Veterans Affairs committee  I think the Department of Veterans Affairs and the minister responsible for the legislation—

Veterans Affairs committee  I just have a comment on the five years. I would like to point out that, as I said, up until 2012 we had a great deal of success in placing medically released veterans, with 72% placement rate. As I said, it was the highest rate of any group in the priority system. That was with

Veterans Affairs committee  As I previously mentioned, there is a wide range of skills that veterans bring with them. The commission matches those skill sets with the requests from departments. To date, 53% of medically released veterans have been placed in clerical and administrative-type functions. But ot

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. I think it's fair to say that the commission does support the bill and thinks it will actually make a difference. As the entity that administers the program, these mechanisms will help us place more veterans and medically released veterans than it oth

Veterans Affairs committee  I will ask Mr. Thom to explain our staffing process.

Veterans Affairs committee  Certainly, we will think about how that could be applicable in work that we do in supporting veterans and matching them to positions available in the public service, but I'd also like to comment on what you observed earlier. Veterans do have a vast, diverse set of skills and lin

Veterans Affairs committee  As I mentioned previously, the policy authority rests with the Department of Veterans Affairs, so I think they may be able to speak to that issue. Having said that, I think it's important as well to look at the numbers. Typically, at least up to 2012, we had in the range of seve

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm going to ask Michael to clarify if anything will change, but my understanding is that it will not. What happens in the priority system is that there is an order in which people are referred. If this legislation is passed, then medically released veterans who are released for

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the question. For the reasons I just mentioned, I can't comment on the five-year period, but what I can say about the retroactivity is that my understanding is that the retroactivity was there. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, there were a nu

Veterans Affairs committee  No, I don't think he can.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Prior to 2012 when we had, as I said, an influx of surplus workers and saw the rate of medically released veterans' appointments fall, this was in fact the group in the appointment system that had the highest rate of appointments. I think it's because vetera

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm going to ask Michael to clarify the entitlements of the persons you've just talked about. Like my colleagues, I cannot speak to the reason. As the president of the commission I report independently to Parliament, and the policy authority rests with the Minister of Veterans

Veterans Affairs committee  As far as I understand it—I'll have Michael correct me if I'm wrong—the duration of their service is not considered directly in the appointment process. However, as part of their experience, of course, that would be evaluated through an appointment process. In terms of priorities

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'm very pleased to be here today to discuss Bill C-27, the veterans hiring act. The Public Service Commission administers programs under the Public Service Employment Act to support the public service staffing system. There are three import

Government Operations committee  If we look at the overall population data, as issued by Treasury Board rather than the commission, we can say we are making good progress. As my colleague, Madam Laurendeau, just mentioned, where we still see some gaps and have more work to do is generally at the most senior leve