Government Operations committee  I'll take a stab at that. When veterans release, they release for all sorts of different reasons and they're in a wide variety of situations. Many veterans don't require much assistance when they release. For example, I believe the veteran population has been pegged at around 600,000.

Government Operations committee  We have access to this data, but not to the information needed to answer your question. I don't know why over half the applications were rejected. However, that's the type of information we need to get at and feed back to veterans. I know you've heard from previous witnesses about the lack of transparency in the process.

Government Operations committee  Based on what we've heard from veterans, and what I see you've received in terms of witness testimony, it's more the case of the latter. But again, I know there are many initiatives under way to address and get at that. The Canadian Armed Forces transition group is one example of that, but your second option is the one that most people experience, I believe.

Government Operations committee  Could I possibly add to that? I just wanted to add that I think—

Government Operations committee  Quickly, I'll go back again to targets. I think that we need to hear from veterans. Where are the measures today? I agree with Mr. Lick. I don't think that there's a lot of untoward action being taken out there. I think that it's an unconscious bias in a lot of cases. We have an intent in legislation.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I think that we should establish accountability. The function that you suggested could be assigned to the organization responsible for managing the priority hiring program. I'll add to that in English because I'm not sure if I got to your point. I think that the more we approach this like an employment equity issue, with clear targets and outcomes that cause us to look at whether or not we're succeeding, at why we are or are not, at high performers....

Government Operations committee  I'll make a quick response. To me, it starts with targets. It involves three departments: the Public Service Commission, VAC and CAF-DND—and then all departments across government, ultimately. They are large bureaucratic organizations. Putting targets out there and helping people understand how to achieve those targets or why they're not achieving those targets will focus attention on the processes that are currently in place.

Government Operations committee  Yes, I would see the Public Service Commission and departments collaboratively identifying these targets.

Government Operations committee  I would like to add that the third recommendation recommends that it's at that point—at the start of those six months or nine months, or however long that period is—that the veteran, in our eyes, should be fully informed and all of the authority should be in place. It shouldn't be the day after they're released that they're able to apply for a federal public service position.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  No. I would say that it's clearly going to be a challenging exercise because of the nature of work that takes place in the diverse departments across governments, so those targets could vary. I would point to some of the testimony received from Veterans Affairs where they set a target and are working toward that target.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, thank you. Mr. Chair and committee members, thank you for inviting me to appear before you today and for giving me the opportunity to talk about priority hiring. I'm joined by Sharon Squire, the deputy veterans ombudsman. I would like to begin by explaining what we hope to do with our time today, and that's to share with you our perspective based on what we've heard from veterans on priority hiring over the last number of years and to speak from the perspective of an organization that has hired veterans as recently as two weeks ago through priority hiring.