QUESTION PERIOD — Veterans Affairs
Processing of Disability Benefits Applications
November 5, 2020
My question is for the government leader and it concerns our veterans.
Before asking my question, I do want to take a moment to offer condolences to the loved ones of Corporal James Choi, who was killed tragically in a training accident at CFB Wainwright last Friday. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all members of the Canadian Armed Forces during this difficult time.
Leader, as of June 30, the backlog at Veterans Affairs in processing disability benefits stood at some 45,000 cases. Last week, the Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs, former chief of defence staff Walt Natynczyk, told a House committee, “We need to have additional staff horsepower to assist us here.” Yet the 350 extra staff announced in June are all temporary hires. A lasting solution is needed, leader.
In 2019, your government promised veterans an automatic approval process for the most common disability applications. When will this be in place, or is this yet another broken Liberal promise to our veterans?
Thank you for your question, and the government joins you in offering condolences to our fallen veteran.
The government knows and accepts that veterans are waiting far too long for decisions on their applications, and is investing hundreds of millions of dollars over the next two years to tackle this backlog. As your question indicated, the government has indeed provided such funding to allow Veterans Affairs to hire hundreds of staff to make decisions on applications.
Indeed, I’ve been advised that, in addition, the government has reopened nine Veterans Affairs offices that were closed in 2014, and hired over 700 staff to make up for staff cuts since 2010. This remains a top priority for the Minister of Veterans Affairs.
Leader, in September another class-action lawsuit was launched against the federal government regarding benefits for veterans. This new lawsuit involves the former supplementary retirement benefit.
Leader, I won’t ask you to comment directly on that case because I know you cannot. However, I will point out that in the 2015 federal election campaign, the Liberal Party promised not to fight veterans in court. I repeat, they promised not to fight veterans in court.
As we recently discovered, the Trudeau government spent well over $200,000 defending Minister O’Regan in a defamation case launched by veteran Sean Bruyea, costing taxpayers about 10 times what Mr. Bruyea sought in damages.
Leader, why does this promise to our veterans mean so little to your government? Why do you continue to fight our veterans in court?
Thank you for your question. The well-being of our veterans is of fundamental importance to this government. As the honourable senator mentioned, the issues before the court are not something upon which I can comment so, with that, I respectfully decline to comment.
I, too, wish to express my deepest sympathies to the family of Corporal James Choi, a proud Westie who served with The Royal Westminster Regiment in B.C.
Leader, we are on the same theme as we begin Veterans’ Week. I want to ask a question concerning disability benefits for our veterans. In September, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO, issued a report looking into the massive backlog in the processing of disability benefits. The PBO determined that the additional funding allocated by the government in June will not be enough to eliminate the backlog by March 2022. Today, the department’s website says the average wait time for a veteran with multiple conditions making their first application for disability benefits to learn whether they even qualify is 50 weeks. The service standard is 16 weeks. General Natynczyk recently told the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs in the other place that just under 20,000 cases are in the backlog waiting over 16 weeks.
Leader, how is this acceptable? Will the government adopt the PBO’s recommendations on how to reduce the backlog in 12 months with respect to additional resources and staffing?
Thank you for the question. The position of the government is not that this backlog is acceptable. Veterans deserve to have their cases and their applications dealt with in a timely fashion. And the government knows that veterans are waiting far too long for decisions on their applications.
In addition to the money invested over the past years, which has allowed the government to take some steps to address it, it’s important to understand, however, that the number of applications has nearly doubled since 2015. The government continues to try to address this problem in a number of ways: innovating systems, digitizing files, reducing paperwork and, when veterans come forward, doing their best to say yes.
We know the government has the ability to do some things very quickly, and I can talk about that in my question, but the backlog has lowered somewhat during this COVID-19 pandemic period because it has been very difficult for veterans to apply for benefits. During the first three months of the pandemic, only about half the usual number of applications were made for disability benefits, but the need has not gone away.
Service Canada centres were closed for a long time and are now by appointment only, and I understand Veterans Affairs Canada, or VAC, area offices are still not open to the public. Supporting documents, including doctors’ reports, have been much more difficult to obtain, again, because of wait times.
Leader, if we contrast this to the CERB payments, which were automatically approved even when fraud or abuse was suspected — you talked about timeliness and the ability of government to respond quickly — how does your government explain to our veterans that their applications for the benefits they earned while serving Canada remain in a backlog by the tens of thousands while fraudulent CERB payments were knowingly approved?
Well, as I said, thank you for your question on this important issue. The government is doing its very best to address the backlog, as I’ve tried to outline.
It’s also the case that the government’s programs to which you refer, such as CERB, have proven to be of assistance to veterans who unfortunately have not had their applications processed. But the government remains committed to addressing this as quickly and efficiently as it can.
