Re: Backlog

by Lucifer Wed 04 Aug 2021, 4:20 pm

Injured vets filing claims faster than officials can process them despite extra staff

Aug 04. 2021

OTTAWA — New figures from Veterans Affairs Canada show that despite adding hundreds of staff, injured ex-soldiers are still submitting claims for disability benefits faster than officials are processing them.

OTTAWA — New figures from Veterans Affairs Canada show that despite adding hundreds of staff, injured ex-soldiers are still submitting claims for disability benefits faster than officials are processing them.

That is threatening to undo what little progress the government has made in reducing the backlog of claims, which currently sits at more than 43,000 applications.

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay says he remains hopeful the extra staff will make a dent on the pile of outstanding claims.

But Canada War Amps executive director Brian Forbes, who is also chair of the National Council of Veterans Associations, argues the new figures underscore the need for real change in how such claims are handled.

Forbes and others have been calling for years for Veterans Affairs to automatically approve claims, particularly for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological trauma.

The government has said it is looking at such an approach, which is used in some circumstances by Australia and the United States, but has yet to offer any details.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2021.

The Canadian Press

by **SniperGod** Wed 04 Aug 2021, 9:26 pm

Minister credits extra staff for progress on veterans' disability claim backlog

The Canadian Press
AUGUST 4, 2021

OTTAWA — Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay said Wednesday the government is making progress on clearing the backlog of claims for disability benefits from injured ex-soldiers thanks to the additions of hundreds of staff.

The minister’s comments came as new figures from Veterans Affairs Canada showed the department had around 43,000 outstanding claims in its possession at the end of March — around 6,000 fewer than the previous year.

"The new trainees have been in place for a number of months now but are just really getting rolling, and the backlog has dropped down somewhat," MacAulay said during a virtual news conference.

"What we're going to do, as I indicated quite clearly, is address the backlog. The backlog is not as big as it was, but we're going to make sure that we address that and make sure that veterans receive the compensation that Canadians want them to receive."

Yet MacAulay also acknowledged that the sheer presence of the backlog, which has left many veterans waiting sometimes years to find out whether they qualify for financial or medical assistance, is unacceptable.

The 43,000 outstanding claims included 15,000 that had been sitting in the queue for longer than four months, which is the timeline that Veterans Affairs is supposed to respond to process applications for benefits.

The clock also hadn't started on more than 10,000 others because a staff member had not been assigned to them, while nearly 14,000 applications were listed as incomplete and needing more information.

The backlog has emerged as a major source of frustration for Canada’s veterans’ community, with advocates warning delays in processing claims add undue stress on injured ex-soldiers and exacerbate already difficult financial and medical conditions.

The federal Liberal government announced last year that it would hire 300 additional adjudicators at a cost of $87.7 million to address the pile of unprocessed applications, which stood at nearly 50,000 files.

Those hires were in addition to 160 adjudicators hired more than two years ago, when the backlog first started to explode in size. Those employees were also supposed to be temporary, but officials said they would be retained for the foreseeable future.

Despite the apparent early progress of those additional hires, there remain concerns that the department will soon be overwhelmed again as veterans begin to apply in greater numbers following a lull during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Veterans Affairs received around 18,000 claims from injured ex-soldiers between April and September 2020, which was roughly half the number the department had been receiving before the pandemic.

Those numbers have since started to creep up again, and while Veterans Affairs has managed to keep pace, Canada War Amps executive director Brian Forbes believes the department is about to be swamped with pent-up requests for help.

Forbes, who is also chair of the National Council of Veterans Associations, which represents more than 60 organizations, says many veterans were unable to apply for benefits during the pandemic because they couldn’t get the necessary medical papers.

Not only is that no longer as much of an obstacle, Forbes also notes the Canadian Armed Forces allowed military personnel to delay their departures from the military for medical reasons during COVID-19.

"The military is releasing a lot of the men and women who were sort of held in during the pandemic," he said. "There are going to be more and more cases coming forward. … You can just imagine the backlog that's developing within that cohort."

Parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux also said last year that even with the new hires, there will still be about 40,000 unprocessed applications in two years.

Forbes has been at the forefront in calling for Veterans Affairs to automatically approve claims, particularly for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological trauma.

He and others note that the approval rate for such claims is already nearly 100 per cent, and suggest a post-approval audit process could be implemented to ensure veterans get help quickly and to dissuade potential abuse.

The House of Commons’ veterans affairs committee echoed that request in a report late last year.

"Let's start recognizing common disabilities and give them automatic entitlement," Forbes said. "The department seems to be moving in that direction, but not very aggressively."

Veterans Affairs has said it is looking at such an approach, which is used in some circumstances by Australia and the United States, but offered few other details except to suggest changing the current system may require legislation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2021.

The Canadian Press

by Ranger Thu 16 Sep 2021, 7:50 pm

Veterans issues go missing

Afghanistan, fatigue blamed as veterans issues go missing in action on election trail

The Canadian Press - Sep 16, 2021

Veterans issues go missing

by **Spider** Fri 05 Nov 2021, 9:51 pm

The Backlog: Thousands of veterans with disabilities are waiting years for support

By Lee Berthiaume . The Canadian Press
Fri., Nov. 5, 2021

OTTAWA - Nearly a dozen years ago, Micheal McNeil was hit with an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. The former combat engineer, who is now a 40-year-old father of three in Saint John, N.B., has traded a fight with the Taliban for a constant battle with the federal government instead.

“They want you to walk away. They’re literally: delay, deny, watch you die,” he says.

“They want you to walk away from the benefits. They don’t want you to get them. And that’s why they make it so hard.”

McNeil is one of tens of thousands of Canadian veterans who sustained long-term injuries from their military service and are now waiting to find out whether Veterans Affairs Canada will approve their disability claims.

In McNeil’s case, he has been waiting more than two years to find out whether the seizures he started experiencing in 2018 will be recognized as related to his service in uniform. If so, his family would receive benefits if he dies from the condition.

The disability benefits backlog has emerged over the past five years as a major source of stress, frustration and fear inside Canada’s veterans community.

The government has blamed the backlog on an explosion in the number of claims from injured veterans over the past six years, as more benefits became available and more former service members heard about them.

The influx followed a dramatic reduction in the size of the federal public service starting in 2012 as Stephen Harper’s Conservative government tried to cut spending and balance the books.

Veterans Affairs was particularly hard hit just as Canada’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan was winding down. Nearly one in three positions were axed. The Liberals later hired hundreds back, but demand continued to outpace resources.

The Canadian Press was the first to reveal the existence of a backlog in December 2017. At that point, there were 29,000 applications pending with Veterans Affairs Canada. By March 2020, that number had jumped to nearly 49,000 claims.

Veterans Affairs acknowledges the existence of a backlog, but says the actual size is much smaller. It only counts the total number of complete applications that have been officially assigned to a staff member and been left unresolved longer than 16 weeks. Most experts and advocates say such a breakdown misstates the real extent of the problem.

Veterans whose applications are approved are entitled to different benefits and support depending on their condition, including financial compensation for long-term injuries, income replacement for those unable to work, job training and medical treatment.

Ray McInnis is the director of the Royal Canadian Legion’s service bureau, which helps veterans with the often complex process of applying for disability benefits. That includes helping obtain medical documents and filling out and submitting various forms.

“When we submit a disability application, our main focus is to get entitlements so that they can get treatment,” McInnis says. “The treatment is the most important part.”

Amy Green has been waiting since September 2019 to hear whether Veterans Affairs will approve her claim for a traumatic brain injury, which she says was sustained after an Afghan civilian intentionally crashed his motorcycle into her G-Wagon in Kabul in 2004.

Now living in London, Ont., Green has struggled with post-military life after being released from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2014. She says she hit bottom in 2019 after she hit and kicked police officers following a car crash that triggered “a huge spiral downwards.”

“I thought I was in an explosion in Afghanistan, but I’d actually caught my car on fire,” she says. “So I went to a treatment facility and just started getting my life back on track.”

Veterans Affairs currently pays for treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, which includes counselling. But Green says approval for a traumatic brain injury, which is a physical wound, would give her access to different treatment.

“The difficult part is everything’s in limbo,” she says. “Everything that I would like to do.”

Many veterans support groups and organizations have stepped up to fill the gap by offering treatment to injured ex-soldiers whether they are getting support from Veterans Affairs or not.

But that shifts the financial burden from the government to organizations such as the Vancouver-based Veterans Transition Network, which relies on fundraising to make ends meet.

“It costs us a lot of money every single year, but we do it because that’s the position that the organization takes,” says Oliver Thorne, the group’s operations director. “Our mission is to make the program as accessible as possible.”

The backlog is also believed to have discouraged many veterans from submitting claims, even though a successful application opens the door to extensive support and benefits.

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay has described the backlog as “unacceptable” and committed $192 million in June 2020 to hire 540 temporary staff to help clear it.

The number of outstanding claims has fallen since the 49,000 peak recorded last March and stood at just over 40,000 as of June. But there are concerns the progress will be fleeting.

The number of new claims plummeted during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic as many veterans were unable to get the medical records needed to apply. There could be a flood of new claims after funding for the temporary staff expires in March.

Parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux warned the government about exactly that scenario in September 2020. Internal documents obtained through the Access to Information Act show Veterans Affairs officials agreed with that assessment in May.

“There is a possibility that the department could see an influx of applications once the country begins moving into a normal state,” reads an internal report. “We need to realize significant efficiencies to start to offset the reduction in resources and increased intake.”

The department has since said it has approval to extend some of the temporary staff past March, but did not say how many.

“Currently, various factors are being considered with regards to staff retention,” Veterans Affairs spokesman Marc Lescoutre said in an email.

The government has faced calls for changes beyond hiring more staff. One is to expand the list of common conditions afflicting Canadian veterans that are automatically approved to make sure former service members get the support they need.

Brian Forbes is executive director of the War Amps and national director of the National Council of Veterans Associations, an umbrella group for 60 veterans organizations, and has been seeking such a change for years.

“The thing that is quite irritating is that post-traumatic stress claims are approved around 96 per cent of the time,” he says. “Why don’t we just recognize that this case is going to be approved and let’s give them the treatment benefits?”

Forbes isn’t the only one calling for such an approach; a House of Commons committee recommended MacAulay amend existing legislation to allow for the pre-approval of claims so veterans can get faster support.

MacAulay told the committee that Ottawa was looking at the Australian and American experiences with pre- and automatic approval to see what lessons can be learned, but otherwise stood by the current process.

Some veterans like McNeil believe Ottawa doesn’t want to fix the problem. He says he thinks the federal government has put up barriers to keep from having to shell out money to those who got injured while in uniform. That has brought anger and a sense of betrayal.

“I have more PTSD from fighting the government in the last 3,000 to 4,000 days than I do from Afghanistan,” he says. “Because it’s so goddamn traumatic.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2021.

TORONTO STAR

by **Vexmax** Tue 09 Nov 2021, 9:41 am

Explaining the numbers behind the backlog at Veterans Affairs Canada

Nov 05, 2021

OTTAWA — The exact size of the backlog of disability benefits applications with Veterans Affairs Canada is a matter of dispute.

The government has long set a departmental target of processing 80 per cent of claims within 16 weeks. The clock starts after a complete application with all supporting documentation has been received and the file is assigned to an adjudicator.

By that definition, only about 15,000 of the 40,000 applications with the department at the end of June are considered the backlog. The remainder are classified as incomplete applications, have yet to be assigned to an adjudicator, or remain within the 16-week target.

Many experts and advocates say that definition is misleading and understates the extent of the problem. They argue the clock should start as soon as an application is filed, which would ensure faster service and keep veterans from falling through the cracks.

The House of Commons’ veterans affairs committee, in its December report on the backlog, agreed applications that have not been assigned to an adjudicator should count, but did not comment on the other claims.

The dispute has a direct effect on reported wait times, with critics saying the department’s assertion that the average claim is processed within 35 weeks — more than twice the target — does not reflect reality.

Questions have also been raised around the department’s reporting when it comes to the number of applications received versus those processed each quarter, as the two do not clearly correspond to changes in the number of pending claims.

Veterans Affairs has attributed this discrepancy to some applications for benefits being withdrawn, a figure it does not report.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2021.

NATIONAL POST

by Rocko Wed 10 Nov 2021, 5:13 pm

Government will hire more staff to address veterans' backlog, caseloads: minister

Published Wednesday, November 10, 2021

OTTAWA -- Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay says the federal Liberal government will hire more staff to deal with backlogs and overwhelming caseloads at his department.

MacAulay made the comments in an interview after The Canadian Press published a series of articles identifying some of the most pressing challenges facing veterans today.

Those challenges include a massive backlog of applications for assistance and a shortage of case managers, both of which have had real consequences on veterans who need help.

The series also looked at veterans' homelessness, the burden being shouldered by the families of injured veterans, and the fight some are waging for equal treatment from Ottawa.

Yet while MacAulay says adding staff, as the Liberals promised during the election, will form a key part of the government's response, the minister would not say how many people would be hired or when.

Veterans Affairs officials privately warned MacAulay in May that delaying such a decision could make it harder to retain hundreds of recently hired temporary staff on contract until March.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/government-will-hire-more-staff-to-address-veterans-backlog-caseloads-minister-1.5660637

by JAFO Wed 10 Nov 2021, 5:37 pm

I've lost count how many times I've read about this problem.

What I haven't lost count of though is this problem always gets "urgent" attention around this time every f'n year!!

And every f'n year the problem is downgraded from "urgent" to "who cares" around the first Monday after Remembrance Day and the photo ops are published.

by **Falcon** Sun 06 Feb 2022, 4:15 pm

Veterans Affairs poised to lose hundreds of staff hired to deal with claims backlog

Published Sunday, February 6, 2022

OTTAWA -- Veterans Affairs Canada says the Liberal government has agreed to extend the contracts of only about one-third of the temporary staff hired to deal with a backlog of disability claims from ill and injured ex-soldiers.

That is despite the fact the department still has nearly 34,000 unprocessed applications on its desk -- a number that officials warn will only grow by the thousands if more temporary workers aren't retained past the end of their current contracts in March.

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay last week told a parliamentary committee that the government has left the door open to extending the contracts of more temporary staff to keep a lid on the backlog.

Yet while Veterans Affairs officials were quietly pushing the Liberals for approval to start extending contracts last spring, MacAulay said any new investment will have to wait until the next federal budget is released in the spring.

Officials warned the minister last May that the department had already lost some of the 560 temporary staff hired to deal with the backlog, and an early decision on extending contracts would help ensure more didn't leave for other jobs.

"I cannot indicate what would be in the budget, because it's not appropriate," MacAulay said during his appearance before the House of Commons veterans' affairs committee.

"But the fact is I've indicated quite clearly that we will be seeking additional funding to make sure that we continue on the same track that we're on to reduce the backlog."

The backlog has emerged as one of the main sources of frustration, anger and hardship for Canada's veterans' community, with those ill and injured forced to wait months -- and often years -- for access to financial or medical support for their injuries.

The Canadian Press, which was the first to report the existence of the backlog in 2017, detailed in a series last year the additional stress and difficulties that veterans stuck in the backlog are experiencing as they wait for their claims to be processed.

The Liberal government made what was supposed to be a one-time, $20-million cash injection in 2018 to hire dozens of temporary staff to speed up the processing of disability benefit applications and ensure veterans had timely access to benefits and services.

Yet that investment didn't make a dent as the number of applications coming in continued to surpass the department's resources, and the backlog grew from 29,000 applications in December 2017 to 49,000 in March 2020.

It was only after the Liberals added another $192 million in June 2020 to keep the temporary staff hired in 2018 and add hundreds of others to the mix -- for a total of 560 extra employees -- that it has started to report some improvements.

MacAulay's spokesman Cameron McNeill reported last week there were nearly 34,000 unprocessed claims from more than 25,000 veterans with the department at the end of December, about 15,000 fewer claims than at its peak.

Yet while MacAulay touted that as progress, Veterans Affairs admitted in response to a recent question from Conservative critic Frank Caputo that the average veteran is still having to wait over 40 weeks for their claim to be processed.

And Veterans Affairs officials say even what the government describes as progress is in danger of being reversed as only 168 of the 560 temporary staff have so far had their contracts extended past the end of March.

Figures provided to Caputo show officials estimate the number of unprocessed files will fall to about 26,600 by the end of March, but will rise back up to 36,500 by the end of the year unless the Liberal government approves more staff.

"If we are given more resources, that will certainly address those numbers and will allow us to bring that backlog down," Veterans Affairs deputy minister Paul Ledwell told committee members this week.

However, he added, "we don't have the confirmation of resources yet. And that will only come through the budgeting process."

That means the department won't know until mid-March at the earliest how many more of the temporary staff will be kept. That is despite the Liberals having been repeatedly warned for more than a year that those employees will be needed.

Parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux in September 2020 reported the government would need to keep most of those temporary staff past their current contract set to end in March 2022 for another three years to properly deal with the backlog.

Giroux also said the government could have eliminated the entire backlog by the end of 2021 by hiring 400 additional employees on top of those already under contract by adding $159 million to the budget. The Liberals ignored this recommendation.

Veterans Affairs warned MacAulay about the continued need for additional staff last May, noting in documents obtained through access to information the temporary staff only really got up and running in January 2021 after months of recruitment and training.

Those officials not only spoke of the importance of retaining their temporary staff, but also for the government to make a decision on such an extension sooner rather than later.

"With delays in extending spike staff comes the higher risk of losing these highly skilled and trained employees," reads the report. "To date, we have lost 38 employees with 27 being essential decision makers."

MacAulay during his committee appearance acknowledged: "You just don't walk into Veterans Affairs and become a case loader. There's work to be done in order to make sure they're ready to serve veterans and Veterans Affairs Canada."

NDP veterans affairs critic Rachel Blaney in an interview said thousands of veterans are waiting while the government dithers -- and it could have eliminated the backlog by now if it just put its money where its mouth is.

"The PBO said: `Look, if you do this and then you do this, you could be caught up completely within a year,"' she said.

"I believe our veterans deserve that. And it's absolutely appalling that people who served our country, who are dealing with in some cases some severe trauma, are having to deal with this (backlog)."

CTV News

by **Trooper** Wed 09 Feb 2022, 8:37 am

Falcon wrote:
Veterans Affairs poised to lose hundreds of staff hired to deal with claims backlog

Published Sunday, February 6, 2022

OTTAWA -- Veterans Affairs Canada says the Liberal government has agreed to extend the contracts of only about one-third of the temporary staff hired to deal with a backlog of disability claims from ill and injured ex-soldiers.

That is despite the fact the department still has nearly 34,000 unprocessed applications on its desk -- a number that officials warn will only grow by the thousands if more temporary workers aren't retained past the end of their current contracts in March.

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay last week told a parliamentary committee that the government has left the door open to extending the contracts of more temporary staff to keep a lid on the backlog.

Yet while Veterans Affairs officials were quietly pushing the Liberals for approval to start extending contracts last spring, MacAulay said any new investment will have to wait until the next federal budget is released in the spring.

Officials warned the minister last May that the department had already lost some of the 560 temporary staff hired to deal with the backlog, and an early decision on extending contracts would help ensure more didn't leave for other jobs.

"I cannot indicate what would be in the budget, because it's not appropriate," MacAulay said during his appearance before the House of Commons veterans' affairs committee.

"But the fact is I've indicated quite clearly that we will be seeking additional funding to make sure that we continue on the same track that we're on to reduce the backlog."

The backlog has emerged as one of the main sources of frustration, anger and hardship for Canada's veterans' community, with those ill and injured forced to wait months -- and often years -- for access to financial or medical support for their injuries.

The Canadian Press, which was the first to report the existence of the backlog in 2017, detailed in a series last year the additional stress and difficulties that veterans stuck in the backlog are experiencing as they wait for their claims to be processed.

The Liberal government made what was supposed to be a one-time, $20-million cash injection in 2018 to hire dozens of temporary staff to speed up the processing of disability benefit applications and ensure veterans had timely access to benefits and services.

Yet that investment didn't make a dent as the number of applications coming in continued to surpass the department's resources, and the backlog grew from 29,000 applications in December 2017 to 49,000 in March 2020.

It was only after the Liberals added another $192 million in June 2020 to keep the temporary staff hired in 2018 and add hundreds of others to the mix -- for a total of 560 extra employees -- that it has started to report some improvements.

MacAulay's spokesman Cameron McNeill reported last week there were nearly 34,000 unprocessed claims from more than 25,000 veterans with the department at the end of December, about 15,000 fewer claims than at its peak.

Yet while MacAulay touted that as progress, Veterans Affairs admitted in response to a recent question from Conservative critic Frank Caputo that the average veteran is still having to wait over 40 weeks for their claim to be processed.

And Veterans Affairs officials say even what the government describes as progress is in danger of being reversed as only 168 of the 560 temporary staff have so far had their contracts extended past the end of March.

Figures provided to Caputo show officials estimate the number of unprocessed files will fall to about 26,600 by the end of March, but will rise back up to 36,500 by the end of the year unless the Liberal government approves more staff.

"If we are given more resources, that will certainly address those numbers and will allow us to bring that backlog down," Veterans Affairs deputy minister Paul Ledwell told committee members this week.

However, he added, "we don't have the confirmation of resources yet. And that will only come through the budgeting process."

That means the department won't know until mid-March at the earliest how many more of the temporary staff will be kept. That is despite the Liberals having been repeatedly warned for more than a year that those employees will be needed.

Parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux in September 2020 reported the government would need to keep most of those temporary staff past their current contract set to end in March 2022 for another three years to properly deal with the backlog.

Giroux also said the government could have eliminated the entire backlog by the end of 2021 by hiring 400 additional employees on top of those already under contract by adding $159 million to the budget. The Liberals ignored this recommendation.

Veterans Affairs warned MacAulay about the continued need for additional staff last May, noting in documents obtained through access to information the temporary staff only really got up and running in January 2021 after months of recruitment and training.

Those officials not only spoke of the importance of retaining their temporary staff, but also for the government to make a decision on such an extension sooner rather than later.

"With delays in extending spike staff comes the higher risk of losing these highly skilled and trained employees," reads the report. "To date, we have lost 38 employees with 27 being essential decision makers."

MacAulay during his committee appearance acknowledged: "You just don't walk into Veterans Affairs and become a case loader. There's work to be done in order to make sure they're ready to serve veterans and Veterans Affairs Canada."

NDP veterans affairs critic Rachel Blaney in an interview said thousands of veterans are waiting while the government dithers -- and it could have eliminated the backlog by now if it just put its money where its mouth is.

"The PBO said: `Look, if you do this and then you do this, you could be caught up completely within a year,"' she said.

"I believe our veterans deserve that. And it's absolutely appalling that people who served our country, who are dealing with in some cases some severe trauma, are having to deal with this (backlog)."

CTV News

Just get it done.

Keep the staff until the job gets done.

by JAFO Wed 09 Feb 2022, 11:25 am

Instead of keeping the staff we should be saying it's time for a new system for claim processing.

VAC has been doing claims for about 100 years now so why can't statistics be used for the common injuries like feet, knees, back, neck? (They did it with hearing applications fastest f'n claim I ever had processed!)

Why can't adjudicators contact the applicant to answer/clarify any questions from the application?

Why can't adjudicators talk to each other?

Why don't adjudicators have research assistants like CM's who have CSA's?

Why is there no base/station/deployment/geographical information available? Why is there no General Knowledge of military structure and work environments?

There is 5 suggestions I'm sure there are some Admin staff, Medical staff who could make even more suggestions.

If the system is continually broken! Is that not a huge flashing warning light that the system needs to change?!?!

by **Apollo** Wed 25 May 2022, 3:38 pm

by **Warrior** Wed 09 Nov 2022, 4:50 pm

Frustration, anxiety persist as Liberals claim success on wait times for veterans

Published Nov. 9, 2022

Backlog - Page 3 Veterans-1-6145298-1667998768551

The Canadian Press

by Monsfool Tue 31 Jan 2023, 4:07 pm

Backlog targeted as Veterans Affairs reports nearly $1B for ex-soldiers was unspent

Canadian Press . Jan 31. 2023

OTTAWA — The Trudeau government is facing fresh calls to eliminate the backlog of disability claims from ill and injured veterans amid revelations Veterans Affairs Canada failed to spend nearly $1 billion of its budget last year.

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay's office says the backlog of thousands of unprocessed applications for financial and medical benefits did not have an impact on the unspent funds.

But veterans' groups and others are expressing skepticism, saying at least a portion of the money would have been used to help more ill and injured ex-soldiers if their claims had been processed in a timely manner.

Instead, many continue to wait months and sometimes years to find out if they qualify for health and financial assistance from the federal government for injuries and illnesses sustained in uniform.

The Royal Canadian Legion says the unspent funds should be used to immediately clear up the backlog.

The Legion and the National Council of Veteran Associations are also reiterating past calls for the government to start automatically approving claims by veterans, which the Liberals have repeatedly refused to do.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2023.

The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press

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