Thank you very much for this invitation to speak to the ACVA committee on service delivery.
I'd also like to say hello to my colleagues and friends in the room.
The study on delivery of service to veterans suggested questions, so I polled the 8,000 members of Veterans Canada on three of these questions. I'll go over those polling results.
The first question that we submitted to the membership was as follows:
According to your organization and the veterans you represent, would you say that wait times for decisions have been reduced? If so, can you provide concrete examples or evidence in this respect?
Ninety-seven members responded to this question, and 90% of them said no.
I'll give you some of the live quotes that came from them. Here is one: “The answer would be a definite no.”
I can only refer to the veterans I personally have served with in my own case, which was a year or more ago.
The second quote was, “I can only speak about the apparent policy of Veterans Affairs to refuse claims outright, then hope that the person claiming will give up and go away. I'm presently in my fifth month of wrangling for medical benefits and see no clear end in sight.”
These are the responses from that first question.
I'll go on to the second question of that part, which was as follows:
Given that the primary reason for processing delays is incomplete applications, are you aware of any new initiatives to help veterans ensure their applications are complete?
One hundred and two people responded, and again 90% said no.
Here are a couple of the answers to that question.
One reads “I believe the staffers in offices often take the easiest route by returning files deemed incomplete, even though sufficient information was provided by the applicant to answer or act on the request.”
The second says, “I asked the advocate for help in filling out the application because I'm not competent in representing my medical situation. I told her I knew a doctor who is, but was denied permission to negotiate with him for his expertise. I feel as a result my claim will be negatively affected.”
Again, my response to this is that there appear to still be problems with incomplete applications, and as I have stated before, assistance used to be provided by the Bureau of Pension Advocates.
My suggestion once again is to return to the pre-1996 practice and have them hire full-time veterans to assist with applications once again. Please remove the Legion from access to back files, since we recently learned that that has been a problem. The Legion can still provide their service without accessing back files.
I'll go on to the next question, which was as follows:
Since delays can also be related to the transfer of medical records between the Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada, are you aware of any changes in the way these transfers occur?
One hundred members responded. Ninety per cent said no or that it was not applicable after release.
Here is one of the answers: “In my opinion, DND is prompt and efficient in forwarding retiree files. Time is lost when DVA delays assigning staff to review the file once received. DND should also transfer its existing clients' VAC files to both VAC and the veteran automatically, so those that have already released from DND and their files haven't been transferred, both should be automatically transferred.”
Now I'll go on to the next question, which was as follows:
Have you witnessed improvements in the way veterans with complex needs can interact with their case manager?
There were 102 responses, and 90% said no.
Here is one answer: “No. I was informed by the caseworker that she had done everything she could for me and would therefore no longer handle my case. Veterans Canada members have noticed that they have lost their case managers in the last few months to veterans service agents, even though they have complex needs and injuries.”
The second part of that question reads:
For veterans whose needs are not sufficiently complex to warrant the involvement of a case manager, do you think that the number of veterans' service agents, and their competence, is sufficient?
There were 108 responses, of which 90% said no and 10% said yes.
I'll go on to a quote from that one: “No, veterans service agents do not have enough training or understanding to help a veteran.”
Here's a second quote: “The service agents that I have encountered fill out the forms and process paper. There is no consultation on probability factors, questions, and otherwise any discussions with the veteran. There appears to be two standards and two classes of veterans.”
Do I still have time, Mr. Chairman?