Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, one is intimidation. The second one is that we had a higher favourability rate when I first joined the board than the department, and now the tables have turned, so it's worked.

Veterans Affairs committee  Typically, we'll be briefed by our legal unit. We'll have a headnote and they'll go through it. At the end of it, the legal unit will say they don't agree, especially when one comes back and overturns our decision. It plants a seed in some people's minds that we should follow the

Veterans Affairs committee  What is working? What's working at VRAB is that there are some good, appropriately chosen people as adjudicators, and there are some good staff members there. But I would say that at this time it's a struggle for them to ensure they make the right decisions following the rules. I

Veterans Affairs committee  A good aspect of the board, ma'am, is to just follow section 39 of the VRAB Act and to have empathy for the people who are before you, whether they're RCMP, military, or whatever. I know that from my military experience—and I was a paratrooper, so it was pretty rigorous—I would r

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, as I said, as long as the members are independent.... There are some pretty smart people on the board. Everybody on the board is smart; it's just that people have a different perspective. Don't forget that the board, when it was first established, had all military members o

Veterans Affairs committee  They have a different take. Some of them feel that veterans are looking for a handout when they come before the board. They haven't bought into the generosity of the legislation and the intent of the process. They're not bad people.

Veterans Affairs committee  The screening process has to be good at the onset. The questions have to be designed in a way such that you can draw out a person's empathy or understanding of what the system is all about. As far as training goes when they get on the board, we spend three months with our staff,

Veterans Affairs committee  Do you mean involved in our decision-making?

Veterans Affairs committee  People come from the department, transferred as employees over to VRAB. For instance, our policy adviser and trainer at one time came from policy at Veterans Affairs, so it was difficult for them to make a transition.

Veterans Affairs committee  Not in an overt way. If we need a clarification on a table of disabilities, the board goes back to the department for clarification. That should never happen. We have our own expertise. We're Canada's experts in this stuff, so we should be able to figure it out on our own. That's

Veterans Affairs committee  Those are hollow words, ma'am.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, I guess I can't be hurt any more. It was James MacPhee, the deputy chair.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.