Veterans Affairs committee  There would be no number of adjudicators within this end of year we could bring on and train in place to have it down to that perspective. It takes some time to recruit, hire and then ultimately train to have people in place to do the adjudication itself. We continue to work among the resources we currently have to be able to reduce the files that are beyond our service standard.

Veterans Affairs committee  You're right that people get an answer in two minutes. The standard is two minutes, and over 80% of callers get an answer in less than two minutes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, the data is included in reports distributed each year. We can certainly provide these reports to the committee.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thanks, Deputy. Thanks very much for the question. I think we've seen progress on a number of levels. Clearly, as the minister mentioned earlier, there has been the additional hiring we've done over the course of the pandemic with the money we received through the supplementary estimates.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. From a call centre point of view, we're taking more than 1,500 calls a day. We're getting more than 600 contacts from a My VAC secure message point of view. We're doing the outreach the minister and deputy spoke to earlier. We're including in that people who are able to do in-home visits and occupational therapy assessments in emergency situations, with all the proper protocols in place.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, exactly. They have been fully staffed since they were opened. There are, of course, departures on occasion. People move on; they get promoted and other things. We've replaced people as they have departed, so yes, they would be staffed.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, that's correct, Deputy. What we've done is shift to a virtual environment where we're using, as the deputy noted earlier, not only our call centre, our online service from My VAC Account and text messages, but also things like this—Zoom and MS Teams—to be able to reach out and communicate with our veterans, those who may have questions about this.

Veterans Affairs committee  There are multiple ways in which people can continue to connect with us, be it by phone or by text message, or by using the Internet and MS Teams and things of that nature as well. We have a variety of ways for people to be able to connect with us, including written communication or fax communication as well.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm not aware of any changes to the budgets, but there certainly haven't been any cuts.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'd have to come back on that one specifically. I'm not sure that it is open to caregivers, but it may be open to caregivers, given that it's based on the recommendations of professionals who engage in a multidisciplinary approach for supporting the veteran. I'd have to check on the exact caregiver definition you've brought here.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'd be happy to come back to you on the very specific nature of that question to make sure I give you the appropriate response.

Veterans Affairs committee  We most certainly will. I know that through the veterans and family well-being fund, we have been providing funding to a variety of organizations that are both conducting research and looking to develop these kinds of programming to be able to support the unique needs of women veterans in these kinds of circumstances as well.

Veterans Affairs committee  The simple answer is that, even during the pandemic, we were able to hire over 350 people, as a result of a truly tremendous team effort at Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Affairs committee  Case managers and other departmental staff made all the calls.

Veterans Affairs committee  All clinics of this nature provide services to families. This isn't exclusive to Ste. Anne's Hospital. The clinics can be found across the country and they all provide services to families. We're in constant contact with each of these clinics to ensure that they have what they need to provide the services.