Veterans Affairs committee  I think I can take that as it relates to transition. Frankly, with any of the recommendations that come from the committee itself, obviously the first thing we do is a formal government response. We take the recommendations that are issued in any report that is coming from ACVA or, frankly, any of the other parliamentary committees and we look at those in detail as to where we can make improvements.

Veterans Affairs committee  The number of applications varies. We saw some variability during the COVID period. It seems that every year since about 2015-16 it has gone up. There has been an increase in applications for a variety of programs but mostly for the disability benefits program. As I said, there was some variability during the COVID period.

Veterans Affairs committee  This specific amount relates to some of the service standard wait times that exist at our bureau of pensions advocates in particular. It's primarily for reducing the amount of time it might take for a lawyer who works in the bureau of pensions advocates to be able to assist a veteran who may be going through an appeals process.

Veterans Affairs committee  Perhaps I can take that question, Mr. Chair. We regularly do updates to systems. Generally, we schedule those for outside of normal working hours. The website for the My VAC Account that you're referring to is available 24-7, essentially, other than scheduled outages. There are occasional technical issues that require updates.

Veterans Affairs committee  They received notices in two ways. One was from the actual provider itself, Canada Life, the new provider of the public service health care plan. It's administered by our Treasury Board Secretariat colleagues. They also received notices from Veterans Affairs that this was coming, in terms of letters, in terms of messages through the My VAC Account, a system that helps to enable them as well.

Veterans Affairs committee  There are a couple of different avenues. With respect to disability benefits, an individual who may not be successful in applying for disability benefits the first time has access to a Veterans Affairs-funded lawyer through the Bureau of Pensions Advocates, who will support them in their appeal to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, when information is missing in an application, we contact the veteran. We indicate what information is missing. We give them an opportunity to come back and provide the information that's required. If not, essentially the claim is held for when the veteran is able to come back with the information required to be able to actually go through and adjudicate the claim.

Veterans Affairs committee  We contact them either by letter or directly through My VAC Account, depending on how they've contacted us, and we may actually reach out to them directly, in certain cases, to ensure that we can get the right information from them.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, actually, it's a different group within the department who does that. It would be disability adjudicators, people who work in our centralized operation division who work on disability benefits.

Veterans Affairs committee  Often the case manager can communicate with them about that kind of program as well. They can work through their case manager. They can also work with our disability benefits team, who are more intimately involved in the actual decision with respect to a disability adjudication.

Veterans Affairs committee  Except not every veteran has a case manager, or requires a case manager. Some may apply—

Veterans Affairs committee  —for disability benefits and not require case management support. That's where we need to be careful to say.... It can't just be one stream, necessarily. There may be many that are appropriate for that veteran.

Veterans Affairs committee  Sure. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify. When a veteran has an established pension condition, they do not need to requalify for that pension condition. It's established in their file. They do not need to re-prove that as part of the department's work in helping to support them.

Veterans Affairs committee  As part of any transition process, we do transition interviews with the serving member, male or female, woman or man. Often, we invite their families to come and join, and their spouses in particular, so they can be aware of not only the benefits that are available for the veteran but the benefits that are available for the families in terms of supports as they help to ensure that the veteran is doing well and that the veteran's well-being is in a good position.

Veterans Affairs committee  Given the limited time, I would just say the following. We have updated the policies in accordance with the actual class action lawsuit. I might just ask Trudie to talk about the changes we made to the policies that reflect, I think, the situation.