Hon. Marty Klyne: Minister, there continue to be reports of surviving family members struggling to navigate the VAC system, with many facing such barriers that they simply give up. This affects their financial stability and the recognition of their loved one’s service and sacrifice.

In 2021, Veterans Affairs conducted an internal audit on disability benefits for survivors. The findings were deeply concerning. The audit revealed that the decision makers in the benefits adjudication and processing unit had no official processes or guidance for handling survivors’ applications and no formal training specific to these cases.

The audit concluded that the processing of disability benefits for survivors requires improvement. It recommended implementing a performance monitoring and quality assurance program, with a target completion date of July 31, 2022.

Minister, can you please confirm whether the recommendation has been fully implemented, as well as what measures are now in place to ensure that surviving family members receive fair, consistent and timely treatment when applying for benefits?

Hon. Jill McKnight, P.C., M.P., Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence: We are continually reviewing service delivery to our veterans. We are constantly looking for opportunities to improve, enhance and expedite while ensuring that each individual veteran’s case receives care and attention, because each one is unique and needs that individual care.

We are now helping to enhance that by looking for ways to modernize and streamline our process to ensure that the time we have available to decision makers can be spent focusing on the elements of delivering services to our veterans.