Thanks very much.
Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to be back with you again. I recall that it was on March 10 that I attended this meeting. I went back to Charlottetown for the retirement of Michel Doiron, who retired that Friday, March 13, and so the pandemic began.
We are certainly living in interesting times. Canada's veterans and the organizations that serve them face extraordinary challenges in the face of this global pandemic. In what is now seven and a half months of this crisis, Veterans Affairs Canada continues to learn and to adapt to support the needs of our veterans and their families.
We began making adjustments as soon as the pandemic was declared last spring, creating a working group with our veteran stakeholders and making adjustments to how we can enable veteran well-being during this crisis. In addition, we shifted to having our employees work remotely from sanctuary, while ensuring that they could deliver services and programs by digital and virtual means. We invested in additional networking resources and established remote working procedures.
We learned how to use tools just like this, and learned new ways of working. Using these tools, we continue to connect directly with our veterans and their families, with veterans' associations and with stakeholders, hosting numerous gatherings of our veterans and stakeholders. Our folks continue to reach out to thousands of veterans who are case-managed, frail or potentially vulnerable due to the nature of their injuries, their illnesses or their circumstances to determine how we may assist them during this crisis. We have striven to ensure that our veterans and their families continue receiving the services and benefits they need for their well-being.
Since the start of the pandemic, we have continued to process and approve applications and to ensure that funds are dispensed through the disability and financial benefits programs. We have also adapted our benefits and services to align with public health protocols. For example, we've extended telehealth coverage to include not only mental health but physiotherapy, occupational therapy and other treatments. In addition, the cost of personal protective equipment needed for our veterans to receive treatment is being reimbursed.
With regard to the wait times—I know we're going to focus on that here today—we continue to advance in accordance with the plan we shared with members of the committee to honour our objective to achieve the service standard and clear the backlog.
In this 75th year after the end of World War II, we have also continued to recognize the service and sacrifices of those who served our nation, and we have moved to a virtual, remote event and launched new commemorative videos and podcasts delivered by digital media.
In conclusion, Veterans Affairs Canada continues to learn and to adapt in this new operational environment, and we will strive to enable the well-being of our veterans and families with care, compassion and respect.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.