Veterans Affairs Committee on May 9th, 2013

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Robert, again, from your experience, were you injured in service?

[Robert Reynolds]

Yes, I had a parachute accident.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Going through that process of being injured and retraining and all the rest of that, how would you say...? You've obviously spoken highly of the program, but how would you make it better? What are the last words you would give us as Canadians on the rehab program in the U.S.?

[Robert Reynolds]

I went through it 20-some years ago, so it was a little different from where we are today. I would say that your counsellor is probably your biggest asset, because during that time of transitioning to the civilian sector, we think we know it all, but we really don't. So it's understanding the background of where that individual service member is coming from to the relationship that that counsel brings.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much.

That will end round one.

As we said earlier, I think, Mr. Reynolds, you still have a presentation you'd like to make before we do an abbreviated round two. We'll start with your comments, please, and then we'll have some questions.

[Robert Reynolds]

Sure. They'll be abbreviated, because we've kind of touched on some of it.

I work very closely with Tom in all of our different benefit programs, and with those directors. I've worked with Keith and Colleen as well—some very good synergy, and very similar as well.

My responsibility is for all of our outreach and all of our special programs for our prisoners of war, our homeless veterans, our women veterans, our minority veterans, our elderly veterans, all of our web and social media, and all of the quality of our call centres. That's really my umbrella. Regardless of how our service members, veterans, family members, or survivors want to interact with us, whether it's face to face, online, or over the phone, we make sure they are getting the same consistent information.

My office has been in existence for.... Actually, it will be three years, I think, this week. We thought it was important to bring all this under one umbrella to try to get consistent information out there.

You know, when service members would get what we call the 214, the DD214, the separation document that members get when they leave, we would always think of them then. But over the past several years, we've been working to the left of the DD214—namely, while they're still in service.

It's really key for us to be able to do the outreach and work with those service members as they get ready to transition to the next chapter in their life. If they're a career soldier who's done 20 years, their needs may be a little different from the individual who did two tours in Afghanistan and is now severely wounded, ill, or injured. We need to interact with them at the earliest points. That's why I started the eBenefits portal with DOD. We are starting to see successes with that.

With the recent legislation that was passed last year, with our VEOA VEI, it is now mandatory as well for all service members to go through a transition program that is up to a week's length in nature. The key to that—to answer an earlier question—is that they will also get some of that financial assistance there.

What we learned...and actually the marine corps learned it pretty quick. They made what we call TAP, our transition assistance program, mandatory a couple of years ago. They found that when they were letting these young marines go through this program, and for the first time that marine was sitting down and being told, “You no longer have three hots and a cot; you will have to pay your rent, you will have to pay your utilities, you will have to pay your food, you will have to pay your insurances”, they were seeing the re-enlistment rates increasing.

With that, they've expanded the program now for the VEOA VEI that will also include an educational lane. If you're going to go towards higher educational learning when you separate, you'll get your finance institution...if you're going to apply for benefits. Now the critical one is employment; at the earliest stages, as you're getting ready to leave your career as a service member, you'll get the tools you need to reintegrate back into the community with successful, gainful employment.

We're just now starting to work with that program. Part of it will be that if you're going to file a disability claim—because service members do—if you're severely wounded, you will go through a program that we call IDES, the integrated disability evaluation system. You will go through that lane.

Every service member has the ability to file the claim they want to, before they leave service or even after. But if they want to do it before they leave service, it's beneficial for us and it's beneficial for that service member.

We're putting the information together now to try to educate them and to get them to do it online as they move through this transition period. They would do it through the eBenefits portal so that we can get those electrons in right away.

The other part is all the outreach we do with our veterans service organizations, our community veterans service organizations, our county veterans service organizations, our state departments. Every state has their own department of veterans affairs and has service organizations. It's pulling all of them together to help us make sure they're also helping us get the word out and assisting veterans to know about the benefits they have earned and are entitled to.

We pass all this messaging along to our call centre agents, so they're getting the same information when a veteran calls in. Then, in every one of our regional offices that Tom spoke about, we have public contact representatives. If a veteran walks in, we can assist them right there, file their claim, answer their questions, or give whatever help they may need on that factor.

I think our biggest success point will be the integration that we need with the DOD. Right now, we share a lot of information over the personnel side. We're now working on getting that health data, which for us is extremely important when we're looking at service connection for disability compensation.

We have several different groups. They're all integrated work groups that are moving toward how we can get the health information sent to us electronically to go into the DBMS system that was talked about, that will help our raters. We're at the very early stages of that.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of the integration or the collaborative work needed with DOD. At the end of the day, that's where our population is going to come from. Those are the ones who have worn the uniform and will be eligible for the services and benefits we provide.

The more we can get the word out at the earliest stages, so they know who VA is throughout their life cycle from that proactive, targeted outreach and engagement, the less we’ll have people falling through the cracks, as we heard about earlier in the mid-2000s. I can tell you from my experience, I couldn't even spell VA when I left the military because I didn't even know they existed. I know today we're fixing all of that, to make sure our service members are aware of the benefits and services they are potentially eligible for and entitled to and have rightly earned.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much, Mr. Reynolds. We'll now turn back to committee.

Good morning, David. Nice to have you here.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

We're not turning to you, though. We're going to Peter.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Yes, I understand that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Mr. Stoffer, go ahead for five minutes.

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

Mr. Reynolds, thank you very much for your presentation, sir. It's good to see someone who served their country apply and take the services available. Look where you are now.

Mind you, that tie could use a little changing. I'm just kidding, by the way.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

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

I want to thank you for your service.

Sir, behind you it says “Support for Caregivers”. If I'm an elderly or disabled veteran in the United States and I'm receiving caregiving—from my daughter, son, sister or uncle or aunt, mother or whomever—does that individual who's related to me receive any financial benefits for providing that care to the veteran?

[Robert Reynolds]

That would fall under our veterans health administration. Based on the severity of your disability, and again, it's for the most severely wounded, ill, or injured, they do receive some sort of compensatory benefit. I don't know what it is.

There was recent legislation passed, probably a year or two ago at the earliest.

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

When a veteran is having difficulty in the appeal process with your VA, and they go through the levels of appeal and eventually hit the judiciary, does the Government of the United States supply them with any legal assistance to assist them in their argument before the courts?

[Thomas Murphy]

We do. If an attorney comes in and represents the individual and they advance the claim, if it changes the compensation the veteran is owing in any way, we'll step in and pay what we call EAJA fees. We pay the legal fees, too, through the attorney.

Depending on the circumstances, there are some where those fees are paid by the veteran. We withhold them from the veteran's compensation that they would be receiving from us. It's a combination, depending on the outcome of the case.

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

When we were in Washington a few weeks ago, we heard from a woman who runs an organization called Give an Hour. She basically admitted very clearly, and so did the gentleman who runs Got Your 6.... These are two fabulous individuals who do a tremendous job for veterans and their families in the country. We were very impressed by their presentation. You should be very proud to have good people like them on your side.

She indicated that during the Vietnam War, the Government of the United States did a very poor job of looking after its veterans when they returned home from that service.

Is it fair to say that you have learned from those mistakes and have greatly improved the systems you have now in order to assist all your veterans?

[Robert Reynolds]

I would say without a doubt. I have many Vietnam air friends who were treated wrongly when they got home.

I think we are recognizing that as a nation now. As they are getting elderly now, many of them are coming to VA to receive the benefits and services they have earned.

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

Very good. Thank you.

[Thomas Murphy]

There are a couple of things that have happened that have drastically changed our world, starting with the introduction of the IDES program. It's no longer a case of your leaving the military and then someday you come to the VA. It's now a warm hand-off. If you're leaving the military, there's a VA to talk to before you go, and there's a transition plan. If you're injured, we do the evaluations of the individual. We line up the compensation for the individual so that when their military pay stops, their compensation from VA begins. We're not leaving an injured veteran out there to take care of themselves.

We owe them. We have an obligation to them. We have put the programs in place at the very highest levels in the government to ensure it goes forward that way.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Murphy, the next time I'm in Washington, if we could get that golf game together, that would be very good.

[Thomas Murphy]

I would love that.

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

Gentlemen, in Canada there is a program that assists our allied veterans. These are folks who fought beside Canadians in various conflicts, and they have immigrated to Canada and become Canadian citizens. There are certain benefits they may be able to apply for to assist them with some of their concerns.

Does the United States have any program to help any allied veterans with benefits who have moved to the United States and gained U.S. citizenry, or any veterans' concerns at all?

[Thomas Murphy]

I'm not aware of that.