Veterans Affairs committee  For the most part, that's correct. Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  That is correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  That is correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's right.

Veterans Affairs committee  If we are given more resources, that will certainly address those numbers and will allow us to bring that backlog down.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's difficult for us to say that, Member, very clearly. We certainly are making the case. I think the track record of investment around these resources, the understanding of the importance of it, as has been articulated by all members of this committee, and the past commitments to resourcing this particular need give us some hope, but we don't have the confirmation of resources yet, and that will only come through the budgeting process.

Veterans Affairs committee  The figure is actually less than that. Approximately 7% of the entire allocation is for administration and operations, and roughly 93% is there to support veterans directly.

Veterans Affairs committee  There's active work with National Defence on coordinating the assurance that there are supports for those who are transitioning out of active service and becoming veterans, but there's nothing specific right now to look at the further alignment of those supports and resources in any formal way.

Veterans Affairs committee  It is happening very soon. It is going to be a state-of-the-art facility. It will have a very low carbon footprint and will be fully accessible to a level unseen before.

Veterans Affairs committee  If I could, Mr. Chair, I'll respond to that. I know that we pay a lot of attention to the quality of care that's provided through our case managers. It's obviously measured in terms of numbers, but it's also measured in terms of the time they're able to spend. We hear from our own case managers that they feel that a level around 30 is probably acceptable; in fact, it's the industry standard.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, thank you very much, member, for the question. You're correct. We do have 38 Veterans Affairs offices and 31 transition centres located on Canadian air force bases across the country, so 69 unique locations from which our 188,000 clients are served. Obviously, throughout this last period of time, none of those offices have been open during the pandemic, but the presence in those areas and the service toward veterans and their families in those locations has been essential to ensure that level of service is there virtually, that it is responsive and people are reaching out to veterans that we know may have needs and they are able to get a response very quickly.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you. Member Caputo, that is a very good question. I just want to be clear that the backlog is associated with disability adjudications, which are not undertaken by caseworkers, but by adjudicators in that system. We have caseworkers who work with our almost 16,000 veterans who are under case management, and we have workers who do adjudication.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Minister. Yes, there were some details provided in the question by Frank Caputo. In actual fact, the number of files that we were handling has gone down. We've reduced the number of files waiting to be addressed down by 10,000, and the actual backlog, as the minister indicated earlier in his comments, has been decreased by 40%.

Veterans Affairs committee  The numbers that you are quoting are accurate. They are numbers that project ahead, given the resources that we have at the present time, but, again, as the minister has indicated—

Veterans Affairs committee  Based on the current resources, that is the indication. However, as the minister has indicated, there is a commitment to seeking further resources so that that backlog can continue to go down.