Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.

Veterans Affairs committee  First and foremost, hire more people to process the applications and more adjudicators to look at them and make the decisions. My claim with regard to my knees has been with the adjudicators for two or three months now and still nothing. When I talked to them I was told it would

Veterans Affairs committee  The pain is always there. I had gotten used to knee pain because I've been dealing with this for so many years, but I was not expecting the pain from a knee replacement to be as much as it is. I actually had to take one of my happy pills to be able to make it through two hours of

Veterans Affairs committee  I think it would. As soon as the military has decided a member is going to be medically released, that information should be forwarded to Veterans Affairs, because I believe that nine times out of 10 that member will be submitting an application if they haven't already. If that i

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I was. I didn't expect to be medically released as quickly as I was. I personally dragged my feet a little bit on it. Once I knew that I was being medically released I did start the process. Like I said, it's just taking far too long.

Veterans Affairs committee  I received a notification from the director of medical policy saying that I was being released due to this, because I didn't meet the universality of service and this was my release date. I was able to request and be granted an extended period where I was able to look for and f

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. I think that would be a great idea. I work in Global Affairs as well. I'm moving on from the Canadian Forces. We both know that one hand of the government doesn't always talk to the other. Whether that is possible I don't know, but it would be great. We've already be

Veterans Affairs committee  You're asking about a pre-approval program in what?

Veterans Affairs committee  Do you mean I have been diagnosed with knee problems, depression and stuff such as that, and it should be automatically forwarded to Veterans Affairs as soon as they determine I'm being medically released because of these things, so that Veterans Affairs can start working on it w

Veterans Affairs committee  In my case, it took four months for CAF to transmit all the files, to get all the files from my personal doctor to Veterans Affairs, and that's apparently when they start the timing. They don't start the timing when you first apply. They start the timing once they've received all

Veterans Affairs committee  Honestly, your mentioning it is the first time I've ever heard of it, so no, I haven't even thought about it because I didn't even know it existed. The only thing that I did know existed was the VIP, that program. I can't remember what the acronym stands for, but you can't access

Veterans Affairs committee  I can't speak on recruitment. It may, if the potential recruit sees that veterans, long-serving members, are waiting years to receive any benefits for injuries incurred during their military service. It might put a second thought into the recruit's mind, whether or not to join th

Veterans Affairs committee  Personally no. I am carrying on a tradition, following my grandfather who served both in the First and Second World War and a great uncle who served in the Second World War. My father served for a little while as well. No, it would not have discouraged me from signing up. I did i

Veterans Affairs committee  I would encourage it, because for the most part it's been an enormously great experience. You're signing your life over to the country to serve your country.

Veterans Affairs committee  On the simpler cases, absolutely. In my case, it's knees. I would say that at least 50% of the Canadian Armed Forces, and probably a good portion of the RCMP, all have knee problems due to their service. This would be something that should be fast-tracked, in my personal opinion,