Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 7th, 2017

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

I call the meeting back to order.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on February 6, 2017, the committee resumes its comparative study of services to veterans in other jurisdictions.

In front of us today from the Department of Veterans Affairs are Mr. Doiron, the assistant deputy minister of service delivery, and Mr. Butler. I guess you're supposed to be Faith, but thanks for coming, Mr. Butler. We'll turn the floor over to you for 10 minutes.

[Bernard Butler, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Commemoration, Department of Veterans Affairs]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I much appreciate it.

As noted, my name is Bernard Butler. I'm the assistant deputy minister for strategic policy and commemoration with Veterans Affairs Canada.

Mr. Chairman, bonjour à tous. Many thanks for the opportunity to appear before the committee today. It's always a great pleasure to engage with you in the context of the important work you do on behalf of all of Canada's veterans and their families, and in this context in particular, in terms of a comparison of related benefits and services provided in other jurisdictions.

It is clear that since May 1, 2017, when I last appeared before this committee and you were just embarking on your study, you have been exposed to a wide array of testimony and evidence from a broad range of sources, from our allies to independent organizations. It would seem apparent that there are many similarities as well as differences in both the issues faced by veterans and the approaches that are developed to address them. Although all related benefits and services must be viewed and understood in the historical, socio-economic, and political context of each country that is looked at, it is equally clear that there is always opportunity to learn from best practices and innovative solutions that may be identified elsewhere.

Veterans Affairs Canada has over time endeavoured to ensure that its policies and practices are evidence-informed and based on credible research and best practices in other jurisdictions and complementary to other available programs from the Government of Canada. I would strongly encourage the committee to look at veterans' benefits and services from a whole-of-government perspective, including those benefits provided by the Canadian Armed Forces in terms of programming, such as superannuation benefits, long-term disability benefits, and insurance coverages.

The Veterans Affairs Canada departmental plan for 2017 and 2018 makes it clear that our focus is the well-being of our veterans and their families, and that we seek to provide the best possible benefits and services tailored to their needs. In this context, “well-being” is defined as being determined by multiple factors, including a need for purpose, financial security, housing, health, family and community, resilience, and identity. I have no doubt that this is not entirely different from what you have heard from many of your witnesses. How each jurisdiction achieves this as an outcome, however, may well differ.

What is striking is the commonality of issues that veterans and their families are experiencing across most of these jurisdictions, whether it be the United States, the U.K., Australia, or New Zealand. Transition from military to civilian life, employment, mental health, and support to families appear to be common themes.

As you are aware, there have been many improvements made to programming for veterans, and in particular to the new Veterans Charter since its implementation in 2006. Much of the investment on behalf of the Government of Canada has been directed to these very themes, and all of it has been designed to support the desired outcome of well-being as described above. All of this should be considered as well in the context of a wide range of benefits available to veterans through other VAC programs, such as the veterans independence program; our health care program, including treatment benefits and long-term care; case management; and rehabilitation.

Some of the more significant investments from budget 2016 and budget 2017 have been directed along the themes of supporting transition, providing better support to families, and investing in mental health services and care for veterans at risk. I'm just going to highlight a few of those, such as the hiring of some 400 additional staff to reduce the ratio of clients to case managers to an average of 25 to one; increasing the income support benefit, the earnings loss benefit, from 75% to 90% of pre-release salary; increasing the disability award benefit to $360,000; delivery of a suicide prevention strategy; support to families through the caregiver recognition benefit; expanded access to military family resource centres; ending of time limits for surviving spouses to apply for vocational rehabilitation; creation of the veterans' education benefit; establishment of a centre of excellence for PTSD and related mental health conditions; enhancement of career transition services; creation of a veteran and family well-being fund and a veteran emergency fund; and an outreach strategy to ensure that veterans and their families are informed of the range of supports available to them.

These initiatives should serve Canada's veterans and their families well. At the same time, we continue to work in support of our minister's remaining mandate commitments, including the reduction in complexity of our programming, strengthening our partnership, streamlining our financial benefits, and re-establishing a lifelong pension as an option.

We will continue to work with our federal and provincial partners and not-for-profit organizations in areas such as homelessness and unemployment, and we will continue to work hard to ensure that releasing members and their families can access the rights, benefits, and services more quickly, more efficiently, and more effectively. I have no doubt that the work of this committee in its comparative review of veterans and their families in other jurisdictions will prove of great value to us as we move forward.

In closing, I would like to thank you for your efforts and this opportunity to appear today. I will turn now to my colleague, Michel Doiron, who is going to speak in more detail about what the department is doing to assist veterans and families in transition.

Thank you very much.

[Michel Doiron, Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery, Department of Veterans Affairs]

Thank you.

Good morning, Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice-Chair, members of the committee, and ladies and gentlemen.

I'm happy to be here this morning.

First, I'd like to thank you for all the efforts you have made to improve services for veterans and for exploring benefits offered in other countries.

As my colleague outlined, our mission is to improve the well-being of veterans and their families. We take a comprehensive approach to veterans' well-being. Our objective is to help all our servicemen and women transition successfully into civilian society and to assist each of them in finding the new normal. We are committed to the re-establishment of veterans through wellness as well as a recognition of lifelong commitment, and we have made great strides in enabling well-being. Recent surveys have indicated that we are on the right track.

In the first survey since 2010, 82% of our veterans indicated that their case management plans met their needs. That's a significant increase from 2010, when only 24% were satisfied.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

What's the date on that?

You said since 2010. Is this survey from 2015, 2016?

[Michel Doiron]

The report was from 2017. We just did it.

Additionally, 81% responded that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the support they were receiving from Veterans Affairs.

Nearly 75% responded that our services exceeded their expectations. This is why we're working closely with the Department of National Defence to make sure the transition process runs smoothly and as harmoniously as possible. We know that transition is the first step in an efficient well-being model.

Together with CF, we're working on implementing a new employment strategy, aligning DND, CAF, and VAC transition programs and services and implementing a new veterans ID card for releasing members and veterans as a formal and meaningful way of providing them with a tangible symbol of valued membership and recognition as veterans.

We're also working at enhancing transition services and supports and implementing an education and awareness campaign that is targeted at CAF members, veterans, families, and key stakeholders.

One of our biggest endeavours so far has been the guided support pilot project. Launched in a few cities across the country, a group of veterans were identified to receive one-on-one assistance when applying for benefits and services, to ensure they're getting the most out of what the department has to offer.

The pilot project has been receiving tremendous feedback so far. It addresses the largest issue of veterans not always knowing the right questions to ask to receive the appropriate services. Our department does the hard work of navigating the systems and providing veterans with the specific information and advice they need. We are looking forward to the next step with this project in rolling it out nationally.

Ultimately, all releasing CF members, veterans, and their families will feel supported and have the knowledge and the ability to access the range of services available to assist them with their transition to civilian life.

Thank you again for the opportunity to address this committee, Mr. Chair. I look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

You have six minutes, Mr. McColeman.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for being here to speak with us today and answer questions.

Yesterday the Canadian Press reported on increasing wait times. You've mentioned all the investments you've made, all the money that's flowed through the two most recent budgets, and yet wait times for decisions are going up significantly, not down.

How do you explain that?

[Michel Doiron]

There are a couple of ways to explain it.

First of all, what was reported was in relation to our disability programs. We have multiple programs that were specifically on the disability side of the house. It is correct that the wait times have gone up. The reality is that we've taken various steps to accelerate adjudication. We've increased our efficiency by 22%. However, our incoming has increased by over 27%, just in disability awards. Add to that a lot of new programming.

We're just being swamped, if I can use that terminology; I know it's not very scientific.

As an example, two years ago we had approximately 35,000 applications come to us. Last year we had 53,000, and this year it's probably going to be closer to 60,000. The numbers are just going through the roof.

The good news is that veterans are coming forward. Veterans are better aware. The communication is better. The programming, I think, is more advantageous. The percentage of approval from first application has gone up, so I think now people are saying they can apply and have a good chance of being told yes.

Unfortunately, we're struggling to meet those timelines and we're struggling to meet the volumes. We've taken steps to address this, but we still have a way to go. Those volumes are still going up, so we're working hard to try to address that.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

It would seem to me that the money you get from the budgets, if you're in management, would be well spent adding resources to keep those wait times in line with what they were and to not allow them to go up. Do you need more funding?

[Michel Doiron]

Yes. The reality is that the money we get is for specific programs. Our money is attached to specific programs, so the department spends most of this money on programming, not on the administration. We have a very small amount of funds that we can move between programs, to be honest. We are looking, but even before we put an ask in, we were really looking at whether we could eliminate some of the steps and look at efficiencies. That should always be the first thing to do, to see if there are any efficiencies to be had within the department, but for sure, with these types of numbers, I think it's beyond just the efficiencies now. I think we're hitting the point where we're going to need some other help.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Okay.

Marc Lescoutre of Veterans Affairs was recently quoted in the press as stating that Veterans Affairs “is regularly examining the entire disability application process from intake to decisions to expedite decisions and respond to veterans' needs more quickly.” How often is “regularly”? That's my first question. Are there reports to upper management in writing? Do they contain recommendations?

Can you answer those three questions?

[Michel Doiron]

I can.

How often is regularly? I will have been there for four years in December, and we've been working on continuous process improvement since then. We have actually implemented new processes and eliminated steps in the processes as we've gone along. We still have a long way to go. It is a very old system. It's an old law. We have to comply with it, but we're trying to make those changes.

Is it in writing? Yes, we have reports in writing. We are looking at all the ways to improve this.

I forget what the third question was.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Do the reports contain recommendations?

[Michel Doiron]

They do.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Okay. I'll stop you there then.

Can we get copies of those reports?

[Michel Doiron]

Yes, but they're briefing notes, not reports, just to be clear.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Can the committee get copies of those?

[Michel Doiron]

Yes.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you.

In his remarks last week to our committee, the defence ombudsman also mentioned a great deal of resistance to his reporting regarding service attribution.

Why is your department resisting his recommendations? What is it about them that you object to?

[Michel Doiron]

First of all, I don't think we're the only ones objecting to his report, but you would have to raise the second part with the CAF, not with me. I can't speak on their behalf, because he is their ombudsman.

From our perspective, when it comes to the medical adjudication, we serve not only the serving members. The doctors at CAF can do only service attribution or determine what caused the illness of the serving members, and I don't even know if they can do that. We have a whole series of veterans out there, so you would bifurcate a system. You would have two systems, one for still-serving members and one for veterans, which, in my view, makes no sense. We are trying to get closer to our colleagues at CAF and have one process, whether it is rehab or, in this case, adjudications or finding employment, as opposed to bifurcating a system.

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Mr. Fraser.

[Colin Fraser, Liberal, West Nova, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank both of our witnesses for being here today and for their presentations.

First I'd like to touch on something Mr. McColeman was speaking to, the Canadian Press story yesterday regarding the delays that seem to have gone up for disability or medical benefits.

Can I take it from what you say that there's a catching up happening right now, that veterans are coming forward, that they feel like maybe there would be an increased chance of their application being approved? Is the idea that there is a backlog because more people are coming forward now, but it would be temporary, and as we get through these, eventually that delay would be addressed and it would subside? Is that right?

[Michel Doiron]

Yes, there are more coming forward. On the first part of your question, I would agree with you. More people are coming forward; it doesn't matter where. We have a 36% increase in rehab. The numbers everywhere are very high and we're working to get rid of the backlog.

Where I'm not so sure is I can't predict what future volumes are going to be, even with all the steps we put into place to try to accelerate the process and the 22% increase in production. Had you asked me two years ago if we would have a backlog if we increased production by 22%, I would have said no, that we're going to go the other way. I could not predict a 27% increase in the workload.

With all the new programs that the government is putting into place, more people are coming forward. I'm always a little leery to say there will never be a backlog. In operations, that's a commitment I'm not comfortable making. The commitment I am comfortable making is that we're trying to get rid of the backlog to the extent we can, to bring our standards within the prescribed standards.

We are removing steps in the process to make it faster. The percentage of approval at first level fluctuates a bit, but generally it's around 84%. That means the person who comes in for the first time with an application gets a yes. That has moved from the low 70s a couple of years ago. In the case of mental health, it's 94%, and 97% for PTSD. We're really accelerating some of that, but there are some other ones for which it takes longer.

I don't want to share the blame; I'm the guy. If we're not meeting the standards, it's me, but the reality is that sometimes a medical diagnosis is not clear and we can't render a decision. We have to go back to the medical practitioners, and it starts adding a lot of time to the process. That's why there's some of the stuff that comes into play.

For the future I would love to say yes, our plan is yes, but I can't predict the volumes.

[Colin Fraser, Liberal, West Nova, NS]

Overall, though, your understanding is that there is a greater awareness in the veterans community as it relates to the benefits and services available and the enhancements that have been made, and that is the reason we're seeing an increase in the number of applications coming forward. Is that correct?

[Michel Doiron]

Absolutely, sir. More people are aware. We have new benefits that are very interesting. There is more awareness, more communication. There's more dialogue, stakeholder engagement, and involvement. I think when you put that all in the pot, there's more.