Veterans Affairs committee  In the fall of 2006, when we endeavoured to hold single-member panels, by then we had a group of at least 10 new board members who were in training. So in other words, when the new people were arriving, the senior board members were striving to keep up the rhythm, and I was able

Veterans Affairs committee  I think it's important to give you an idea of what a board member could face in these circumstances. On any given morning he can have before him an 85-year-old veteran of active force, with nothing more than his service docs that go back 60 years. The next case can be a regular

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, we do. There are some significant differences in the nature of the cases stemming from active force service versus regular force service. There are fundamental differences there. The effort the government and the board have put into having a selection process that aims for

Veterans Affairs committee  By definition, the very nature of the work that we are asked to carry out on behalf of veterans clearly shows that we are talking about a mandate and an initiative of the Government of Canada, something that is very evident in the means that are being used to meet our targets. I

Veterans Affairs committee  No, I have not met with him yet, but I intend to do so. We have prepared a presentation that we would like to make to him as early as next week. We will brief him on our activities, so that he has access to the best possible information. I am especially anxious to develop a profe

Veterans Affairs committee  The new table of disabilities is completely different from the previous one. The new table is far more rigourous and technical, whereas the former one allowed for much more latitude when assessing cases. Some conditions were not listed in the former table of disabilities, which m

Veterans Affairs committee  Anyone required to manage evidence is faced with the challenge of introducing the benefit of the doubt in all cases. It is not always necessary to rely on that, because more often than not, we have all the necessary evidence to render an enlightened decision. The principle of the

Veterans Affairs committee  The important thing is that he got it.

Veterans Affairs committee  To my knowledge, never.

Veterans Affairs committee  What has happened in the past--and I'm not sure which cases were involved--is that there were at least one or two instances where the veteran was successful on judicial review, and that was appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal. To my knowledge, never has a veteran won his cas

Veterans Affairs committee  Oh yes. I'm a great fan of portfolio management. We will make sure that this new ombudsman is fully informed about our operations, and ideally, we will eventually build a working relationship with him and his office and his staff to be able to work out problems, if we can, as rap

Veterans Affairs committee  If I may add, sir, the busier the board member, the better the decisions.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, there are more people from the legal background presently. We need to concentrate, over the next year, on more military and more from the health field.

Veterans Affairs committee  The first priority is making sure our operational requirements are met, and that is x many members in a given region, x many members being able to function in either official language, and then you have a preoccupation and priority with gender, and if you can meet simultaneously

Veterans Affairs committee  I was appointed in October 2003 and my term is up in December 2008. I was a board member first for three years and then was promoted to deputy chair. I was then acting chair and was appointed full-time chair in October 2003 until December 2008.