Veterans Affairs Committee on June 10th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much.

[Shane Carmody]

Mr. Chairman, we have about 10 minutes left. I just want you to keep that in mind and see whether we have anything else we could help you with.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Well, we have actually two more questions coming your way. They're a little bit shorter.

This is a four-minute round, so we'll definitely finish with you on time.

We now go to Mr. Chicoine, for four minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Bayles, earlier, we had the time to briefly talk about the review board. I would like you to tell me about the members who make up your board. What expertise do they require to be able to sit on the tribunal?

[Neil Bayles]

I'll talk about the Veterans' Review Board, a veteran-specific review body that is the first step of external review of a primary decision. Essentially the expertise required is of a legal nature or an ability to understand complex case law in a compensation space.

The board usually comprises three members, a senior member and two other members, for each particular case. We have a services member, which means the member has been nominated by the service organizations and has expertise in military service. We have some members who have expertise in the medical arena, that is, medical qualifications. The composition of any particular panel will be determined based on the case. As I said, there's a senior member who chairs, and there are two other members. So usually a panel of three will determine an appeal.

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

Thank you for your answer.

What process do you follow when appointing the participants? What kind of criteria are used? Who decides which members will make up the board and how long they will sit on it?

[Neil Bayles]

The head of the Veterans' Review Board, called the principal veterans review board member, will determine the composition of any panel. The positions on the Veterans' Review Board are advertised, and there's a process of merit selection conducted by the principal member.

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

Thank you for your answer.

Do you have any numbers on the percentage of cases decided in favour of veterans and their requests, compared to the percentage of cases rejected by the board?

[Neil Bayles]

Thank you.

Probably about 2,000 cases go to the Veterans' Review Board each year. About 40% are determined in favour of the veteran.

Most of the cases are not.... We allow the Veterans' Review Board to review a case de novo. In other words, they could look at new evidence. The vast bulk of cases turn in the favour of the veteran because of new evidence presented by the veteran or his or her representative. So it's not that we got it wrong at the primary decision; it's that more evidence has come forward in the appeal, either medical evidence or evidence from the veteran about the relationship between their condition and their service.

The Veterans' Review Board will often have a face-to-face meeting with the veteran and their advocate, and they're able to ask questions of the veteran and their advocate, which often elicits new information.

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

Thanks, Neil.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much for that.

For our last questioner, we'll go back to Ms. Adams, for four minutes, please.

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Thanks very much.

Just to follow up on the veterans review and appeals tribunal that we have, you had indicated that you provide assistance to some veterans through legal aid. Our assistance is not based on someone's financial means; it is simply provided to all veterans. They are provided with free legal assistance if they'd like to make an appeal to this tribunal.

Do you offer that, or is it just through your national legal aid system?

[Neil Bayles]

The national legal aid system has a component for veterans' legal aid. It relates to particular types of service—if the veteran has war-like or non-war-like service—and it depends on the merits of the case, not on the question of financial means. It's not run by the department. We don't determine whether legal aid will be provided. That is determined by our legal aid office.

The Veterans' Review Board does not deploy it, so legal aid is not available at the Veterans' Review Board. But we do provide some assistance in terms of paying for medical reports that are required to present a case, provided that the medical report is used in the decision.

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

I will turn towards funerals and burials, please. As part of our recent budget, we made an announcement to more than double the amount of money we will pay to compensate veterans for funerals, and then we pay for the entire burial cost. Can you tell me how Australia's funeral and burial program works?

[Neil Bayles]

Yes. We provide a funeral benefit, but it's not the full cost of the funeral; it is a contribution to the cost of the funeral. It is a capped amount and depends upon the act in which the compensation is paid. I might take that on notice and provide you with the levels of funeral benefits, because they vary depending upon the act. It's not meant to cover the full cost, but is a contribution.

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Would you be so kind as to forward that information at your convenience, please?

My very final question deal with assistance for veterans to transition into the civilian workforce. Can you briefly describe the types of programs that you might have available to encourage the private sector to hire a veteran?

[Shane Carmody]

We in Veterans' Affairs don't have any direct programs to encourage employers to hire veterans. There's a lot of discussion about that within the broader defence community at the moment. I know that the defence force is actively dealing in the marketplace with companies to try to encourage them to hire veterans, but at the moment we don't actually run a specific program to do that.

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Thank you very much. We've just started that ourselves, and we've had some wonderful successes in having universities and hospitals come on board, and wonderful private sector partners who are willing to offer priority hiring to our veterans. I wish you the very best of luck.

[Shane Carmody]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you.

You can tell that we have a great promoter of our programs here in the government for sure.

You did indicate that you would send along some further information or written answers, and our clerk will be in touch with you for that.

But I'd like to take this opportunity, Mr. Carmody, Ms. Daniel, and Mr. Bayles, to thank you very, very much for taking the time. I think you've added some good information for us to consider as we go forward, and maybe some time we'll come down to visit you there and see how it works down under. Thank you very much for being with us. All the best to you.

[Shane Carmody]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. We'd be happy to see you down here. Thank you. Goodbye.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Okay.

Everybody hold on for just a minute, please. What I just want to indicate is that we have no other witnesses and there's no other business scheduled. I'm quite prepared to go along with a general consensus, at least in my mind, that perhaps this will be the last meeting for the session, and that we reconvene....

[Eve Adams, Conservative, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Mr. Chair, if I might, on behalf of vice-chairs Stoffer and Casey, who have left for the evening, I want to thank you for your excellent work during this session and thank all members of this committee for their passion, their dedication, and their advocacy for our veterans.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you.

If we're in agreement then, we'll wind down after tonight. If something urgent comes up, we can reconvene because I know we'll be here right until the 21st. But as far as scheduled activity is concerned, this is all we have.

I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the committee, since we will not have the young lady back with us next fall, as she's decided to become a mother again, and by the time we get back—

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Cynara Corbin]

I'll be gone.