Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the minister has indicated, we do have a challenge with a national standard. It has not been established yet. Currently, there are clear service dog standards in only three provinces in the country, in British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia. We want t

Veterans Affairs committee  Merci, Mr. Chair. Thanks for the question. Yes, there was funding in 2019 for Wounded Warriors through the veteran and family well-being fund. They received funding directly to expand their PTSD service dog program. A single investment took place at that time. We do provide su

Veterans Affairs committee  Can I say something, Mr. Chair?

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Desilets. You're correct, that first applications are very important. We make sure those applications are handled rigorously. We know that this is important for veterans. Year over year, we are seeing an improvement in processing times for all fi

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. As I said, Mr. Desilets, we put a lot of emphasis on processing applications for services made to the department by veterans for the first time, including by francophones and women. The department is constantly trying to improve the overall process by

Veterans Affairs committee  We'll certainly look into that aspect of it, Madame Blaney.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, if you'll allow me, we'll verify what information was provided back to you. In terms of sources whereby a veteran can come back and raise issues and questions about the way that they're being interfaced with, we have several mechanisms to do that built into our system

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and Ms. Blaney. Certainly, we can provide you with those details regarding veterans. That's something that we ask. Obviously, it's self-identified. I will have to check about those who are former Correctional Service employees, and whether we can share that

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Madam Blaney, there's a tremendous amount of training that goes in. My colleague, Mr. Harris, referred to the training that we undertake for new staff who are especially interfacing with veterans. That's something we take very seriously. In addition to publ

Veterans Affairs committee  I can tell you that those numbers have improved, but it remains a great challenge to improve the process for all veterans, anglophone and francophone, men and women alike. Our ultimate goal is to have a process that is—

Veterans Affairs committee  No, there is not. In previous months, the gap was about six weeks. In October, November and December, the gap was about three weeks.

Veterans Affairs committee  Actually, it is unacceptable. We are currently working to improve the situation. Mr. Harris, would you like to comment on that?

Veterans Affairs committee  That is correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  That is correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  For the most part, that's correct. Yes.