I also thank you for coming today and for your service to our nation. It was very nice to see you this morning at the launch of the benefits browser, so thank you very much for that.
The Veterans Review and Appeal Board is a board at arm's length from the government, but of course our Conservative government, and I would imagine every Canadian, expects that members of the board would treat veterans with the utmost respect, the highest level of respect, for their dignity and to ensure that every opportunity be fair and to extend the benefit of the doubt is extended to them. That is certainly our expectation, and that is really why we're looking at VRAB through these committee hearings: to understand how we might better serve the veterans, which is our government's number one focus.
You saw some of that through the transformation agenda. The initiative right now has done certain things, such as the plain language initiative. We did the benefits browser today and the My VAC Account last week, but in particular, the plain language initiative is something that I think, Andrea, you're getting at. The plain language initiative was announced a couple of days after the ombudsman came out, and I know that is one of the issues that you've raised in the document you just circulated. Let me just find the page.
It is on page 5 and “recommends that decision letters must provide sufficient reasons in support for a decision and provide access to all of the evidence”. You further recommend that publishing all decisions would be helpful, but you're asking, though, for very plain language to ensure that veterans understand exactly why they have been turned down and what information is still required, and that's exactly what the plain language initiative offers.
Our letters now go out in very simple, straightforward language when a decision is rendered. They enumerate for the veteran why they were approved or why they were turned down or what information is missing. That is already being done as part of the transformation initiative, so thank you very much for highlighting that again.
You both mentioned that you would like VRAB to continue, which is different from what the NDP has brought forward. They have called for VRAB to be completely dismantled.
Could you tell me, in your experience, what types of members the government should look for? What type of experience should they look for when making appointments to VRAB?