Canadian veterans frustrated over claim wait times: expert

Remembrance Day has come and gone, but the struggles Canada’s veterans face are very much an ongoing issue.

One of those struggles highlighted by Craig Thomson, president of the BC/Yukon Royal Canadian Legion, is the extended wait times many deal with when filing claims through Veterans Affairs (VA).

“Although Veterans Affairs say they are adding people and trying to bring the time down to acceptable [levels], we are still hearing stories of 10 to 12 months before a claim is even looked at,” Thomson told CityNews.

“If you’re talking about a veteran who has some injuries, such as PTSD or something along those lines, a year or even 10 months is too long to wait to be cleared through VA,” he explained.

Thomson notes it’s also difficult for veterans to get into the VA database.

“It’s probably the biggest [issue] we have, just getting the system going for them.”

Unfortunately, getting the claim approved is only the beginning, according to Thomson. He says there can be additional wait times to go through once the claim is processed.

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Thomson believes it’s critical these claims get handled in a fast manner as many of the health issues veterans face can drastically worsen over time.

“Hearing is probably one of the biggest things that veterans deal with. So, later on in life, not necessarily within a few years of getting out of the service…but some of the injuries sustained while serving start to crop up, and that’s what prompts more claims.”

Overall, Thomson says the entire process has been aggravating enough to push some people to abandon the claim entirely.

“I personally have seen veterans who get so frustrated with the system, they give up. Some of them have problems with forms to fill out.”

“And then there’s an annual report that comes back from VA [which asks] are you still disabled? If a veteran has lost an arm or leg in combat, of course [they’re] still disabled. They get frustrated at having to every year, say, ‘Yeah I’m still disabled here.’ The system should be able to kick out those practices.”

Thomson says quitting is the wrong approach, and there is something legions can do to speed up the process that many don’t know about.

“Through the legion, we have service officers at branches who are willing to sit down with veterans and to help them through this process of paperwork and the applications.”

“We actually have a system that we can push claims through a little bit quicker, through our command service officer who has direct access to VA.”

In thinking of a solution to the problem, Thomson says a streamlined approach would be better.

“Trying to speed the initial claim up, and prioritize the more serious claims over, maybe, the more minor claims.”

Thomson recommends that any veteran who needs help filling out a VA claim or has additional questions can visit their local legion branch.

Veterans Affairs Canada says processing claims is “top priority”

In an email to CityNews, Veterans Affairs Canada says the current processing times for benefits claims are “unacceptable” and reducing them is a “top priority.”

“We welcomed the Auditor General’s report that looked at VAC’s performance from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2021 in June and agree with the recommendations. In fact, this audit outlines the very issues we have been working on in the last few years to reduce processing times for our Veterans,” the agency said.

VA says it has extended the employment of temporary workers brought in to tackle the backlog, as well as changes to how its system works.

The agency notes that it has cut down on the backlog of claims from 22,138 on Mar. 31, 2020, to 9,687 as of Sep. 30, 2022, adding waiting times have been also been reduced.

“Our service standard is for 80 per cent of applications to receive a decision within 16 weeks. In 2021-2022, we double the percentage of applications processed within 16 weeks to 46 per cent, from 23 per cent in 2019-20,” VA said, adding about 60 per cent of applications have been processed with that standard since September of 2022.

“Our work over the last couple of years has given us a better understanding of the challenges in processing disability benefits. We are continually looking for ways to accelerate the decision-making process.”