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Record of discussion - 20-21 June 2023

Tuesday, 20 June 2023 10:00 – 16:15 (ET)
Wednesday, 21 June 2023 9:00-13:30 (ET)

Service Excellence and Transition Advisory Group Members

  • Warrant Officer (Retired) Jessica Hewett (member co-chair)
  • Corporal (Retired) Bruce Moncur (member co-chair)
  • Master Corporal (Retired) Joseph Burke
  • Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Dave Byrne
  • Dr. Darryl Cathcart
  • Corporal (Retired) Sylvain Chartrand, Canadian Veterans Advocacy
  • Deanna Fimrite, Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada
  • Steve Graham, RCMP Veterans’ Association
  • Master Warrant Officer (Retired) Michael Hogan
  • Lieutenant (Retired) Carolyn Hughes, Royal Canadian Legion
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Kirk Watson, CAF Liaison Officer to VAC

Regrets

  • Amanda DiFalco, Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness
  • Captain (Retired) Kimberley Newman (Resigned)

Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs

  • Michael Ferguson, Senior Special Assistant, Atlantic
  • Veronique Gauthier, Quebec Advisor
  • McKinley Hawkin, Student
  • Jon Wiseman, Ontario Advisor

Veterans Affairs Canada Officials

  • Ken McKillop, Associate Deputy Minister
  • Steven Harris, Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery
  • Trudie MacKinnon, A/Director General, Centralized Operations Division (VAC co-chair)
  • Lindy McQuillan, Director General, Audit & Evaluation
  • Nigel Bruce, A/Director General, Strategic Planning Results and Cabinet Business
  • Trudy Burke, A/Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives
  • Margaret Fry, CD RN MHS, National Nursing Officer, Health Professionals Division
  • Dr. Lisa Garland-Baird RN PhD, Senior Researcher, Policy & Research Division
  • Justin Lord, Senior Operations Advisor, Strategic Initiatives
  • Melanie MacDonald, Team Lead, Disability Benefits of EEG and Modernization Initiative
  • Allan MacKinnon, A/Director, Audit and Evaluation
  • Amy MacDougald, Senior Advisor, Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach
  • Jeff Gallant, Manager, Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach
  • Kirstin Sweet, Project Officer, Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach

Observer

  • Laura Kelly, Director, Strategic Review and Analysis, Office of the Veterans Ombudsman

Service Excellence and Transition Advisory Group Meeting

Opening Remarks

  • The VAC co-chair opened the meeting and welcomed participants joining in person and online.
  • The member co-chairs thanked participants for taking the time to attend and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to meet in person. Members were encouraged to share, listen and take notes, and reach out to the co-chairs at any time to provide further suggestions.
  • Each member and participant introduced themselves and their background.
  • The member co-chair made a land acknowledgement for the National Capital Region and for the territories of those joining across the country.

Update on Key Files

  • Steven Harris, ADM of Service Delivery, delivered updates on the significant improvements in wait times, the National Veterans Employment Strategy, the re-launch of the Career Transition Services program, the Military Sexual Trauma Peer Support Program, and the Rehabilitation Services and Vocational Assistance Program report.
  • Conclusions of the public Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) report were discussed.
  • Members expressed interest in having My VAC Account used as a communications tool to inform Veterans about programs and services.

Revisit 2016 – 2020 SETAG Advisory Group Recommendations

  • The VAC co-chair provided updates on the 2016 – 2020 SETAG Advisory Group recommendations.
    • VAC has implemented Mental Health Benefits to provide immediate access to treatment that continues for two years while related Disability Benefits applications are processed. VAC continues to work on improving access to service providers.
    • VAC is very close to meeting the 16 week service standard for first applications of disability benefits applications.
    • There was not sufficient time to review all recommendations.
    • It was noted that many of the recommendations would be ongoing and iterative.
  • Discussion with the members included the suggestions that VAC:
    • Extend the approach used for the Mental Health Benefits to every benefit.
    • Consider changing the language from “average wait time” to “longest wait time” to better reflect the current situation.
    • Look at distinguishing between the wait times for different types of circumstances.

MAiD Report – Recording Calls

  • Lindy McQuillan, Director General, Audit & Evaluation and Allan MacKinnon, A/Director, Audit and Evaluation presented on the Let’s Talk Veterans consultation for recording and monitoring of client phone calls.
  • Members discussed the issue, expressed concerns, asked questions and provided suggestions:
    • Concerns included the storing of recorded data, giving clients the option to be recorded, accessibility of the information to the client, the use of the information collected (training purposes and continuity of service when changing case managers).
    • Members also shared concerns about the consultation sample size relative to the number of Veterans VAC serves.
    • Many members offered to share the survey within their networks of stakeholders.
    • Members would like to see the survey distributed through My VAC Account.

Disability Benefits

  • The VAC co-chair provided an update on disability benefits applications.
  • Teams have been reorganized into Veteran Benefit Teams to enable more collaboration and more efficient decision making.
    • A dedicated unit has been formed to process claims related to Military Sexual Trauma, which are completed on a priority basis.
      • A member shared that policy changes around these claims have made a significant positive impact for survivors. For example, claimants statements are taken as fact and no requirement to corroborate.
    • The amount of bilingual and French first decision makers has increased to 30% of decision makers.
    • Retention of these individuals is a challenge as they are in high demand across government.
    • A member shared that access to medical professionals continues to be an issue across the country, which affects Veterans’ ability to have their claims completed. The willingness of doctors to complete medical forms can also be an obstacle.
      • VAC recognizes the changing medical landscape in this country and is working on expanding the scope of which medical professionals can sign off on certain conditions. For example, Nurse practitioners, OTs etc.

Update on Strategic Initiatives to Address Wait Times

  • Trudy Burke, Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives and Justin Lord, Senior Operations Advisor, Strategic Initiatives, provided an update on strategic initiatives to address wait times. They are developing a series of one minute videos about the disability benefits application process. This will provide guidance and details on what information is required from applicants.  
  • Members were shown a concept video and feedback from the group was positive.
  • Trudy Burke and Melanie MacDonald, Team Lead, Disability Benefits of EEG and Modernization Initiative provided an update on work to modernize the Table of Disabilities (ToD) and Entitlement Eligibility Guidelines (EEG).
  • This work will ensure consistent, transparent and swift disability benefit decisions and reflect advances in the disability assessment filed and evidence-based research.  
  • Medical questionnaires will also be updated so that staff who are non-medical professionals should be able to use the tools as well as medical professionals.
  • As part of the EEG modernization plan VAC is studying what is done in other commonwealth countries and has been using Gender Based Analysis Plus to be more sex and gender inclusive.
  • The next phase of modernization will include an exploration of digitization and a sustainable maintenance process.
  • Revisions and additions of the new EEG and ToD will extend into 2024.

Wrap up – Day 1

  • The VAC co-chair provided points to think about. Member co-chairs thanked the group for their participation in person and online.

Opening remarks – Day 2

  • Member co-chair offered a land acknowledgement and recognized National Indigenous Peoples Day.
  • The VAC co-chair offered a recap of topics discussed yesterday. Member co-chairs welcomed the group and thanked them for their participation yesterday. Open discussion is encouraged for today.

Veterans’ Well-Being Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)

  • Margaret Fry, National Nursing Officer, Dr. Lisa Garland-Baird, Senior Researcher provided an update on the Community Health Needs Assessment.
  • The Community Health Needs Assessment will allow VAC to pool together information that determines Veterans needs and builds on what we already know to create a holistic picture. VAC aims to learn the needs of equity seeking and hard to reach Veterans to bridge the gap in service.
  • The Assessment consists of three components: existing data sources, those within VAC and those from partners. The next phase is to gather new data through targeted surveys, focus groups and one on one meetings.
  • Work is ongoing with stakeholders interested in these areas, including meeting with federal, provincial and territorial partners. All parties will receive updates to ensure the assessment is looking through the right lens.
  • Members provided feedback on the approach, asked questions and offered to distribute information through their networks.
  • It can be difficult to find Veterans who exist outside the traditional networks. There were concerns mentioned about their needs falling through the cracks.
      • VAC knows that the 2021 census had a question about Veterans, which could help to identify Veterans outside the usual scope.  Statistics Canada’s also conducted a Veterans Health Survey.
      • Recruitment is the hardest part of research and the survey link will be distributed as widely as possible. Emphasis will be on engagement and consultations.
  • When the research is complete, the information will be used by VAC as well as provincial and territorial health authorities. When a Veteran lands in front of their health provider they will be more aware that they can’t be treated the same as everyone else. This information will allow all parties to ask better questions to give and receive better care.

The VAC co-chair thanked everyone for their input.

VAC Service Standards Review

  • The VAC co-chair introduced Nigel Bruce, A/Director General, Strategic Planning Results and Cabinet Business, to discuss departmental service standards.
  • The conversation focusses on what is important to Veterans regarding service expectations.
  • The SETAG group was given an overview of ways of how to gather this information.
  • Nigel thanked the group for their ideas and will bring their suggestions back to Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach.

Discussion with Associate Deputy Minister Ken McKillop

  • The Associate Deputy Minister (ASDM) joined the meeting, thanked the group for their participation and talked about the importance of advisory groups and how they inform everything we do.
  • Members agreed that there is a gap in the communications plan. Distributing information in a timely manner is very important and a consistent, connected communications approach across the Department is needed. The question of whether a Communications person could join these meetings was asked. The VAC co-chair will invite one to the October meeting.
  • The VAC co-chair identified issues discussed and asked the ASDM about his opinions and priorities.
    • Communications methods are changing and becoming a way to bring information to people rather than have them come to us, as has been in the past. The whole of government is adapting.
    • Veterans employment and homelessness are priorities.
    • The Veteran Homelessness Program is focused on helping homeless Veterans.
    • Hearing lots of positive feedback from Veterans and their families about the service and benefits they receive. We can get the word out to more people that we are here to help.

Expectations and Priorities

  • The OMVA representative shared that the backlog continues to be the main priority and appreciated the discussion about the recording of calls.
  • Member co-chair shared that the group would like to meet with the Minister at some point would like to restart the stakeholder summits.
  • Members suggested they would like to have a woman fill the recent member vacancy, with consideration given to them being an RCMP Veteran.
  • Members identified suicide as a priority issue to tackle and the VAC co-chair offered to have Dr. Cyd Courchesne, Chief Medical Officer, Health Professionals Division, present to the group about what VAC is currently doing around the issue.
  • The group is asked to share any final priorities or comments.
    • Search functions on the benefits grid should be more intuitive.
    • Ex. Physiotherapy searches produce nil results, but physiotherapist produces results. Keywords in the system should focus on treatment benefits, not individual components.
    • Veterans should be able to select what type of Veteran they are and programs and benefits that they don’t qualify for should be filtered out. Ex. RCMP Veterans are shown programs on the website and in My VAC Account that only apply to CAF Veterans.
    • Simplification of medical forms is needed to encourage medical professionals to collaborate with Veterans on the application process.       
      • VAC co-chair shared information about VAC Health Share, an electronic portal that allows doctors to submit forms online and bill directly.  VAC is looking to expand availability to other medical professionals and are also looking to simplify forms and allow for some information to be automatically inputted.
    • More outreach to medical professionals is needed to educate them about Veterans, their needs and the VAC benefits process. Expanding their education can help to alleviate pressure on the medical system as a whole. An option could be to give presentations about VAC Health Share at medical training conferences.
    • A member suggested that VAC should re-focus on the individual Veteran, and the benefits and services VAC provides.

Next steps and Closing Remarks

  • A member co-chair re-iterated the importance of these meetings and would like to have a co-chair meeting after October to affirm ideas. The co-chairs will work together to identify which items they want to focus on moving forward and encourage members to send them their ideas.
  • Member co-chair would also like to have a stakeholder summit led by stakeholders in the next fiscal year.
  • Members discussed potential dates for the next meeting and October 24 was proposed. The agenda will include time for brainstorming and priorities.
  • The VAC co-chair confirmed plans to continue in-person meetings but will always have a virtual option for those who can’t travel.
  • The VAC co-chair thanked the group for their honesty and frank discussions over the past days. 
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