Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 3rd, 2012

[Bryan Hayes, Conservative, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Mr. Robinson, you mentioned in your comments that one of the key initiatives is that we have to measure our progress along the way. We're two years into the five-year plan. Do you have some evidence that the process has become more streamlined, and some indication of how you are measuring and what you are measuring against?

[David Robinson]

We're only 18 months into our five-year plan. But we've established service standards that are available on our website so that you can see what it is that we're measuring. We're going to look at those continually to see if we can improve our service standards.

We do things like surveys and research to validate the findings. In due course, there will be evaluations of the various service elements of our plan to make sure we're actually delivering what we said we were going to deliver.

In the departmental performance report that Treasury Board tables for our department, there will also be a breakdown of how we're doing in improving our services. I think the first report will come out in November.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much.

We're over our time, Mr. Hayes.

Now we're back to Mr. Stoffer.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Just very quickly, I just want to tell the committee members what a soccer player Mr. Lizon is on the MPs' team.

For the Legion, Mr. Moore, this is sort of outside our conversation, but there is a fair number of people asking if it's possible, on the National Cenotaph, to put the words “in service of Canada”. This would encompass Boer War veterans, and those who served in Bosnia, Cyprus, Egypt, Afghanistan, etc. It would be one phrase to encompass all veterans, not just World War II, World War I, and Korea.

I'm not sure what the Legion's position is on that. Could you say if you're in support of that initiative? If not, they can always ask you in the future.

[Gordon Moore]

The Legion's position is exactly what you said. We came to an agreement over a year ago that the Seventh Book of Remembrance, for those who have served, should go on the National War Memorial. You don't need anything else. That way, you've covered everyone, and well into the future.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

That's it. Yes, sir.

Thank you very much.

Sylvain.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

My thanks to the witnesses for being here and for their efforts to provide good services to our veterans. The services are well-deserved.

I have some questions about the production of My VAC Book. You say that everyone has a personalized book. Now, I have looked at five different books for different types of veterans—unfortunately, there are variations depending on the type of veteran—and it seems to me that the information is rather general in nature. I do not see a lot that is personalized. You do not find services that might be offered in a veteran's own region, for example.

So could you tell us what is personalized, in your view, and what distinguishes one from another?

[David Robinson]

You're speaking of “My VAC Book”?

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Yes, absolutely.

[David Robinson]

As you've heard, we are providing services to a wide variety of clients from a number of different timeframes and ages, and from the Canadian Forces and the RCMP. So there are different services available based on different types of service. When you go onto My VAC Book, you are asked a series of very short questions that help arrange the information for your particular circumstance, so that's the element of personalization.

Maureen, I don't know if you have more to add.

[Maureen Sinnott]

No, I think that would pretty much state it very succinctly, David.

It's not personalized to you as an individual, but it's customized to what you've asked for, with respect to your answers to the questions that are on there. If you're RCMP, or if you're Canadian Forces, and if you want information on health, health-related travel, disability pensions, and so on, the book that you would request is built that way.

[David Robinson]

I might add that because we're trying to serve such a broad population, it's a lot of information for people to go through, so this is partially an attempt to try to reduce the information down just to the information that we think, based on the questions that the veteran asks, is to their particular circumstance.

Of course, once they call us or once they engage with Veterans Affairs, however they do that, we can broaden out and see if there are other things that they need to know, but that gives them a good starting point.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Would you be interested in personalizing it to the extent of the services offered from region to region? I would like to know what you think about that. For example, in the book for a Quebec veteran from the reserves, it does not say that he is entitled to CSST benefits. Would there be an interest in putting that kind of information into this personalized book, so that the services are tailored to each person?

[David Robinson]

One of the processes of transformation is that we think we've created a solution to a problem, but we have to go back and verify it and test it.

We are quite open to suggestions like yours for improvements to the service that we can implement over time. I'll take that back; it's an interesting suggestion.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Let us talk about the red tape initiative. If I understand correctly, first of all, a veteran will type his information into the computer. Then his VAC Book is mailed to him via a subcontractor. Is it worth the trouble to send the book through the mail? Is there a real need for that? Could it not just be done by computer?

[David Robinson]

Well, they do have access online for those who wish to have it, but some people prefer to have material provided to them in a written format. They have the option of having it mailed to them or seeing it right there on the computer.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Okay. We have to…

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much.

Now we go to Mr. Harris for five minutes.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, folks, for your presentation.

I guess it's just human nature that whenever change of some sort is happening, there are people who become a little fearful of change for whatever reason. That's to be expected. There are also those who are quick to criticize change or paint some sort of a “sky is falling” scenario before change has a chance to prove itself.

But that's what change is all about. It's what the red tape and the transformation is all about; it's change. To use Mr. Moore's words, it's improvement and strengthening: improvement in delivery of services and, I suppose, strengthening in the relationship between the case workers and the clients, the vets.

Sadly, Mr. Casey has suggested that in P.E.I., with the closure of some offices there, in effect the vets who are seeking assistance might somehow be left out in the cold. I know this cannot be the case.

Maybe you'd just like to address that for us, and go over once more the mitigating programs that you have to allay any fears of this.

[David Robinson]

I might say, to start, that our philosophy, by working with Service Canada, is to provide 600 new front doors to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and to give a broader range of possibilities for engagement, either through the telephone, through our website offerings, or by someone walking through the front door at Service Canada. Our veterans are Canadian citizens, and they might be interested in knowing more about services that are available to them than just what is offered by VAC.

There are other services that the Government of Canada offers that can be obtained through Service Canada. We think it might be an enhancement for the whole citizen to be engaged, if you could say that, and reassured that we have a very comprehensive program of training the people we're working with at Service Canada, our colleagues in the federal family.

They're doing a very good job for us by providing intake and answering basic questions. If the basic question cannot be answered by Service Canada, it is very quickly turned over to someone at Veterans Affairs to provide more in-depth information. It's a kind of triage, so that we can get more people getting more service faster. If more detailed information is required, then they deal with VAC.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Great. Thank you.

In talking about change, before the red tape initiative what was the timeframe that a veteran could expect for a decision on, say, a disability benefits submission? What was the general time they would have to wait?

[David Robinson]

I'm not sure I have that.

Maureen, do you remember?

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Maybe Mr. Moore has it.

[Gordon Moore]

It was up to as long as 18 months at one time, and even longer before. From first application until the time of the award, going back about 15 years ago, a veteran would wait anywhere from 36 months to 48 months.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Okay, so with the red tape program, what steps of that progress have been removed to make it more streamlined in delivering a quicker service?

Ms. Sinnott or Mr. Robinson, or maybe Mr. White.