Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 18th, 2020

[Virginia Vaillancourt]

In September and October, we completed a second survey to do with harassment, discrimination and mental health in the department. That's where our focus was, and that survey came out of the first survey results.

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

Thank you.

I'd like to go now to the Canadian Legion. I can't say enough about the work you people do. You keep astonishing me with your stories of what's happening on the ground. I have five Legion branches here in the riding of Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, and the help you provide to veterans and their families is just exceptional. I can't thank you enough.

I'm hopeful that the new funding you will receive, which was approved a few weeks ago, is going to help you continue to do the work you're doing to help veterans and their families.

I have a couple of quick questions, and any one of you can answer.

In your opinion, what are the most common sticking points you see with some claims that are taking much longer to process than others? That is my first question.

The second one is whether, in your opinion, there are any processes that you would like to suggest we could change right away

[Raymond McInnis]

I'll start and I'll let anyone else jump in.

What I'm seeing the most is inconsistencies. As I said in my testimony, I have no idea what to tell a veteran, except that I know what month and what year adjudication is working on but don't know how many claims have been sent to VAC for that month or year.

Then the DM mentioned the other day that the Legion had a case that was done in 10 weeks. Unfortunately, as part of the question we had when we were speaking with the DM, I also have a claim that took 80 weeks. That was 80 weeks versus 10 weeks.

How do you explain to a veteran who has a mental health condition why it takes 10 weeks for one veteran and 80 weeks for another?

It's the inconsistencies that are creating a lot of frustrations right now, frustrations with the fact that they're not getting the answers when they send in.... They're on step 3, say, in their My VAC Account on a disability application. What does that really mean? No one is giving them a definitive answer.

Of course, everyone thinks of money. I'll go back to what Chad said before. We look for entitlement, and entitlement means treatment. Treatment is the most important part of this process.

Of course, that's not the case for every veteran. Some veterans are only looking at the financial assessment.

One thing that happens is that a lot of people say let's move that claim up, because they're in financial need. There is no guarantee that the claim is going to be favourable to begin with, but it's the entitlement portions that we'll go with.

Also, when it comes down to ways to speed up the process, they have a lot of good initiatives on the go. They just haven't put them into action yet.

Regarding the veteran benefit teams you mentioned, yes, they started in June. They are spread out across the country. One is taking care of the RCMP; one is the francophone VBT. We're starting to see some claims coming through now, but we need more of them and we need them up to speed.

The training for the VSAs, the new employees, between us and my command service officers across the country, is complex. The disability application process is complex; you can't speed up that training. We're not going to see the benefits of these new employees until the February-March time frame.

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

Thank you. I don't have much time. I have two quick questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

You have 10 seconds, sir.

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

You mentioned that at the OSI clinic travel wasn't included. My understanding is that it was for veterans.

Second, you talked about empowering front-line workers, and I believe there has been a change to allow front-line workers to adjudicate up to $10,000. Are you aware of that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Please give a very brief answer.

[Raymond McInnis]

That was not my testimony. The $10,000 is just on the veterans emergency fund. Front-line workers cannot adjudicate claims, and we're talking about the backlog here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much.

Sorry, folks. My job officially is the official interrupter, so I apologize for that. Next, for two and a half minutes, is MP Desilets.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to start by congratulating two of the Veterans Ombudsman Commendation recipients. Brigitte Laverdure received the honour for her commitment to helping women veterans, including those in the LGBTQ+ community, and Marie-Claude Gagnon received the honour for her considerable efforts to help veterans affected by military sexual trauma. I wanted to take a brief moment to recognize and thank them.

My question is for Mr. Maxwell.

I really appreciated what you said about prevention and pre-release efforts. That is just common sense. Much of the focus is on the backlog, but it would be better to address the situation a bit sooner.

Before veterans leave the Canadian Armed Forces—when they are still serving members—would it be possible to get things in order and check for any medical problems or issues?

[Scott Maxwell]

Thanks for the question. That's something we've heard time and again. When we talk about health care, we're talking about medically releasing injured veterans, injured members of the Canadian Forces. As we always say in health care, timely access is key. I don't know why it's not similarly being seen that way when it comes to timely access to disability benefits and awards that they're entitled to and deserve.

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

Why isn't that happening when the person is still in the Canadian Armed Forces, Mr. Maxwell?

[Scott Maxwell]

That's a great question. It's something I've asked time and again. The release process takes time. You don't just medically release tomorrow. There's often six months to a year timeframe, or longer sometimes. There is a period here. There is a window in which we should be doing this right off the bat, making that transition somewhat seamless, if not entirely. We can begin to put in place these processes early so that, at the end of the day, a veteran doesn't have to leave their family, the Department of National Defence, and retell their story time and again in an entirely new world.

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

I understand completely.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much.

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

I'm new to the committee. I found out a few months ago that veterans, members who were leaving the Canadian Armed Forces, received three days of training in preparation for their release, so they would know what to expect.

Wouldn't it be more appropriate for those three days—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

I have to interrupt you. I'm sorry. We're already 30 seconds over time. There might be some time at the end to ask a final question, but we have to get there.

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

All right. Thank you.

My apologies.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

That's okay.

Next, we have MP Blaney for two and a half minutes.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Ms. Vaillancourt, if I can just come back to you, I'm looking for a little clarity. Is the skill set and education required for a disability adjudicator the same as a veteran service agent or case manager? Are these positions within the department at all transferable?

[Virginia Vaillancourt]

The educational qualifications are not the same for the positions, and they've actually just again changed the education requirements for the case managers. They could potentially be transferable to some degree. Whether they would be able to provide an acting or a developmental opportunity depends on what the veteran service agents or case managers have as knowledge and skills, but they do require a nursing background in adjudication.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you. That's really helpful.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer did a report that talked about the need to substantively hire more people and to stop referring to them as temporary hires, which is what we're hearing again and again from the Minister's office, and call them permanent.

The ministry seems to think they did not get all the information, which the PBO was very concerned about because, of course, to do their recommendations, they asked for that information. Basically, with the framework that the ministry, VAC, is using right now, it means that veterans will have to wait until 2023 to even get that backlog caught up.

Ms. Vaillancourt, when you hear that hiring more people could get that flow happening and get veterans the money they deserve more quickly, what do you think about that? Is that a plan that makes sense to you?

[Virginia Vaillancourt]

We need to have more resources right across the board in order to properly support our veterans. The biggest issue is trying to get them the treatment they need in a timely manner. We need to beef up every position across the department, from intake right through to case managers, absolutely.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Maxwell, I saw you nodding. Do you have a comment on that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Please give a brief answer.