I will speak to you about my personal experience.
I'll admit that I felt forced to prove my condition. I had no choice. I had to submit reports and all kinds of documents. During that time, people in such a condition are suffering and are not receiving help. But the situation has changed considerably since then.
So, if you go to a VAC centre, and you follow the right procedure and submit precise requests, the people there take responsibility for the case very quickly. It's after this first urgent intake that the situation gets complicated and things start dragging on, so much so, that the veteran can lose patience. That's often what happens, in fact. Our organization tries to offset all that.
At this stage, I now feel like I'm on an equal footing with Veterans Affairs Canada. I no longer have anything to prove to them. Many veterans are listening to me now online, so I might not win a popularity contest by saying what I'm about to say. Some people are trying to prove that they've sustained injuries, but if the evidence has some gaps in it, or some files have been lost, it's a foregone conclusion that the department will take its sweet time. This can result in the people never getting access to those services.