Evidence of meeting #5 for Veterans Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vac.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chief Informatics Officer, Canadian Forces Health Services Group, Department of National Defence
Yes, ma'am. Technically anything is possible. I'm not aware right now of where the minds of the transition group—who would be specifically responsible for that piece—rest on that specific item.
I will tell you that the second that VAC asks us for a file, it is a simple click of a mouse to add that person into what they can see.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Thank you.
I have a lot more questions, but that answers it. Thank you so much.
You say you have six adjudicators now working through that system. How long did it take to train them? How many files are they dealing with on a day-by-day basis?
Chief Informatics Officer, Canadian Forces Health Services Group, Department of National Defence
I don't know how many files they're dealing with on a day-by-day basis. That's a question my friends at VAC would have to answer.
Conservative
Chief Informatics Officer, Canadian Forces Health Services Group, Department of National Defence
It took us no more than a day or two to do the training.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Great.
Mr. Thomson, I want to thank you so much for your service and your bravery, even in standing here before us today. I'm sure you're familiar with the term “sanctuary trauma”. I can't help but sense that this whole process of waiting has had a negative impact on your own physical and mental health.
I just want to quote something from Mr. Gary Walbourne when he was the ombudsman for National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. Back in 2018, he said:
...the Canadian Armed Forces knows when, where, and how a member becomes ill or injured. The Canadian Armed Forces should tell Veterans Affairs Canada that the illness or injury is attributable to their service, and this determination be accepted.
This recommendation would decrease wait-times for veterans` services and benefits....
We're talking about the wait times based on the time when you are medically released, not other conditions down the road.
He says:
I made this recommendation in 2016, and Veterans Affairs Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces keep passing the hot-potato back and forth – creating some very fanciful excuses as to why it cannot...be done. The only thing they seem to agree on is maintaining the status quo at all costs. That is a problem of bureaucracy: it serves itself.
Now, in fairness, I'm going to say I'm hearing improvements in their working together to make this seamless transition become a reality for those of you who have served. I'm just wondering if you're aware that only 25% of CAF members who apply for disability benefits do so prior to their release.
You mentioned that you wished you had done that. Were you aware that it was a possibility?
As an Individual
Yes, I was. I didn't expect to be medically released as quickly as I was. I personally dragged my feet a little bit on it. Once I knew that I was being medically released I did start the process. Like I said, it's just taking far too long.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
I appreciate that. Part of the dynamic, I'm sure, is just dealing with the reality you're now facing that you're no longer a part of the armed forces and you are being medically released.
What paperwork did you receive explaining why you were being released? Who provided that to you?
As an Individual
I received a notification from the director of medical policy saying that I was being released due to this, because I didn't meet the universality of service and this was my release date.
I was able to request and be granted an extended period where I was able to look for and find a job, which happened very quickly, but it was a three-year period. That three-year period is up and I'm still waiting.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
I really appreciate that.
The truth of the matter is that what we want to do here is to take everything off the table and make it work properly. Given the fact that you left knowing exactly what your conditions were for why you had to leave, were you able to provide that information to VAC?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
I was hoping you were just wrapping up there.
I'm sorry. You are out of time.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Thomson.
Liberal
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to say thank you very much to all the witnesses who are appearing at the committee today.
Mr. Bouchard, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts to advance French-language services in the government. I'm proud to see that we have a good advocate for our French fact.
Mr. Thomson, as your local MP, I want to say thank you for your 30 years of service. When you reached out to our office, it was one of our staff members who spoke to you and certainly it was important that you had a chance to share with us what is happening to you as we were looking at the disability and the backlog.
However, first, I want to say thank you for your 30 years, sir, of serving our country. I appreciate it, and we all say thank you for that.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
I certainly share your concern regarding the lengthiness and the fact that the process and everything...that's why we are studying this. Maybe, Mr. Thomson, you can give us, in your own words, a few recommendations and say, “Marie-France, this has to take place. These are aspects that will help not only me in my circumstances but other veterans in our community.”
As an Individual
First and foremost, hire more people to process the applications and more adjudicators to look at them and make the decisions.
My claim with regard to my knees has been with the adjudicators for two or three months now and still nothing. When I talked to them I was told it would be possibly 64 more weeks, over a year more, before a decision would be made.
As I said, I just had my knee replaced. It is 64 weeks of not being able to do even the simplest things like shovelling my driveway and cleaning my house properly, because for walking around you need your knees and it's painful.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
That was the other thing, I heard, Mr. Thompson, the pain that you are experiencing, and I certainly sympathize with that because that's also unacceptable.
As an Individual
The pain is always there. I had gotten used to knee pain because I've been dealing with this for so many years, but I was not expecting the pain from a knee replacement to be as much as it is. I actually had to take one of my happy pills to be able to make it through two hours of the meeting.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
We are sorry we were late.
I want to go back through some of the recommendations. We talked a little about the work that's being done, and I know that it doesn't seem to be going as fast as we hoped, but on the information between the Canadian Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs in terms of transitioning the information, do you think that is very relevant? Do you believe that would certainly help?
As an Individual
I think it would. As soon as the military has decided a member is going to be medically released, that information should be forwarded to Veterans Affairs, because I believe that nine times out of 10 that member will be submitting an application if they haven't already. If that information is already in Veterans Affairs' hands, that should—Mr. Bouchard could verify this or argue it—help in the length of time it takes to complete a file and have a decision made.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Thank you again for presenting.
Chair, if I may, I would like to ask Mr. Bouchard a question. It may be relevant to how Mr. Thomson has answered his question.
This is also about the additional work and about having more access in French.
Mr. Bouchard, could you respond briefly to Mr. Thomson and tell us about the commitment to French-language services over the past few months?
Liberal
Deputy Chair, Veterans Review and Appeal Board
I can speak only from the board's perspective and tell you that veterans receive decisions in a timely manner, in both English and French.
I completely understand Mr. Thomson's comments and I greatly appreciated Ms. Wagantall's comments.
As a former public servant in the administration of the Canadian Forces with 37 years of experience, I can certainly tell you that, if a letter were to inform people and give them the opportunity to send the information directly to veterans, it would go a long way.