As a result of their deliberations committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below.

Recommendation 1

That the government and department begin planning immediately for a potential influx of benefit applications delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recommendation 2

That Veterans Affairs Canada provide to the Committee a detailed explanation of the triage process between complex and non-complex cases.

Recommendation 3

That Veterans Affairs Canada include unassigned applications in its backlog of disability benefit claims.

Recommendation 4

That Veterans Affairs Canada submit to the Committee and publish on its website, every six months beginning 1 July 2021, a comprehensive report on the status of the backlog on disability benefit claims, including:

• the number of new applications received;
• the proportion of new applications that are deemed complex;
• the number of decisions made;
• the total number of applications in the backlog, including:
  • unassigned applications;
  • incomplete applications;
  • complete applications pending for less than 16 weeks;
  • complete applications pending for more than 16 weeks (backlog);
• the number of people waiting and the number of people whose applications are backlogged;
• the average and median wait time for RCMP and CAF veterans;
• the average and median wait time for men and women;
• the average and median wait time for anglophones and francophones.

Recommendation 5

That Veterans Affairs Canada be required to provide all requested data and information to the Parliamentary Budget Officer in a timely manner whenever requested, provided the Officer does not make any requests that would violate cabinet confidence or divulge trade secrets.

Recommendation 6

That Veterans Affairs Canada implement the solution proposed by the Parliamentary Budget Officer to retain beyond 31 March 2022 the 160 temporary or reassigned employees funded through Budget 2018 as well as the 300 additional employees hired through temporary funding of $192 million until the end of the 2021–2022 fiscal year.

Recommendation 7

That Veterans Affairs Canada, when hiring from an internal pool of  employees, works to prevent departmental deficiencies by ensuring that the positions of those moved elsewhere in the Department are filled promptly, and that the other sectors of the department begin planning immediately for an increased caseload in its service delivery as the veterans in the backlog move to case management.

Recommendation 8

That Veterans Affairs Canada increase its hiring efforts for bilingual and francophone adjudicators, across Canada including Quebec.

Recommendation 9

That Veterans Affairs Canada develop a plan to address the anticipated increase in the number of women veterans in the coming years.

Recommendation 10

That the Canadian Armed Forces ensure that all injuries are recorded in a completed CF 98 to help Veterans Affairs Canada better assess disabilities and medical conditions.

Recommendation 11

That the Canadian Armed Forces automatically provide Veterans Affairs Canada with the diagnosis that supported the decision to medically release a member, at least six months prior to release and with the member's consent.

Recommendation 12

That the Canadian Armed Forces encourage members, including recruits upon enlistment, to sign a letter in advance consenting to the transfer of information from their medical records to Veterans Affairs Canada.

Recommendation 13

That Veterans Affairs Canada continue to automatically approve applications for medical conditions presumptively attributed to service in the Canadian Armed Forces or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, table to the Committee its list of such medical conditions, and continue to expand it through research in Canada and in allied countries.

Recommendation 14

That Veterans Affairs Canada conduct a study on women-specific medical conditions related to service in the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and, when applicable, add them to the list of medical conditions presumptively connected to military service.

Recommendation 15

That the Minister of Veterans Affairs amend the Veterans Well-being Regulations to allow for the automatic pre-approval of disability benefit claims, and that Veterans Affairs Canada implement a pilot project to identify the risks and advantages of such automatic pre-approval of claims.

Recommendation 16

That Veterans Affairs Canada conduct an in-depth review of the Veterans Emergency Fund in the context of its use to support veterans waiting in the backlog and report back to the committee with their findings.