It's a difficult one, and I don't know if I can answer this in 30 seconds. In a nutshell, the benefit of the doubt provision comes, essentially, from section 39 of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board Act, where it says, essentially that the board shall draw “every reasonable inference in favour of the applicant...; accept any uncontradicted evidence” that it “considers to be credible” and “resolve in favour of the applicant...any doubt in the weighing of evidence, as to whether the applicant...has established a case”.
That's where the benefit of the doubt comes from. The issue there is that it's the weight the evidence given by the veteran should be given. In criminal matters, we know that the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt. In civil matters, we know it's a balance of probabilities. On the balance of probabilities, it's slightly more that it is so than it is not. On veterans pensions matters, given the benefit of the doubt, the question is where that standard is. We know it's less than balance of probabilities, but it's somewhere between 1% and 49%, and exactly where that sweet spot is, is probably the question. We'd say, on behalf of the client, it's down closer to the 1%. The board is somewhere in between.