Veterans Affairs committee  We have about 20,000 applications where we don't have enough information to move ahead with the decision. There are any number of reasons that might be. One of the primary reasons is that people do not complete the application. They don't fill out—

Veterans Affairs committee  As the deputy said, we've had an incredible increase in the number of applications. Hiring new people takes a long time, just as the hiring process in the public service can be lengthy at times. It take a long time to find the people in certain areas depending on the labour marke

Veterans Affairs committee  There have been a few class action lawsuits in the past. As part of the settlements.... If you think about LGBTQ2, Veterans Affairs had to adjudicate them first before they could get something out of the settlement. What we did in that case was we set up a dedicated team to do th

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't think it's due to any new or existing programs, without seeing the numbers and understanding each file and doing an in-depth analysis. I want to make sure that what we call incomplete is really where we're waiting for information. These are not adjudication ready. It mig

Veterans Affairs committee  We may process and examine a lot of jumps. Someone made a great suggestion earlier that we should be looking at them upon receipt and immediately reaching out.

Veterans Affairs committee  This might be the nature of those identified as incomplete. We might review them.

Veterans Affairs committee  We meet with the board formally quarterly, but there's also a lot of toing and froing when there are some particularly interesting types of cases that are coming forward. I want to add to Michel's point that you can bring something before the board if you're not satisfied with o

Veterans Affairs committee  We spent almost the entire day on Tuesday talking about the backlog and various approaches, so when we talked about incomplete applications, for instance, I was looking for their advice on the best way, the most compassionate way, to deal with these.

Veterans Affairs committee  There is a checklist, but it's more for the applicant at this point. We took to heart what the ombudsman said. I discussed it with the service excellence advisory group yesterday. It's about looking at those applications right away. That's the trouble. We have such an influx, suc

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. We have a lot of problems on the application side. If the signature is the only part of the application the veteran completes before mailing it in, the application is still accepted. We then have to follow up with the veteran numerous times, and if they aren't available, t

Veterans Affairs committee  It's a combination of both things. Compared with 2015, when we had about 200 people working on the disability program—that's what we're talking about in terms of that particular volume in that program—we now have over 400 working on that. Some of them are temporary. Some of them

Veterans Affairs committee  As well, all of our area offices have a case manager who is responsible for addressing the issues of homeless veterans. They have a whole network in the community to provide support through community groups, and to reach out to homeless individuals and offer them assistance. We a

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. The authority of the department is that we cannot provide psychological treatment to someone in their own right. What we did was make sure that people understood that we have to be consistent about this. That would have been the directive that went out.

Veterans Affairs committee  There are a number of factors. This is a question I ask myself often. Why are we getting so many people coming forward? I think it has to do with the pace of operations in the Canadian Armed Forces, the number of people who are being released. There's the awareness. People are

Veterans Affairs committee  In 2015, we expected the number of claims to decrease, but that's not what happened. Our partners or counterparts in other countries are facing the same issues in their programs. To clear the backlog, we need to be innovative on different fronts. We can't limit our efforts to hi