Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, and committee members, thank you for the opportunity to present today. This is a very important subject for our veterans, and it's also an important subject for the nation. There is a certain promise made to veterans when they sign up and then they are disabled in the

Veterans Affairs committee  Inside I'm calm. What I'm going to focus on is something I'm not alone in my thoughts. I have a number of colleagues who also believe this is true but they are absolutely intimidated and afraid to speak out. As you can see in my brief—and I'll try not to read it, but I'll spe

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't have an axe to grind, believe me.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, I guess I can't be hurt any more. It was James MacPhee, the deputy chair.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  I can't off the top of my head, no.

Veterans Affairs committee  I could get back to you.

Veterans Affairs committee  Do you mean involved in our decision-making?

Veterans Affairs committee  People come from the department, transferred as employees over to VRAB. For instance, our policy adviser and trainer at one time came from policy at Veterans Affairs, so it was difficult for them to make a transition.

Veterans Affairs committee  Not in an overt way. If we need a clarification on a table of disabilities, the board goes back to the department for clarification. That should never happen. We have our own expertise. We're Canada's experts in this stuff, so we should be able to figure it out on our own. That's

Veterans Affairs committee  Those are hollow words, ma'am.

Veterans Affairs committee  What is working? What's working at VRAB is that there are some good, appropriately chosen people as adjudicators, and there are some good staff members there. But I would say that at this time it's a struggle for them to ensure they make the right decisions following the rules. I

Veterans Affairs committee  A good aspect of the board, ma'am, is to just follow section 39 of the VRAB Act and to have empathy for the people who are before you, whether they're RCMP, military, or whatever. I know that from my military experience—and I was a paratrooper, so it was pretty rigorous—I would r

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, as I said, as long as the members are independent.... There are some pretty smart people on the board. Everybody on the board is smart; it's just that people have a different perspective. Don't forget that the board, when it was first established, had all military members o