Evidence of meeting #14 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd 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.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
12:35 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
Approximately 39%, so that would be roughly 320 of that 800 succeeded at appeal.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
My concern is the people who don't follow through because, quite frankly, the success rate as you go through each of these steps is quite high. It is encouraging to know that at the VAC level you've seen up the 85% of the claims being accepted. I was encouraged to hear you say that eight out of 10 were upheld at a federal level, as well. I believe the statistic for the year prior was 65%. There were only a few. There weren't a large number.
12:35 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
At the Federal Court, the 65% is driven, I believe, by the entire history of the board's Federal Court history from 1995 to present.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Okay. We've seen a dramatic increase in the last few years.
The big concern for me is the number of people who don't persevere through this, because it is just too painful and onerous a process. We started talking about this at the beginning in providing feedback to VAC, so we can keep more people out of the system the whole way through. If there was one poignant message or feedback that you have, what would that be?
12:40 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
I think we do, and we keep on talking to VAC and the Bureau of Pension Advocates. One of the reasons I'm also part of the DND-VAC steering committee is to talk about how these processes can be improved, based on the things I see in the service health records, and things like that. We do report back to the department on why we're overturning their decisions, so they can learn from that and begin to draw lessons. I think some of the improvement on the early grant rates is driven by some of that feedback.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Very good.
I'm willing to share my time if there's someone else.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
We talked a bit about the exit survey. My colleague may have already asked this, so my apologies if they did. When we do the exit survey, can you tell me the percentage of those who are responding—you may not know this—and who were successful versus unsuccessful?
12:40 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
We don't ask that question because it's an anonymous survey. Approximately 1,200 of the 2,500 individuals who participated in the review hearings completed the survey. We don't pair up the responses with their successes or failures, because the survey is anonymous.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
You're not sure if those who are responding are responding because they're more likely to have received a positive response or a negative response.
12:40 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
They respond immediately coming out of the hearing. They have not received their decision when they respond.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
They have not received their decision, okay. What is the response rate?
12:40 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
There were 1,200 out of 2,500 who completed the survey.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
That's approximately half.
Right now, what kind of technology are you using? I know you had mentioned you have 22 locations. Is there a possibility of expanding that? We heard about Montreal and other main centres. In Saskatchewan, or other locations, is there a possibility of doing these reviews using technology so veterans do not have to travel?
12:40 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
We offer video conferencing for all veterans at all hearings. I've committed that on critical injury benefit cases, if a veteran opts for a video conference, we'll have a decision within three weeks. That is just because a video conference is easier to schedule than an in-person hearing. No one has taken us up on that, though.
12:40 p.m.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
I was going to ask you how often people use this service.
12:40 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
I'll report back on the actual number. My impression of recollection is that about 37 people did it by video conferencing last year, even though the service has been widely available.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Mr. Jarmyn, you said there are five vacant positions. Does that contribute to delays or...?
12:40 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
No, there has not been an impact on our hearing schedule from the vacancies. Filling those five positions would give me some flexibility, because my members are all my age and above, which means that the realities of life are hitting them, such as they or their parents becoming ill, and their taking extended sick leave. I have greater flexibility in dealing with those challenges, if I have a full complement.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
I have read since 1931 there's been a body in Canada that reviews contestations coming from veterans. Your tribunal was created in 1995, and there's been a great improvement because before, with the Canadian Pension Commission, there was a wait of 542 days. Now it's 112 days. But perhaps we can compare your tribunal with, for example, the CSST that we have in Quebec, for injuries at work. How many days would someone wait in those kinds of commissions?
12:40 p.m.
Acting Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
I don't know about that in Quebec. I was a workers' adviser in Nova Scotia and I've done a lot of workers' compensation work. I think I can say with a fair bit of confidence that both the department and definitely VRAB, as compared to the workers' compensation appeals tribunal, is faster at scheduling cases and rendering decisions.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
That's interesting. How many tribunals do you have across the country?
