Veterans Affairs Committee on March 4th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Casey.

We will now have two brief interventions of two and a half minutes.

I would first like to invite the honourable Luc Desilets to ask his questions.

Go ahead, Mr. Desilets.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Meunier, can you simply tell me, yes or no, whether the temporary positions that were created are all full-time?

[Amy Meunier]

Yes, they are all full-time positions.

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

Okay.

The backlog problem has been ongoing for 50 years. It's true that there was a massive injection of funds, and I'm always happy to see that, but why is this increase coming only every two years? How come there isn't a longer-term vision?

You also mentioned that there was a significant increase in the number of applications at the moment.

[Steven Harris]

We have certainly seen an increase in the number of applications over the past 10 years or so. We monitor the situation, and try to make sure that we have the resources required to avoid backlogs. We're working on it.

As for why the increase is temporary, we still have work to do to modernize systems and change the rules to remain as productive with the number of employees we have and ensure that we have the right number of employees in each department to process applications from veterans.

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

I'll ask the question another way.

With this injection of funds, do you think that in two years the backlogs will be at exactly the same level and that it will be possible to continue to operate without these new employees?

[Steven Harris]

Within two years, we expect to be able to cope with the applications and the backlogs, so that, as Ms. Meunier explained, we will be able to answer applications within 16 weeks 80% of the time, which is the service standard. We think we can get there within two years.

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

Is why the permanent positions were not needed?

[Steven Harris]

We are not yet sure about the number of positions that will be needed to deal with applications because of the improvements we will be making to the systems and the processes. That's why adding temporary employees puts us in a better position for the future.

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

Thank you.

That's all for me, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Desilets.

We will move on to Ms. Rachel Blaney.

Ms. Blaney, you now have an opportunity to return to the questions you asked earlier. You have two and a half minutes.

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

Chair, thank you so much.

I would like to come back to whether you are receiving any feedback from veterans about the My VAC Account. As I said earlier, we're hearing a lot. Caregivers specifically have been very frustrated because they can't do with, or for, their partner or loved one what is desperately needed to be done, and trying to mentor support or to get them to do it can be frustrating.

Has there been any review of the My VAC Account and adding accessibility to people who the veterans themselves could appoint as their main caregivers?

[Steven Harris]

We do receive feedback on My VAC Account, and the accessibility issue. People are able to have proxies access it for them if they want to provide other people access on their behalf by providing that level of power of attorney—I'll put it with that kind of term—for somebody to be able to access it.

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

Just to let you know, Mr. Harris, we've actually seen times where they have done that proxy and it's still not acknowledged. When they're trying to inquire, and do things on behalf of someone, they are absolutely being blocked.

Is there a process of complaint or intervention that our caregivers for veterans could have, or be provided with, to address that when that occurs?

[Steven Harris]

If anyone's having any difficulty in that instance, certainly, with the member, you can contact the Veterans Affairs office to make sure that we can address that issue. Individual veterans and/or family members can certainly contact us through our national contact centre to indicate if they're having any issues, as well. I'm happy to follow-up on any cases you have.

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

That helps. Thank you.

I want to hit on my last question about the hiring in more remote communities. I think that's very interesting. During this time of remote work during the pandemic, serving French-speaking veterans could be interesting, because it doesn't really matter where people are located.

I guess it's a two-part question. How are we going to make sure that people hired in remote areas, who are far away from the bricks and mortar, are continuing in their work? How do we make sure that French-speaking staff are located in the same area where French-speaking veterans are in the future?

[Steven Harris]

I think there are a couple of things. There's a bigger or broader public service question about location of work with respect to what people are doing. People have worked remotely before this, although there are many more people working remotely, not only within Veterans Affairs Canada, but in multiple areas. There's an avenue forward for us to keep people working away from their assigned offices into the future. That's one of the conversations we're certainly having here.

Regarding the second question about people in their communities, it's always great to have people in their communities. There are many people who work on veteran files who don't have to be in the community that they necessarily live in if their skills provide that opportunity to serve.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

We have two other interventions from our colleagues.

I invite MP Wagantall to ask questions, for five minutes, please.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

I appreciate that, Chair. However, I believe Mr. Caputo should be asking questions now, as I took his place earlier.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Right, so I invite Mr. Caputo, the vice-chair of the committee, for five minutes.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you, Chair, and thank you to Mr. Harris and Ms. Meunier for making themselves available.

Ms. Meunier, in your opening statement you talked about the many disability applications that have come in over the last five to six years, but we know that new applications dropped significantly during the COVID pandemic.

Can you tell us how many applications came in since last January, please?

[Amy Meunier]

I certainly can. It may just take me a second to get that exact number.

I want to clarify one quick point. The intake of first applications did drop when the pandemic first hit, but then it began to steadily increase from September 2020 to now. I just want to make that clear. There was a short-term dip, but it has continued to increase since then.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Did that short-term increase result in pre-pandemic levels of applications?

[Amy Meunier]

I'm not sure I'm following you 100%.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

What I'm saying is that before the pandemic, we had certain levels. There was a decrease due to the pandemic, and in your last answer you said that the numbers did increase steadily, I believe, from September 2020.

Did that increase result in application levels consistent with pre-pandemic levels?