Evidence of meeting #45 for Veterans Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was board.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:05 p.m.
Director, Service Bureau, Royal Canadian Legion
The ombudsman was very clear in his recommendations on the study. I think it was a very important study on the Veterans Review and Appeal Board process.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
Yes, we don't want to get into anything substantive here, Chair.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Greg Kerr
As exciting as this has been, we have to move on to the next panel member.
Go ahead, Mr. Hayes, please, for five minutes.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Bryan Hayes Conservative Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I do have to admit that I find it disconcerting that the veterans' perception of the VRAB is virtually all negative. I just got appointed to the committee. It was a highly publicized event in my riding of Sault Ste. Marie. Thus far, I've had only two calls about concerns with the VRAB.
That said, I will be hosting a town hall meeting in January with my Legion members to get a sense of their perception of things. An operative word here is “perception”. In Sault Ste. Marie there are 1,100 members. I'm hoping that if a poll were done at this point today, the perception might not be quite so negative.
Mr. Kokkonen, can you outline for the committee how the process for the Veterans Review and Appeal Board has improved over the past few years? We're hearing a number of negative things, but I'm hoping you can identify some improvements that have occurred recently.
4:05 p.m.
National President, Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association
There is a review in process. One of the things that the Veterans Review and Appeal Board has just very recently done is that they've asked for the vision and mission value statements to be vetted by the veterans organizations and for them to give feedback, so there is activity going on in the VRAB to try to improve.
In fact, I visited the VRAB with Ron Griffis and another veterans organization. We were toured through. The explanations were given on all of the processes and so on. I think there is an actual energy right now in the VRAB. Whatever the reason or how it's motivated, there is certainly a movement to try to fix what needs fixing. That's a clear message that I'm getting.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Bryan Hayes Conservative Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Ms. Siew, would you care to comment as well, to your knowledge, on improvements that the VRAB has made over the past few years?
4:10 p.m.
Director, Service Bureau, Royal Canadian Legion
Yes, absolutely. After the Veterans Ombudsman's report and recommendations were released, the VRAB came out with their action plan to remedy a number of the key issues raised by the Veterans Ombudsman's report.
One is looking at their mission vision, but they've also been working very hard on the decision letters. That's really important in regard to the veteran having a perception of fairness in the adjudication process and knowing what was missing. It also is really important in going to the next level in determining why it was turned down and what evidence is required to achieve a favourable decision.
The VRAB has been conducting focus groups and bringing veterans together to look at the decision letters to see how to make them more in plain language and easy to understand. They are actively working to remedy some of the issues.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Bryan Hayes Conservative Sault Ste. Marie, ON
I'll be looking forward to meeting with my Legion folks to see what they have to say. Hopefully, there will be some recommendations that I can bring forward as well.
Again, I'm new to this committee, so I'm just learning about some things. I understand that there is a Bureau of Pensions Advocates that's funded by Veterans Affairs Canada. Is this something that happens in other countries, such as the United States or Britain? Are there similar free services available?
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Bryan Hayes Conservative Sault Ste. Marie, ON
There isn't to your knowledge, but is the Bureau of Pensions Advocates a good thing?
4:10 p.m.
National President, Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association
Oh, absolutely. I think it's a mainstay and is really a very critical thing for our veterans going in there. They need that support and expertise in law.
4:10 p.m.
Director, Service Bureau, Royal Canadian Legion
One of the gaps highlighted in the Veterans Ombudsman's report was the lack of free legal representation in going to the Federal Court. That might be one of the reasons only 1% of all of the VRAB decisions go to the Federal Court: because the veteran has to pay for legal representation.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Bryan Hayes Conservative Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Ms. Siew, the Royal Canadian Legion and the Bureau of Pensions Advocates, I would suspect, are similar and complementary, so can you outline the similarities of both groups and how each complements the other?
4:10 p.m.
Director, Service Bureau, Royal Canadian Legion
We're very similar, except that the Bureau of Pensions Advocates are lawyers and service officers. Most of us have military experience and we provide the same type of representation at all three levels: the review, the appeal, and the request for reconsideration.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Bryan Hayes Conservative Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Thank you.
Again to you, Ms. Siew, would you say that Canada's veterans have many avenues to challenge decisions by Veterans Affairs Canada?
4:10 p.m.
Director, Service Bureau, Royal Canadian Legion
The two key primary mechanisms are through either the Bureau of Pensions Advocates or the Royal Canadian Legion service officers.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
October 15th, 2012 / 4:10 p.m.
National President, Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association
Well, I took the question slightly differently. To challenge the Veterans Review and Appeal Board is really the main avenue. I suppose court action of some sort could be taken at the federal level after the VRAB approach was exhausted.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Bryan Hayes Conservative Sault Ste. Marie, ON
My understanding is that the number of those types of appeals is very minimal.
4:10 p.m.
National President, Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association
I may be wrong, but I don't think that VRAB is obligated to follow those Federal Court decisions. I think they can take them or leave them. I might be way out to lunch, but that's my understanding.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Greg Kerr
Thank you very much, Mr. Hayes.
We'll now go to Mr. Chicoine for five minutes.