Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Honourable Chairman and members of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, it is a great pleasure to appear in front of your committee on behalf of our over 250,000 members and their families.
I am the acting director of veterans services at the national headquarters of the Legion, and I'm also a retired military health care administrator. I've been assisting veterans, including still-serving members, veterans who have retired—RCMP members included—and their families for about 16 years in various roles, in and out of uniform.
Since 1926, we have been assisting veterans and their families with representation to Veterans Affairs Canada and with the Veterans Review and Appeal Board for disability entitlement and treatment for their service-related injuries and illnesses. Our 27 professional command service officers across the country and their assistants are trained professionals, are government security cleared, and provide free assistance to those they need to help whether they are Legion members or not.
This past year they met, spoke with, and assisted thousands of veterans and their families in obtaining VAC benefits and services that they deserve for their service injuries and illnesses. As such, I believe we can speak confidently and with credibility about what we are seeing and hearing about the rehabilitation contract. Veterans Affairs Canada case managers establish relationships and help veterans to determine and to help them with their individual goals to assess if there are any barriers to achieve these, and to identify the available information and services for the veterans in order to achieve these.
Public Services and Procurement Canada awarded the national contract to Partners in Canadian Veterans Rehabilitation Services in June 2021 on behalf of Veterans Affairs. Under the contract, we have been advised that case managers will continue to work directly with veterans and their families to ensure the best possible outcomes for health and well-being. These are at the heart of what we want for our veterans and their families and are what they deserve.
The new contract intent, from our understanding, is to reduce administrative burdens and to provide more time to assist veterans facing complex challenges. We believe the contract could be beneficial as long as it does improve these services and the overall health and well-being of veterans and their families by allowing the case managers to spend more time with them instead of on administration functions. So far to date, we haven't received any complaints. However, the Legion continuously monitors the quality of services provided to veterans for the impact on those we serve.
We see that this contract may be a positive step in focusing personal efforts on the health and well-being of veterans, and this must be paramount in any arrangements.
Mr. Chairman, we would like to thank you for the opportunity to make this presentation, and I would be happy to take any questions later.