Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate being given this opportunity to deal with this motion.
Quite frankly, this is the most pressing issue that's facing our veterans community today. I have heard—as I am sure many members of Parliament have—from veterans across the country about just how concerned they are about the backlog. We have lawsuits that have been launched against Veterans Affairs as a result of the backlog.
I think what was most striking to me during the testimony we heard from our subsequent witnesses was the fact that when we talk in the context of backlogs, we have to remember that these are people who served this country, who signed the blank cheque, as Mr. Walbourne said, and their families. When they get caught up in these types of situations, it has a profound effect on the state of their families, the state of their mental health and the confidence they have in their government's ability to have their backs and “have their six”.
What I heard from the minister today, quite frankly, was the same thing we've been hearing for many months: that this is a priority for the minister. I don't doubt that it is a priority for the minister, but what most concerns me is the fact that the process is not in any way—at least, I'm not confident in this—going to change to address this backlog in a manner that is required.
We've heard there are options available. I truly.... I lost my temper with the minister because I'm tired of hearing.... I've been dealing with this for four years, in my previous stint as veterans affairs critic at the time, and we have heard Mr. Walbourne talk about this for 11 years. This is not a people issue. This is a process issue, and there are process recommendations that have been made over the years to address this situation. We heard a lot of those process recommendations today.
My fear is that those recommendations are not even being considered by the government. What we're doing is effectively layering on more bureaucracy—more process, in a way—for veterans, and hoops and hurdles for them to have to go through to have their claims processed. We're hearing and seeing this, and Mr. Scott talked about the cases, the lawsuits across this country, because veterans are feeling compelled now to sue their government, despite the fact that the Prime Minister said that no veteran should have to fight their government in court for the benefits they deserve. We're seeing this happen across the country, because that level of frustration and anxiety is happening within the veterans community and in their families.
I am not confident, walking away from this meeting—and I think the evidence is pretty clear—that things are going to change any time soon. We made specific reference to the fact that government turned on a dime—on a dime—when the COVID crisis hit to allow the CERB benefit, the student benefit and the wage subsidy to go out the door quickly. In many cases, as was mentioned, for the student benefit, 15- to 18-year-olds, by simply pressing “send” on a computer, were having money deposited into their accounts within a period of three to five days, yet here we are with a backlog that is well beyond where it needs to be and, in some cases, yes, it's lasting two years.
The process has to be improved to a point where I believe that we give veterans the benefit of the doubt, and in the context of COVID, it's becoming increasingly difficult for veterans to be able to supply to Veterans Affairs the information, the documentation and the medical documentation that's required in order for them to have their claims processed and adjudicated.
As for throwing more people at this problem, while it may have an impact in the longer term, in the near term I'm not confident. What this motion reflects is my lack of confidence in the government's ability to address this issue in the immediate term, the emergency term, the urgent term that our veterans and their families are facing right now. They cannot, Mr. Chair, continue to have their claims go through a process that is not working for them.
Quite frankly, I didn't get the sense today—I certainly heard this from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, and I didn't hear it from the minister—that there was any sense of confidence that this thing, this backlog problem, is going to improve any time soon. I think the House needs to be made aware of not just what we heard today, and I think there has to be some discussion within the House on the solutions that are possible to provide the government in order to fix this very dire, very grave situation for veterans and their families in this country.
I propose this motion, Mr. Chair, with the sincerest intent to find a resolution to this.
Thank you.