:
Thank you, Mr. Kerr, and thank you, committee members.
My name is Lloyd Swick, and for the last three years I've been with a small committee working towards putting up a monument in Confederation Park dedicated to the animals that served our forces and also the Allied forces in war. It's a subject that must be talked about. Many other countries, such as Britain, Belgium, Australia, and New Zealand, have seen such a need. We have been lackadaisical in this matter.
Three years ago Peter Stoffer and I dropped in at the NCC and proposed that we have such a monument. Madam Lemay was in the chair. She supported it to the extent that if it could bring an aspect of national interest to our capital, then they would support it.
The fact that we have an unveiling on November 3 at 10:30 in Confederation Park shows that we met the mandate. This is a story that must be told, and I think I can best tell it to you by relating a story about one battle, the Battle of Passchendaele. Does anyone know the story of Passchendaele?
An hon. member: We do.
Mr. Lloyd Swick: Yes, you're the veterans committee. Then you'll know that Field Marshal Haig, the British commander over all the forces, said to our General Currie, “I want you to take Passchendaele”. It was a spot of strategic importance in that it was blocking the way to the Belgian coast where we could use supply ships. Currie looked over the land....
You must remember that World War I very quickly became a stalemated battle. Guns pounded one another. They broke up the ground and they broke up the sewage lines, so World War I was fought in mud and crud—human waste. Currie looked over the land that contained great craters into which man and horse could disappear just like that. He told his commander that he could do it with his one corps, but it would be at a terrible cost. He was overruled in his objection and he went forward.
Here is the point. He inched forward with 20,000 men towards Passchendaele with the overhead—
Are there any service guys here? You know about an over-covering barrage, which goes ahead of the infantry troops and softens up the enemy.
They did it. They captured Passchendaele. They held it for five days until reinforcements came up, and then we discovered the accuracy of General Currie's words when he said, “Yes, but it will be at tremendous cost”. Out of the 20,000 who went in, 4,000 survived.
The point I want to make is that 90% of the ammunition that was fired by that creeping barrage to soften up the enemy was brought forward to the front hills by mules, and if that firepower had not been there, would there have been any survivors?
I relate the story to you because I think it is high time we had a monument dedicated to the animals that served our forces in war. This is a typical case in which our casualties would have been much higher. As a matter of fact, it was Field Marshal Haig who said that had it not been for our horses, our animals, we might not have been victorious in battle, and if that were the case, you would not be sitting here, nor would I be talking.
I know I cannot bring up the aspect of money. My project is costing $160,000. I'm $18,000 short. You may have received these little plastic cards.
If you go on to Animals In War Dedication, aiwdedication.ca, you'll find out what our project's about, and there are also ways through which you might make a donation.
I think my four minutes are up. I do thank you for your attention and I wish you all well.
Some hon. members: Hear, hear!
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Thank you very much, Mr. Swick.
Certainly we got it, and I think we can follow through to get the contact information for everybody if they'd like to have it.
Thank you, Mr. Stoffer, for raising that, and Ms. Adams.
We are officially back to committee business. As you know, we're studying the benefits; the benefits browser is going to be presented today.
Now that I'm refocused, thank you very much for coming in today. I know we have two name tags there for Sheri and for Janice, and as I understand it you're probably going to take close to an hour to make your presentation, or a little shy of that. Then there is some interaction or some questions and answers, and then we'll follow up whatever questions the committee has.
Thank you for your patience, and thank you for being here today. It's all yours. Take it away.
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for having me and Janice Burke here today. My name is Sheri Ostridge, and I am senior director of e-comms, marketing, and transformation communications at Veterans Affairs Canada.
We're really excited to be here today. We're talking about an e-tool for veterans, for a gentleman like Mr. Swick and for others, that was launched only on Monday by Minister Blaney, by the parliamentary secretary, and by the Veterans Ombudsman.
[Translation]
We are here today to introduce you to a new online tool called the Benefits Browser. As the minister said on Monday, this tool provides information on programs and services based on the situation of the veteran using it.
[English]
The benefits browser is a key improvement in the way veterans will be able to access information about our department's services and benefits.
Mr. Chair, we've handed out copies-—I hope everyone has copies—of a deck in English and French of our presentation. I now invite committee members to the second slide.
I'll give a brief overview and clarify what the browser is. On the left is the French version and English is on the right of our screens. My colleague, Janice Burke, will explain a key new component that lies within the benefits browser and that our policies are now online for the first time. This is something that we're really thrilled to have. Following that we'll have a demonstration of the browser, and that will take about 10 to 15 minutes.
We'll go to slide number four. We'll skip right through the outline.
Improvements continue, and I know this committee has heard much about the progress that has been made at the department in improving services for veterans. We're very thrilled, and we feel this is part of the progress the department is making. We're working to offer more online options to communicate better and more simply through plain language and other initiatives.
We're streamlining internal processes and modernizing our policies so the veterans' experience is a good one, with less hassle and less bureaucracy, and we are really making some leaps forward .
To tell you about the development of the benefits browser is a true story of partnership. A prototype was developed as an internal tool by the office of the ombudsman. Their staff required fast and central access to specific VAC information, so there was much back-and-forth between our websites. It was providing a kind of platform for them to work off. Thus started the process of the benefits browser.
We worked with the OVO and we adopted their concept for our staff, so we started on an internal basis. We went through some pilots and redesigned and published the tool internally for our staff, who had different needs. As a result of the positive response to the internal browser, modifications were made. We also had to adapt, as per Government of Canada web standards, and we were able to make it available to the public, to veterans and their families, earlier this week, on Monday. It resides at veterans.gc.ca.
We'll get into how this works in the demo, but to give you a bit of a set-up, if you draw your attention to the front of the room and the screens, veterans can take two options—two paths, if you will—from the very front page. It's highly visible, and on the benefits browser you're seeing a silhouette of a soldier. “Benefits at a Glance” is one option that is seen on one page, then all of the services and benefits. Then “Browse your Benefits” is a self-guided series of questions. It's very quick. In under probably three minutes a veteran can get information that's relevant to him or her.
In addition to programs and services, acts and regulations and program policies have also been added within this, so I'll pass to my colleague, Janice, to give us a little bit of information about that.
We are now on slide 7.
Good afternoon. My name is Janice Burke, and I am the director of strategic policy integration.
I as well am very pleased to be here this afternoon to discuss the implementation of the benefits browser and how it will provide improved and more timely access to information on programs, services, and policies that are important and relevant to veterans and their families.
As Sheri indicated, as a result of listening and working closely with our veteran stakeholders, this information is now available in one location, making it easier for veterans and their families to obtain the information they need when they need it. The really good news part of the browser program is that some information, such as program policies, is now available for the first time. This is because one of our transformation commitments was to renew and simplify all new program policies and make them available online for our veterans and their families.
I'm pleased to say that approximately two-thirds of our program policies are now available on the benefits browser. These policies pertain to the following programs: our treatment program; rehabilitation; career transition services; income support; and financial benefits, such as earnings loss, the permanent impairment allowance, supplemental retirement benefits, and the war veterans allowance.
The remaining third of our policies are currently under revision. These policies pertain to disability benefits, the veterans independence program, and long-term care.
I am pleased to say that by March 31, 2013, all of our VAC program policies will be available online for our veterans and their families.
The new policies are simpler to understand. We used more plain language where we could. The policies are also now displayed in a more logical and consistent format, with hyperlinks embedded in the policies that enable you to go to other related policies, information, acts, and regulations.
As indicated before, veterans and their families can now access these policies online for the first time. While policies are also available and are provided when requested, they now can be viewed and filtered in one location whenever needed, without delay, which is really what transformation is about: making life simpler for our veterans and their families and providing veterans with greater access to the services and programs provided by Veterans Affairs.
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Just to recap a little bit on the benefits that we envision for veterans, they will see, as Janice has said, policies that previously they would have had to request from the department, and it would have taken time to send them. They are now able to go online and immediately see them, so if they're with advocates or folks who are helping them, they are able to access them really quickly.
The information you're going to see is going to be displayed clearly in a focused way, and it's very easy for the users to get to an individual information viewpoint. It's an interactive experience. The users identify themselves and move through the information; underneath, it's filtered through so they can get to what counts for them.
Our website attracts almost 3,000 visitors every day, so as for getting the word out, in one way they're coming to us already. That's a very big benefit. We're going to build on that. The announcement on Monday by the minister, parliamentary secretary, and ombudsman was the start of our campaign to push out the word that the benefits browser exists. We look forward to promoting it further, after Veterans Week, with some regional advertising that we will target around CF bases.
I want to mention that protection of privacy was factored in. I know that committee members have heard of our project management approach and how we have privacy assessments as part of our commitment to transformation. That was factored into the planning of this. You'll see that one of the benefits is that at the end of the process, users can actually have information emailed to them, but those emails aren't captured. They're not stored at all. It's a quick email and it's not held, so it's a simple process.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the improvements are very much a result of our work with the ombudsman's office, and we did want to recognize that it's a great partnership and we're really thrilled that we were able to work so closely with them. I think it's a strong tool because of that.
Mr. Chair, we're up for the demo. We'll get to show you what lies beneath.
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I would also make a suggestion. It depends on the committee's time, but if folks want to come up, we'll have our computer terminals. If you want to take a look through it yourselves so that you can then show others, we would welcome that.
We're going to take two scenarios. We're going to use a veteran of the Second World War. We'll call him Paul. Paul may come in to the front page, veterans.gc.ca. He will have two options, as I mentioned: to go through Benefits at a Glance on the left or Browse your Benefits on the right.
We're going to start with Benefits at a Glance. If any of you have your mobile devices here, this is mobile-friendly and its full functionality works, so if folks wanted to follow along I give you that option. However, I know we're not in a wireless environment, so you might not have that ability.
First, he's going to come in through Benefits at a Glance. He's going to come to a full page of the services and benefits that are currently offered by the department. As well, there are links outside the department to CF, DND, and other related government departments. In one place, he will find everything offered by our department and then by others that are affiliated with us.
He is a veteran of the Second World War. He will see at the very top that there are different divisions of Second World War veteran, Canadian Forces, an application that may be pre-1996 or post-2006, and RCMP. Where he would come in as a Second World War veteran, he'll double-click and he will see highlighted in blue and yellow the lists of VAC services and benefits that are most relevant to him and his service.
The links on the right that aren't highlighted—for example, disability award and benefits to survivors—are still active links that will get him that information quickly, but we are sorting through information and telling him in a quick way which ones he's going to be most likely interested in reading.
I'll take you through the disability pension, for example. He may want to have a look at that. He's going to click on the link. We're still on the website. He can look at the various pieces of information related to the disability benefit, including the different types and the steps for him to apply. He can get his application online and get walked through the process. I want to mention that this by any means doesn't replace personal service. Paul can still call into our 1-800 number if he has questions. This is another channel.
We've heard from veterans themselves that they want the ability to find more information online and go through self-serve options. For those veterans, this is a great tool. Others may get to a point where they have questions. Then they can visit our offices or our Service Canada service points, or they can use the phone to get through. Other veterans may stop at this point.
Each time he clinks a link, information is opened in a new window, but he can always return to Benefits at a Glance.
Now we're going to come back to the front page again and go into the benefits browser. It will take a minute to load.
At my desk it runs much more quickly than it is doing right now, but that's part of what we do. I must add that our whole website is also set up for various ages of computers. My home computer may be at a speed more like this, rather than that of places where speeds are faster. It's still all accessible; it's just that sometimes the time factor is different.
I will mention that in addition to this, we still have our traditional services and benefits information, which veterans can receive at our offices or can have mailed to them. It isn't that all the information is moving to the online channel; we still have multiple channels for our information. We have been told time and again in our client satisfaction surveys and in public opinion research that various audiences like to receive information differently. We are respecting that, for sure.
Now we see the benefits browser.
You'll come in to browse your benefits. I'm going to take as an example “Charlotte”. She's a recently released CF member, so she's going to come in to the “Canadian Forces Regular Member” menu option, but before we click, we're going to take a scan to see....
There are different groups. There are Second World War veterans, Allied veterans, RCMP member or veteran, reserve member, Korean War veteran, Korean War allied veteran, and family member or survivor.
We based the different groups, of course, on the different groups we serve, but also on information from our call centre and our front-line staff, who deal with veterans and know them best in terms of how they see themselves. For example, you may be both a reserve and a CF member, so you have a choice, but you'll get to the same path. It's so that veterans see themselves when they come to this site.
We're going to click on “Veterans”, “Forces”, “Regular member”. Charlotte is looking for information. You'll see there is a scroll-down menu that gives choices. Is she still serving? Has she been released? In this case, I'm going to say she's been released, and we hit the next button.
Again she has choices, with quick questions: Do you have a service-related disability or illness? Have you been medically released? Are you experiencing health problems?
In this case we'll say that Charlotte was medically released within the last 120 days. We'll press “Next”.
You'll see that already she has been given an overview of the different programs, such as “Transition interview”, “Disability benefits”, “Rehab”, or “Financial support” that would apply to her situation.
I will stress that this is not a decision-making tool; this is an information tool. She can navigate through the screens, and any of the “Read more” links will take her to more information about that particular area.
[English]
If we go to the rehab link, we'll click on “More”, to see....
In this one we have “What is the program?”, “How would I qualify?”, “How do I apply?”, and any important notes that the client should be aware of—or in this case, a potential future client.
As well, always you will see that there is “Contact Us”, so that, if somebody gets to a point at which they have a problem, this is an option as well, and they can contact us by phone or by email.
I'm sorry; did you want to slow down a bit on the top?
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Yes, I can give you an example.
If Charlotte were having difficulties with her lower limbs—for example, perhaps she had an injury to her right leg—and was interested in finding out what treatment benefits are available from Veterans Affairs Canada, she could simply go in and click on “Treatment benefits”. She's interested in understanding what the policies are and she wants to do this in the comfort and privacy of her own home. She clicks on “Treatment benefits” to find the policy, and the policy comes right up.
For example, it's “Aids for daily living”. She may be interested in what we provide in terms of canes or other kinds of devices to assist with walking. She can click on the policy for “Aids for daily living”.
What comes up is a very simple policy, in terms of the purpose and the objective of the policy, and it lays out in very simple terms what would be considered in determining whether or not she would be eligible for any of the aids to daily living.
Essentially, this provides her with enough information so that, if she wants, she can talk to a case manager, talk to her health practitioner about the need, and then contact Veterans Affairs to obtain the approval of the benefit.
I'll go back to you, Sheri.
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As you can see, it's easy and visible, and there is greater access to information than there ever was before. It will hopefully cut down on the time needed for veterans to find out the information they need. They would be coming to a case manager, in the case that Janice used, with probably more specific questions than ever before, because they've been able to access and read it themselves. It is part of the research that they will be able to do.
Maybe we'll go to acts and regulations, just to give a sense of what's there as well. These are also on the site, and they link to various sites and the Justice Canada site. These are there as support to the policies. This is something that is also new and that has been added underneath the browser.
One benefit of this is that at the end, Charlotte can email her results to herself. As she is capturing the different pieces of services and benefits that are available to her, she now can go in and email herself the information.
I don't know, Mr. Chair, whether you or another member would like to be emailed Charlotte's—in this case—information. If we could get your email address, hopefully you'll get it before too long.
Mr. Bob Zimmer (Prince George—Peace River, CPC: Are you ready?
Ms. Sheri Ostridge: We'll do it right now.
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Pretend that Bob is Charlotte for a moment and you will see her information. The user will get a confirmation that an email has been sent. As I mentioned earlier, the email is not retained. And so, off goes the information, which they can then print out at their leisure and read.
The links from within are also kept live in the email.
You'll see, perhaps, Mr. Zimmer, when you get your email, that there are live links, so that if she wanted information on the rehab program, she could link through, and it will come back with the very—
So there it is. I think that took less than a minute. That was good.
Mr. Chair, that gives you an overview of the browser. I will pass it back to you. Thank you very much.
:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and my thanks to you all for coming.
I'm sure that for many veterans who are really up to speed on computer technology, this would be a real help. My concern is for those who don't use computer technology or who don't have access to a computer, especially those in rural or northern communities where there are no CAP sites anymore. How do they access this type of information?
I wanted to go through a couple of scenarios.
On long-term care, I wanted to double-check the wording. You refer to a Canadian Forces veteran with a service-related injury or illness who was medically released within the last 120 days.
First of all, if he missed 120 days, what happens there? If the person is suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, he may not follow this timeline. Second, it says the person has a service-related injury or illness. Generally, that's decided by decision-makers, not necessarily by the individual veterans. They assume they have a service-related injury, but this is not a decision thing; this is just an information package.
Also, on long-term care, you say that if a veteran requires long-term care, his first call should be to his provincial long-term care placement office. I just want to understand why it is that way. Your second call, in that case, should be to VAC, but if you're a veteran looking at this site, you're not thinking of the province; you're thinking of the federal government. Your first call, I believe, should be to the VAC. If the VAC then says to contact your provincial or regional rep, that would make sense, but saying to contact the provincial person first may confuse the issue.
Right now, for World War II and Korean War veterans who have served overseas, long-term care is a federal responsibility. When the last Korean War veteran dies, that will change, and a lot of that care will be a provincial responsibility. I just want to ask why it was worded that way and what is going to be in place for them. I know you said they can still use the 1-866 number.
There are many Canadians, especially in the veteran and RCMP communities, who don't understand computer technology. It is still new for them. This is especially true of those who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and getting help from a family member or a friend. Will VAC be going out to these communities and holding seminars or community meetings? VAC needs to sit down with people in the Legions and VAC halls and show them how this actually works.
And thank you for coming.
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If you want, Janice, I can handle the first question.
Mr. Stoffer, at the end you referred to veterans in areas where they don't have a CAP site or they're not on computers. We have many different options. This is not the only tool we use in communication. We're extremely proud of it, but it won't cover all our audiences.
For many years the department has been known for adapting to what the veterans need. Salute! newspaper is one example. We use a large font because we know our readers are of an age that they need that. Sometimes we anticipate it before we're asked. That's the best situation. We have publications that are liked by veterans and we will maintain those.
To promote something like the benefits browser to folks who don't have access will be done through our existing publications like Salute!, but we also have the ability through the 1-800 number that you mentioned that veterans can call. They say they're not online, but they've heard about this and they want to have a package sent to them.
Our call centre and staff in our offices have been trained. They will be able to go through it themselves, so veterans can say this is the information they're interested in, and then it could be mailed to them. These alternative delivery methods are available; even this tool might not be of interest to a particular veteran.
The other thing we're finding, based on feedback, is that family members are also increasingly becoming our audience, because they communicate for the veteran. While veterans themselves may not be into computers, in many cases the family members are.
You mentioned Canadian Forces bases. We have ongoing SCAN seminars. As part of our outreach—and I think former colleague Colleen Soltermann has been here to talk about our outreach—we go to bases and have sessions at military family resource centres. We're able to tell them about the new tools and also the traditional tools, and we add those to the mix so that veterans have choices of how to get the information.
Hopefully that helps to answer your question.
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Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm actually going to pick up on that last happy note that the parliamentary secretary left with Ms. Ostridge and Ms. Burke. Some of you may not know this, but Sheri Ostridge was the lead in a delegation that went over to Vimy. She spent her Easter weekend in Vimy with some parliamentarians and veterans for some commemoration services there.
I'm going to embarrass her, but she is a true professional, in every respect. The taxpayers of Canada and the veterans of this country are lucky to have people serving them who are as dedicated as Sheri Ostridge. I saw her work over that Easter weekend first-hand. I was part of that delegation and proud to be so.
Some hon. members: Hear, hear!
Mr. Sean Casey: Now that I've totally embarrassed you, is the benefits browser something that's going to save money for the department and the Government of Canada?
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Our website has approximately 200,000 pages, just to give you a sense of the scope of information. I know many of you are aware that websites have made various leaps, even in the last five to 10 years, but when the Veterans Affairs website began in the nineties, basically brochures were taken and put up on the website. Information was just captured, written, and put up on the web. We've come so many leaps beyond that, and now information is created in an interactive way.
That said, some of the information put up there in the nineties is still legitimate and accurate, so what we needed to do was find a way to quickly highlight that information for the veteran. Not every veteran would come in and touch 200,000 pages. Many of those, for example, are our Canadian virtual war memorial, honouring all of Canada's war dead. Many of the pages there would not be touched by a veteran with service and benefits questions.
This tool is significant in that it channels the veteran. I think there are 48 landing pages underneath this tool. That said, the existing base is still there. If they want the information, it's still available to them.
Part of our work as well, and this is across government, is on web standards. Departments are looking through their websites to make sure that content is updated, that it's not redundant, that it's not trivial, that the best information is there, and that we have quality of information in both languages as a priority.
You praised how quick and easy to use your website is. You said that your presentation showed just how easy the website is to use.
You know, there are a lot of veterans in my riding. My office is very close to Ste. Anne's hospital, and I am constantly in contact with them. Most of them do not want to communicate with my office by email. We always need to meet with them. I am afraid that some veterans are not comfortable with the website. Currently, we still have people who can respond to requests by telephone, but will those people still be there in the future?
You also contrasted the very quick service of the Internet site and the very slow service over the phone when people want to obtain documents. However, I hope that the existing systems do not disappear.
I would also like to point out that I don't find the website particularly easy to navigate. The home page gives you two options: "Benefits at a Glance" and "Browse Your Benefits". If you click on "Benefits at a Glance", you land on a page with 44 choices: 20 choices under the heading "Services and Benefits", 6 choices under the heading "Acts and Regulations", 7 choices under the heading "CF/DND Programs and Services", 6 choices under the heading "Other Supports" and 5 choices under the heading "Related Government Departments".
Let's put ourselves in the shoes of someone with a health problem who wants to go and look at your website. Of these 44 choices, 6 are related to health: "Long Term Care", "Treatment Benefits", "Group Health Insurance", "Veterans Health Care Regulations", "Health Services" and "Mental Health".
I don't think it's that simple. I'm thinking about veterans who have health problems, who are stressed, who are older, who do not necessarily have help and who have been told that it would take a long time to contact the department to obtain a paper copy of some documents. They go to the site and must choose one of these options. You just said that the site contains 200,000 pages. I find it very difficult. I'm wondering how this will be able to help veterans who are having difficulty and how they could be well served by the website.
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Maybe I could speak to that.
Certainly the idea of the benefits browser is to ensure that for veterans and their families, and certainly for neighbours and support groups that are interested in understanding what services are available, it's provided. It's in no way necessary for veterans or their family members to make a decision about what services or benefits they're going to actually access or apply for.
As you pointed out, it does look complex, but I think it's complex because we have a multitude of programs and supports for veterans. That's what makes it complex. If we just had two or three programs for veterans, this would look very simple, but because we have such a wide suite of programs, it's actually a good-news story that it looks like this.
Certainly what we've seen and experienced is that if veterans have mental health conditions, most are able to function quite well, and they're able to access the information on websites and elsewhere. When they're in a crisis or they're not doing so well, it's the family members who are accessing the information. This is great for family members and for their peer support circles, as well, who want to access the programs. It's really—
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I can answer that. To make a request online is absolutely possible. There's a “Contact us” button. If they have a question on anything in particular, and it doesn't even have to be about the web content, we have an information box that comes into Veterans Affairs; it's monitored and then either followed up on or sent to the appropriate area of the department.
As far as the level of detail goes, there are a couple of things. I think today we went through the demonstration quite quickly. In some ways I think it's a little bit of an artificial environment: we scrolled quickly because we were trying to respect the committee's time, so we gave you a quick overview.
I think how readers will process this quite likely depends, as you say, on their literacy level and on their health condition. Again, we're committed to listening to the needs of our veterans and we understand completely that no one website will answer every question, but we are committed to constant improvement.
We will look at feedback from our veterans in the coming months and ask them whether what they see is too much information for their questions. Do we need to reduce it some? Maybe we just need to have headings. Those are the kinds of questions that we'll get through our public opinion research. Then we'll be able to adapt it accordingly, because without knowing from the users themselves—
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I don't have statistics with me on the kind of feedback, but anecdotally I can say that we have had comments that it's difficult to navigate. That is part of the information that we have taken. We agree with the ombudsman that this is an improvement; it's probably not as far as we have to go, but it's a step in a positive direction.
I think it was the volume. It's part of the puzzle of a website of information. More was thought to be better, and to keep putting more information on for the benefit of the veteran was thought to be better, but now we know we need to help the veteran navigate through that information.
On your question on our phone lines and whether we consider we may get more calls because of this, working with our front lines and our call centres is an important part of every initiative that comes out. Call volumes are monitored. It wasn't part of our plan that call volumes would spike. We will watch that, but we have been working with our analysts to make sure they are very trained on what this new tool is and what it can do for them.
However, you're right. It's likely there will be some questions, and that's the benefit of having our analysts there. They can verbally go through it. In the case of a veteran who says he heard on the news about this new tool but doesn't have a computer, the analyst can actually go through it, fill it out, and mail it to him. That's an option we have.
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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I enjoyed being here for this presentation.
There's no doubt that this will make information accessible to people who can access it, and that's great. I appreciate the fact that you've already acknowledged that it is complicated to navigate. Some of the concerns you've heard are about whether people who can't access this will still be able to speak to a human being. That's number one.
Number two is where is this going to go? In other areas where Canadians are dealing with governments or accessing government services, whether it be in fisheries when they are applying for a licence or renewing their licence or gear tags or whatever, they now have to go online. A lot of people don't have access to computers or don't know their way around computers, and then when they pick this up and try to get hold of a human being, they're being referred to the website. We get those kinds of calls every day in our office in Dartmouth.
Those are some of the concerns I have. I think it's quite worrisome. What can you say? You folks are doing the best you can under the circumstances to deliver important services, but I want to register that on behalf of veterans and RCMP members in my riding who may run into problems accessing information and talking to a human being.
I'd appreciate your comments.
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Yes, that's absolutely the case.
I believe home visits are unique to Veterans Affairs Canada. Our case managers go out and visit veterans and their families. They do assessments. They work with veterans. They provide information through that kind of face-to-face interaction. In terms of access to in-person service, veterans will now be able to access and obtain information on programs at more than 600 sites across the country.
If anything, then, in terms of getting more information out to our veterans, when I think about where we were two years ago, we have certainly increased our reach to veterans, including veterans in rural communities. We're working more with community organizations to provide information on programs and services.
In addition to that, we're working very closely with service providers, the health professionals who are actually seeing our veterans. They are becoming much more aware of the benefits and services that Veterans Affairs Canada provides and can guide veterans to those services.
It speaks to what the future will bring, as who would have thought, even five or six years ago, that we would have a mobile app and it would have multiple platforms of use?
Many of our veteran clients are of an age that they are savvy about technology. We've talked a lot today about those veterans who don't access it, but there are thousands of veterans who are actually telling us that they want mobile apps. They've been asking for email. They've been asking for things such as My VAC Account, so it's in response to that.
As for the mobile app and what we've shown you today, the full functionality that you've seen is available on smart phones and on multiple platforms. We're really thrilled that we were able to do that. We also have a mobile app for commemoration and for Veterans' Week. That's a really exciting part. We've had very high uptake on that.
We also have a connection so that you can go in through a mobile app and access where offices are or where events for Veterans' Week are. We use geomapping. People can actually, on their mobile device or iPhone or whatever, type in their postal code and find out where on Remembrance Day, for example, the nearest service is located.
Again, that's speaking to what the user needs. I think it's continuing to get the messages out, not only in service and benefits but also on the commemoration side as well.