Thank you.
Mr. Chair and honourable committee members, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
With me, as you know, is Jacques Bouchard, and I'm going to share my comments with Jacques today. I should note that Jacques is also a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces.
At a high level, the primary mandate of the board is to ensure that veterans and their families receive the disability benefits to which they are entitled. We provide an independent appeal process to veterans, members of the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP, and their families who are dissatisfied with the outcome of their disability claim, either a denial of that claim, or they disagree with the extent of the disability being awarded.
VRAB offers two levels of review, an initial review of the Veterans Affairs decision and a further appeal if veterans remain dissatisfied with the initial review of the board. However, it is important to note that there is a third level of review, and veterans can always bring forward new evidence or a new argument and request that the previous decision of the board be reconsidered.
The board's role in the overall disability process is unique. Most importantly, it is often the first and only opportunity for veterans to appear in person and tell their story. Critical to our work is the legislative mandate to conduct our hearings in an informal and non-adversarial manner as much as possible. Regrettably, I acknowledge the board may not have always lived up to that promise. Jacques and I are committed to ensuring that we provide a hearing environment that is comfortable and welcoming to veterans and their families.
Over the past 18 months, we have aggressively reviewed and updated our process and training in this regard. More specifically, we are creating a more informal, less legalistic and more compassionate approach. This is especially important since many of the veterans who appear before us are vulnerable, and they face challenges simply meeting the daily activities of living.
Approximately 40% of the veterans who seek disability benefits have both physical and mental health concerns. We must have a system that is welcoming to veterans and their families and gives them the best opportunity to advocate for the disability benefits to which they entitled.
It is also important to note that, over the past two years, both the nature and the volume of our work has changed. The changes made by VAC resulting in higher favourability rates at the first application stage have caused a change in the nature of the cases we are hearing. For example, we are hearing more cases about the quantum of the disability being awarded rather than whether a disability was awarded.
In addition, VAC's implementation of more favourable policies on entitlement has created a boomerang effect. These positive initiatives have helped to process current claims faster and more favourably, but it has also opened the door for veterans previously denied entitlement or entitled at a lower level to come forward and have their claim reviewed. This is indirectly adding new claims to the mix.
In the last few years, we've heard about 5% of VAC's overall decisions for review. In 2018 we heard approximately 2,000 cases. This year we are experiencing a dramatic increase in the applications over last year, primarily due to the boomerang effect.
However, these challenges have created opportunities. For example, we have implemented a simplified hearing process for certain types of claims. This has allowed us to dramatically increase the number of cases we have been able to process and hear. A simplified hearing process provides a quicker, more streamlined option for veterans to have their cases reviewed. It has freed up capacity in the regular hearing schedule to hear more complex cases more quickly. In addition, it has the potential to ease the caseload burden at Veterans Affairs at the departmental review level.
I'd like to ask Jacques to tell you a little more about those things that we've been doing.