Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. Based on what I heard from the staff, first off, and then from veterans groups and advocates, we'd almost arrived at a point, as an office, where we needed to stop and take a look at the good work that had been done and the contributions that our office had made, in concert with a number of other veterans groups and advocacy groups.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. I suppose there are a number of ways to do that. I would welcome, for example, the Auditor General having a look at our office and asking such questions as, “The office has been in existence for 12 years. Is it achieving the outcomes that were expected? Does the mandate make sense?”

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, certainly. Our front-line staff do a great job there. There's certainly value, which our staff take quite seriously, in this notion of being able to help that veteran, when they call, in something that we would call a “hot hand-off”—not saying that it's not in our mandate and that we don't do this, but getting them to the organization or the office that might be able to help them with it.

Veterans Affairs committee  In terms of family support generally, I think it's about understanding what their needs are and understanding what's currently provided and where the gaps are. We still have to do that work, but anecdotally, having met with and discussed this with veterans, I would say that it does appear that there are children in particular who are suffering as a result of the lack of access to treatment.

Veterans Affairs committee  That benefit was designed to acknowledge the loss of care and companionship, which could be provided and received or given through a relationship with a parent, for example, especially in the sandwich generation in which many people find themselves today. We do believe that should be addressed.

Veterans Affairs committee  If I could refer to the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report, it speaks to three regimes: the Pension Act regime, the Veterans Well-being Act regime up until March 31, 2019, and pension for life, post-April 1 of this year. Our analysis to date—and this is why it makes it very complicated to have an informed discussion about this issue—has looked at 10 scenarios.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think we need more time, but it's good to point out that we're talking about financial compensation here. Certainly, the Veterans Well-being Act and the pension for life are much broader than financial compensation. I think it's important to take that into account as well when we consider whether those three regimes are effective or not.

Veterans Affairs committee  They are the broader focus on veteran well-being, things such as vocational rehabilitation and the changes that you noted in terms of pooling educational funds, the education and training benefit. There have been a number of changes that take the focus away from being purely on financial security—which is clearly of significant importance—to looking at broader well-being, taking into account that 75% or so of veterans who are medically released as a result of illness or injury have a disability of below 25%, so they are individuals who would be looking for that support to transition and find a new way forward post-service.

Veterans Affairs committee  We haven't received any feedback in that regard.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's been highlighted as an area that needs to be looked at, primarily in terms of access. The question is whether it is accessible enough. If you do a raw look and compare the caregiver recognition benefit to the attendance allowance, which is a similar benefit that existed under the Pension Act, you'll see that on a rough order of magnitude—and I hesitate to use statistics—7% to 8% of veterans who were in receipt of a disability pension would have had access to attendance allowance.

Veterans Affairs committee  We conducted some work, an analysis, into wait times late last summer because it was the number one complaint we did receive, and it's still the number one complaint. That report and work resulted in a number of recommendations to Veterans Affairs, particularly in relation to francophone veterans and women veterans and the fact that their wait times appeared to be longer.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's very much what we're hearing. The first thing we hear about is just general access under the program—in particular, individuals with mental health diagnoses who might not qualify under the current eligibility criteria. It's a very complicated set of criteria based on the activities of daily living, and I won't get into it, but the number one complaint is just eligibility.

Veterans Affairs committee  I have not, in the time I've been here, but I'll just check.

Veterans Affairs committee  No.