Veterans Affairs committee  The makeup of the board, with our retired police, RCMP, and military members, enables us as a group of, at present, 24 board members to have input from them in our training sessions. It gives us a more robust and more knowledgeable work environment. They assist us in providing us

Veterans Affairs committee  That would be a question for Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll ask Ms. Sharkey to answer that, but I think the department deals with more than the numbers you quoted.

Veterans Affairs committee  Perhaps I could refer that question to our legal director for a response.

Veterans Affairs committee  It is very clear. It is always a matter of following orders from the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's quite a substantial number, I'm sure, because when we talk about favourable decisions, an individual could receive a favourable decision giving a certain percentage and still not be satisfied, and then he would be entitled to come back to the tribunal to go to the next level

Veterans Affairs committee  The veteran has an obligation to bring his case forward. In response to your—

Veterans Affairs committee  The veteran, the applicant, has access to the Bureau of Pensions Advocates. Those are the lawyers who are provided to the veterans. That would be the role of the lawyer from the Bureau of Pensions Advocates, or of the service officers from the Royal Canadian Legion who prepare th

Veterans Affairs committee  In terms of hearings, I am talking about videoconferences. Video conferencing is done through a secure system. It wouldn't be done through Skype.

Veterans Affairs committee  We currently provide veterans with options. Occasionally, it is faster for them to use that system than to wait for our members to arrive in their region of the country.

Veterans Affairs committee  With the videoconference option, the hearing may be held within a few weeks or a few months. However, the schedule we follow for visiting cities across the country is set in advance. So it may take a few months for a veteran to obtain a hearing. As a result of the board respond

Veterans Affairs committee  First of all, the budget has remained the same since 1995, I believe.

Veterans Affairs committee  We have managed to carry out our work with those funds. As I say, our work is mostly the cost of our members in travelling the country to provide hearings in over 30 locations and in conducting our appeals in Charlottetown, as well as the cost of our support staff, including peop

Veterans Affairs committee  The number of decisions is 4,900—

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, 118,000 decisions were delivered.