickly; however, the number that sticks in my mind is 78% or around that level. Some 78% of those coming to us through that gateway today are veterans who were previously released. They're not releasing today. I think that makes the point very clearly that for folks such as the ones you're concerned about, the door remains open. There is an avenue for them to—

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

So 94% are actually being approved. That's not a satisfaction rate, that's an approval rate.

[Ken Miller]

That's an approval rate. Yes, it is.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Okay.

My concern is that if there's an evaluation to try to determine whether this psychological disorder came from combat or before, that would be a real concern to me. That high approval rate at least diminishes that fear in my mind.

[Ken Miller]

Could I expand on that very slightly?

Probably one of the reasons we have that higher approval rate—and it's really a benefit of doubt application of that concept—is that there are several areas where, whether the individual can put the injury report on the table or not, we're providing that benefit of doubt. Psychiatric injury is one such case. If they've been in a service where they could have experienced that, we give them the benefit of the doubt and provide benefits through the rehab program. Musculoskeletal injuries are another case in point, and hearing loss is another. That means they get access very quickly to treatment benefits that they need under the rehab plan, without that further heavier level of challenge around making the connection.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Anders]

Thank you.

That puts an end to that, Mr. Sweet. There is some more opportunity, but you'll have to wait. You know the deal.

Monsieur Perron, for five minutes.

[Gilles-A. Perron, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I'll make it within three minutes.

Since you're good with statistics, I would like you to give me a few.

There are many compensation applications. I'm thinking of young veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. I'm also thinking of compensation for a knee or a back, etc. What percentage of all those applications are approved?

I believe you don't have that figure but I would like you to send it to us if at all possible. For example, how many compensation applications do you receive each year in total?

[Brian Ferguson]

Last year, from April 2005 to 31 March 2006, there were 28,599 disability pension applications made, and that was under the old Pension Act.

[Gilles-A. Perron, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

How many received some?

[Brian Ferguson]

That's how many were actually processed in the department.

[Gilles-A. Perron, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

And how many requests were there?

[Brian Ferguson]

How many were approved?

[Gilles-A. Perron, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Yes. How many were approved?

[Brian Ferguson]

Overall, within the department, there's about a 60% approval rating, if you take the combination of traditional veterans and CF.

[Gilles-A. Perron, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

There's something else. About the 40% of cases that are not approved, if they decide to appeal, what percentage of your decisions are reversed by the appeal tribunal?

[Brian Ferguson]

The next step in the process that an individual has, if they're not satisfied with the departmental decision, is to actually request a departmental review. We will do a review. About 10% of the cases go back for review, and we get roughly the same approval rating out of the reviews. Then, if they're not happy with that, they can use the assistance of the Bureau of Pensions Advocates and go forward to VRAB. I'm not up to speed on their approval rating, sir, but we'll get that information for you.

[Gilles-A. Perron, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Please. Thank you.