Veterans Affairs Committee on April 12th, 2021

[Steven Harris]

Yes, that's correct, Deputy.

What we've done is shift to a virtual environment where we're using, as the deputy noted earlier, not only our call centre, our online service from My VAC Account and text messages, but also things like this—Zoom and MS Teams—to be able to reach out and communicate with our veterans, those who may have questions about this. For those who are case managed, we have a variety of ways to continue to support and connect with them. Many people didn't come into the office before this. We were serving them remotely before now. That's something that has continued during this period as well.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

How does that work in rural and remote communities with our veterans who are struggling with connectivity?

[Steven Harris]

There are multiple ways in which people can continue to connect with us, be it by phone or by text message, or by using the Internet and MS Teams and things of that nature as well. We have a variety of ways for people to be able to connect with us, including written communication or fax communication as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

I'm really sorry to do this, guys, but I'm going to have to suspend again. We've apparently lost the phone line, so anybody listening in and staffing and others have all been dropped.

Todd, we're going to pause your time. In fact, we're probably going to give you a little time back, because I think they've been dropped for a few seconds here.

We're going to suspend and try to get the technical stuff dealt with.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Sorry about the disruption, Todd. Go ahead.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

First, I just want to make a comment.

For those who have been listening in and were listening to the last session with the minister, there was somebody actually listening from our local Veterans Affairs office regarding the issue with the female veteran. They have contacted my office and we will be putting them in touch with the veteran. I just wanted to say thank you to that person who is listening in. Give kudos where kudos are due.

General, I just want to be very clear. Is it your testimony today that the nine offices that were shuttered, and indeed one more, have been open during COVID?

[Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk]

They're accessible. All of the offices are accessible in the same way that our headquarters buildings are accessible. We're not providing services out of those facilities, but our employees can come and go. We are using multiple channels to provide services to our veterans, but a walk-in service is not being provided at our locations. Really, from a service provision standpoint, we're able to meet the needs through all these other low-touch capabilities.

Steven, do you want to mention a bit about what we've been doing?

[Steven Harris]

Absolutely.

From a call centre point of view, we're taking more than 1,500 calls a day. We're getting more than 600 contacts from a My VAC secure message point of view. We're doing the outreach the minister and deputy spoke to earlier. We're including in that people who are able to do in-home visits and occupational therapy assessments in emergency situations, with all the proper protocols in place.

There's an enormous amount of outreach; there's an enormous amount of contact and there are many touchpoints between our veteran clients, their case managers and the staff at Veterans Affairs at this stage.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

They're not open, but they're accessible through the different communication lines. A veteran today could not walk into a local Veterans Affairs office. They have to go through My VAC or the 1-866 number or other means.

[Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk]

That is correct, sir.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Okay. I guess the question I have for the general is: In the foreseeable future, is this the level of communication that will continue for our veterans?

[Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk]

Sir, we're going to adjust our position based upon the local health protocols in all the areas. Again, Veterans Affairs doesn't own any real property. We're the tenant everywhere we go. All we own is two cemeteries, just so you know, and Vimy Ridge. Besides that, we work with PSPC, as a department. As soon as the local health authority has indicated that it's all green lights and we can move forward and we've reached that level of safety, then we will provide greater access—the 10% and the 25%—into our offices going forward.

However, what we are hearing—again, through stakeholder meetings, and we're having a lot of them—is that we are generally meeting the needs across the country through all of these multiple channels Mr. Harris laid out.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you, General.

Now over to MP Samson for five minutes, please.

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

Thank you very much.

I'm glad to have the opportunity to speak. It's been a busy day.

I'd like to, first of all, thank the deputy and staff for their hard work through this pandemic. I know that working remotely when COVID hit us was very challenging, but in a very short period of time you were able to get 90% of the staff working remotely, equipped and capable of delivering. I know we were delivering at par or better, but I also realize there were fewer applications as well during a certain amount of time.

I also appreciate all the briefing I get, because it can be tough out there, but you guys are handling it quite well. I'm happy for that, and thank you.

During the first session, the minister shared something I thought we should come back to. We've seen the backlog move from 23,000 down to 15,000, which, if I do my calculation correctly, is about a 30% to 35% drop. I realize there may be fewer applicants throughout this process because of timing and during COVID and all, but those are really good numbers. I'd really appreciate it if you could share with Canadians some of the key things you've noticed—the areas in your plan that are really making a difference right now in helping us move the backlog forward.

[Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk]

Sir, thanks very much. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee for the recommendations that have come before and that have assisted us in getting the horsepower—the staff horsepower—and developing the plan, as we did, in order to move forward. I'll ask Steven to address those, under all four pillars, if he would.

Steven, thank you.

[Steven Harris]

Thanks, Deputy.

Thanks very much for the question.

I think we've seen progress on a number of levels. Clearly, as the minister mentioned earlier, there has been the additional hiring we've done over the course of the pandemic with the money we received through the supplementary estimates. That has meant an additional 350 people who are now fully trained and working independently and making decisions on files that are beyond our service standard, files that have continued to come in, in terms of applications, over the course of the last little while.

We've organized ourselves differently. We've organized ourselves into veterans benefit teams that put all of the elements required to make decisions on behalf of veterans into one team. We've organized those teams amongst both our long-term staff and staff that we've just received through some of these spike and surge hires as well. They have coalesced into units that are able to make decisions and organize themselves to be able to do so on a quick basis.

We're also looking at changes to the way in which we both receive and process applications, making the process as easy as possible on behalf of the veteran and also getting the information into the hands of decision-makers as quickly as possible. That can include how we obtain service records from either the Canadian Armed Forces or areas such as Library and Archives Canada or other areas of DND. We've streamlined the process. We've been able to accelerate that as much as possible, even in the time of COVID-19, to ensure that information can come in as quickly as possible.

We're also looking at automation, in terms of the way in which the process and the systems work, to look at the most effective tools we can use to search the information that comes in and to identify the pertinent information for making a decision. Often when a medical file comes in for review, it can be substantial and lengthy. We need to be able to go through it as quickly as possible to make decisions and find the pertinent information to allow our team to make a decision as quickly as possible. Those are a couple of examples that have helped us to move in the right direction. There is more work to do.

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

Thank you, Mr. Harris. This information is very important to Canadians.

Let's now discuss commemoration activities. As mentioned earlier, the committee is preparing a study on this extremely important topic. I know that the government wants to invest in the commemoration and recognition of our veterans.

Last Friday was Vimy Ridge Day, and I participated in an activity.

What major commemorative celebrations will Veterans Affairs Canada be promoting this summer?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Could we have a very brief answer, please.

[Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk]

I'll just say, sir, that we certainly are working with the veteran stakeholders and the commemoration advisory group in recognizing a number of events. This is the year when the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Kapyong is coming up, on April 22 and 23. We have National Peacekeepers' Day on August 9 this summer. In between, there is Beaumont-Hamel coming up on July 1. I should probably sum it up there, and Christopher can perhaps address some on a subsequent question.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you.

Now we'll go over to MP Desilets for two and a half minutes.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Natynczyk, could you confirm what I heard about veterans being able to get answers over the telephone in two minutes? Did I hear that right?

[Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk]

Sir, we have found that the efficiency of our call centres has actually improved during the pandemic. With our employees working from home, they have actually been reaching a higher level of productivity than we saw prior to the pandemic. We're learning in this regard. I'll ask Mr. Harris to address this point.

[Steven Harris]

You're right that people get an answer in two minutes. The standard is two minutes, and over 80% of callers get an answer in less than two minutes.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

If this is the case—and I'm not questioning it—I'm really impressed, because the slowness and the poor quality of the telephone system have been discussed at length in this committee.

There were reports of wait times of up to half a day at times, poor responses and coordination difficulties.

Is this data recorded and available?

[Steven Harris]

Yes, the data is included in reports distributed each year. We can certainly provide these reports to the committee.