Results: what we achieved

Core Responsibilities

Benefits, Services and Support

Description: Support the care and well-being of Veterans and their dependents or survivors through a range of benefits, services, research, partnerships and advocacy.

Results

As Canada’s Veteran population continues to change and evolve, we are evolving with them. We constantly review what we do and how we do it in order to meet Veterans’ needs.

Under this core responsibility, we continued improving our benefits and services to Veterans and other clients. Below, we have categorized our results under the Departmental Result to which they relate most closely. We provide visual tags to the Minister’s Mandate Letter Commitments (MLC) where applicable. Please refer to the MLC codes and descriptions in Appendix B.

In line with our commitment to Veterans well-being, we ensure eligible Veterans have access to mental health supports they need.

On 1 April 2022, we implemented MHB which allows eligible CAF Veterans to get more immediate treatment coverage for mental health conditions such as trauma-and-stressor-related disorders, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders.

This coverage starts immediately following their application for a disability entitlement if: the application indicates they are experiencing a mental health problem, they have CAF Service, and they have signed to confirm truth of the information provided. Coverage could last up to two years or until their disability entitlement decision is granted. MHB provides coverage for prescription drugs as well as treatments and examinations provided by psychologists, counsellors, social workers, or other mental health professionals approved by the Minister.

Since October 2022, an automated system determines MHB eligibility using information provided in the Disability Benefits applications through My VAC Account (MVA). When all information is present, the system automatically sends the Veteran a MHB eligibility letter and transfers their basic information to Medavie Blue Cross. Medavie Blue Cross then sends the Veteran a health card (if they do not already have one). Once deemed eligible for the MHB, any claims submitted for mental health treatments meeting VAC’s criteria, would be paid by Medavie Blue Cross on VAC’s behalf. [MLC7]

In March 2023, we published an update to the Strategic Direction document, Timely disability benefits decisions: Strategic direction for improving wait times. First presented in June 2020, it outlined the measures we would take to make faster disability benefits decisions. The update includes a progress report for the past two years and our priorities until March 2024. [MLC1]

To improve treatment and services for Veterans with complex health needs, we review applications from clinics providing interdisciplinary programs that wish to be recognized by VAC as an Interdisciplinary Clinic (IDC). An IDC brings together various health disciplines, offering a team approach in assessing and treating Veterans with complex health needs. Our work simplifies the billing process for the IDC programs and improves data collection on types of interdisciplinary programs.

In January 2023, we established a temporary team to start a comparative analysis of the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP), VAC Treatment Benefits and CAF Spectrum of Care. The goal of this ongoing project is to identify gaps in our Treatment Benefits Program when compared to similar services and supports provided by the PSHCP and CAF.

In 2022–23, we prepared to lead the Canadian Veteran Well-Being Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The newly formed project team engaged key stakeholders and community partners; and identified existing research to conduct a secondary data analysis, literature review, and environmental scan. CHNA work is ongoing. To identify health and well-being strengths, we engage with equity deserving groups of Veterans including, women Veterans; 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans; Indigenous Veterans; Black and racialized Veterans and Veterans with disabilities. [MLC3, 4]

We established a unit to address the backlog of issues with registered health providers. The unit’s role is to ensure Veterans are receiving safe and effective treatment from registered providers, and that providers are adhering to the registration conditions. The unit communicates with the Federal Health Claims Processing Services (FHCPS) contractor, registered providers and our Area Offices.

Our National Nursing Unit assessed their activities and tasks to ensure efforts meet the needs of Veterans. We also began to enhance collaboration across regions and nationally to improve efficiency and decrease turnaround times. We established a working group to review the Nursing Assessment Tool to better meet the needs of individual Veterans. The modernized Nursing Assessment Tool will be ready for implementation by fall 2023.

In 2022–23, we completed 55% of disability benefits first-time applications within the service standard. This is up from 30% in 2020–21, and 46% in 2021–22. As we work on the oldest applications first, we expect to see even more improvement. The large increase in the number of applications received for disability benefits between 2015–16 and 2022–23 has contributed to difficulties in meeting the service standard.

Our medical services staff were involved with early intake interdisciplinary teams (IDTs) to ensure Veterans have timely access to treatments, benefits, and services for their condition. Our teams provided medical expertise and advice to health and non-health professionals alike. In addition, we provide virtual medical assessments for disability benefit reassessments. We also resumed in-person disability medical appointments which helped reduce wait times for disability applications and made disability medical assessments more accessible for Veterans living in remote areas and/or without access to a family physician. [MLC1]

Launched in January 2022, the Veteran Family Telemedicine Service pilot has proven successful, and the satisfaction rate remains very consistent at 93% since program launch.

In October 2022, we launched the fifth call for applications for the Veteran and Family Well-being Fund (VFWF) and awarded $6M to 21 organizations. This funding will help organizations with projects focused on various Veteran themes, including: homelessness, mental health, employment, Indigenous Veterans, women and 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans, families, transition, and research. [MLC 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9]

On 1 April 2022, the five-year extension began for the contribution agreement with the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families (formerly the Centre of Excellence on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD] and other related health conditions). This allows their important work to continue so we can expand our understanding of PTSD and related mental health conditions. We also continued to support and collaborate with the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research through a 10-year funding agreement ending in 2030. [MLC7]

Financial literacy and financial resilience are important to all Canadians. It is the ability to effectively manage predictable and unpredictable day-to-day financial decisions, life choices and events. The more we know about the level of financial literacy among Veterans, the better we can support them with relevant educational resources and tools that can support their health and well-being.

In October of 2022, we published the results of the Financial Literacy Survey: an online survey of 645 CAF Veterans under the age of 65 years. Some reported they did not have a household budget because they felt overwhelmed managing their money.

In response to the findings, we created a financial management webpage on our external website. The webpage provides Veterans and their families with links to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and Credit Counselling Canada which share free bilingual resources such as budgeting tools, videos on financial management, and one-on-one financial/credit counselling.

In July 2022, we increased the maximum rates payable for the WVA and the CFIS benefit by 10%. This is in line with the Old Age Security increase of 10% in addition to the usual quarterly indexation increases. As a result of these increases, eligible low-income Veterans and their families began receiving additional tax-free support to help ensure their basic needs were met.

In order to financially support Veterans who experience barriers due to a health problem resulting primarily from service, the Income Replacement Benefit (IRB) is a taxable, monthly benefit that ensures a Veteran’s total income will be at least 90 percent of their gross pre-release military salary, until they reach the age of 65, while they are participating in the Rehabilitation Services and Vocational Assistance Program or if they have a Diminished Earning Capacity.

Furthermore, to recognize the important role a Veteran’s caregiver delivers on a day-to-day basis, we provide them with a tax free, monthly benefit.

As part of our wait time initiatives, we continued to have our medical advisory staff provide subject matter expertise in the development and/or updating of key documents. These documents include a functional direction document, a consult chapter (provides guidance to decision makers as to what is required when requesting a consult from medical/dental advisors), Entitlement Eligibility Guidelines (EEG) development and Table of Disabilities (TOD) modernization. These initiatives support our staff for reassessment decisions. [MLC1]

The VEF provided financial support on 882 occasions to 728 Veterans and their families. These funds, totaling $1.5M dollars, helped to ensure Veterans in financial crisis had basic necessities such as shelter, food, and clothing.

We have started work to improve and formalize the treatment support mapping process. This process is critical to ensure that all new treatment benefits are appropriately mapped to a medical condition allowing Veterans to access treatment benefits in a timely manner. This process will also allow for ongoing updates and the addition of new codes to the Disease Classification and Program of Choice Manual, as required.

Having the opportunity to accomplish something that is meaningful to a person contributes to that individual’s sense of purpose. This sense of purpose significantly benefits health, work performance, and impacts motivation in all aspects of life.

We consulted with Veterans, employers and stakeholders in the fall of 2022 using the Let’s Talk Veterans platform. This resulted in over 1,000 people giving their valuable input and insights for the National Veterans Employment Strategy. [MLC5]

We implemented a new contract for Career Transition Services (CTS) which included improvements to meet Government of Canada policies on service and digital, accessibility, and inclusion. We also developed 58 standard operating procedures to improve the services Veterans receive and updated the 15 learning modules available to Veterans. [MLC6]

The new contract moved to the operational phase in January 2023, and we continued to provide Veterans with a full range of services, including help with resume writing, interview preparation, and job finding assistance. [MLC5]

We actioned the recommendations of the Joint Evaluation of the Implementation of the Veterans Hiring Act to take an integrated approach to improving Veteran hiring outcomes and serve as the hub for recruitment and retention initiatives across the public service. We worked with more than a dozen federal organizations to support the development of tools that help match job requirements with military skills and experience. [MLC5]

We began a partnership with the Canadian Military, Veteran and Family Connected Campus Consortium in February 2023. The intention is to help serving members, Veterans, and their families transition to the labour market with updated skills. [MLC5, 6]

We hosted three virtual multi-day events to connect Veterans with employers. The events showcased 85 private sector employers and 14 Public Service departments and agencies seeking to hire Veterans. [MLC5]

We continued to monitor active projects that focus on Veteran employment and retraining. Project activities included: offering opportunities to repurpose and translate Veterans skills and experience; offering education opportunities (e.g., self-paced, virtual or in-person courses); and helping Veterans find job opportunities. In October 2022, the VFWF launched a new call for applications. As a result, we selected three projects that focus on employment/retraining for funding. [MLC5]

Going through any transition takes time. It can be stressful and overwhelming. Even when the decision to make the change was intentional, it can still feel uncomfortable. Some may adapt quickly to change while others may find it challenging. Each person’s situation is unique and will present different opportunities and considerations. Our goal is to help Veterans develop the skills and knowledge they need to actively cope with, and adapt to, their new reality.

In November 2022, we began implementation of a new national rehabilitation services contract for all new participants to the Rehabilitation Services and Vocational Assistance Program. For participants on the program before implementation, migration to the new contractor is happening in a phased approach with completion by Fall 2023. Through this contract, streamlined, high-quality services include:

• Timely coordination and oversight to ensure Veterans receive the support and services when and where it is needed;
• A single point of contact for Case Managers to ensure streamlined service delivery;
• Training for all contractor employees and 3rd party providers on our Rehabilitation program, military culture, cultural sensitivity, Gender-based Analysis (GBA) Plus and accessibility; and,
• Decreased administrative tasks for Case Managers providing more time to connect, assess overall Veterans’ needs and monitor progress.

With the new national provider, we expect to see an increase in our results upon full implementation. A comprehensive performance measurement and quality assurance framework will be used to monitor effectiveness of the new service delivery model and identify further improvements.

We are advancing our work on Closing the Seam, a joint CAF/ VAC initiative. Under the initiative we launched the Release Notification webservice and we now receive earlier notification of all CAF releases through a weekly secure file transfer, which is then uploaded into VAC systems and initiates work items related to transition.^{Footnote 1} Work continues to ensure releasing members are aware earlier in the process what services and programs VAC offers to assist in their transition to life after service. [MLC6]

Our Service Health Records search tool allows us to search digital records and images for key evidence on hearing loss and tinnitus. After continuing trials in 2021–22, in 2022–23 we expanded the search function to include additional conditions for which we receive high volumes of applications. Service Health Records can range from a few pages to thousands, depending on a Veteran’s length of service and health history. This tool will save time searching these files and will only extract information relevant to the application, allowing us to make decisions faster. We developed a platform, VAC Healthshare, for medical practitioners (currently audiology clinics) to electronically submit medical reports, audiograms, and medical questionnaires, along with their invoices for services. We began testing the platform with audiologists in October 2022 and rolled out for use at all audiology clinics in February 2023. This tool will allow us to receive medical documents quicker.

Evidence-informed decision models are rules-based tools that allow staff to process claims faster for certain conditions. We have expanded the number of conditions processed through this model and will explore opportunities for further expansion. For example, we are developing decision models for conditions commonly arising as consequential to mental health conditions.

We rolled out the new Military to Civilian Transition in 35% of CAF Transition Centre locations and 52% of VAC Area Offices across Canada this fiscal year. This provides increased transition support for non-medically releasing CAF Members and their families. [MLC6]

The challenge of finding affordable housing is impacting all Canadians, including those who have served this country. Homelessness is a concern, and not only for the most vulnerable members of the population. The highest levels of government are investing to combat this growing issue to ensure more Canadians have a place to call home. Having safe and stable housing is essential to establish one’s place in society, to build relationships and to fully participate within a community. We will continue to work with partners, communities and other government departments to identify and address Veterans specific housing needs.

We worked very closely with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Infrastructure Canada, to develop the Veteran Homelessness Program as well as tools and materials to support the launch and delivery of the program. This program will deliver $72.9 million in funding for rent supplements and wrap around services to support Veterans experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. It will also deliver $6.2 million in funding to support research and build capacity in the area of Veteran homelessness. [MLC9]

We conducted targeted outreach and established working relationships with many external organizations working in the Veteran homelessness field. These relationships will help us gain a greater understanding of the challenges faced by Veterans experiencing homelessness and those who support them within the community and will ensure our programming responds to the unique needs of this population. [MLC9]

We are working collaboratively on developing a Veteran Homelessness Strategy. This work is focused on better understanding the problem of homelessness experienced by Veterans and proposing solutions for support in these situations. We are exploring opportunities for Field Nursing Services Officers to conduct community outreach to Veterans experiencing homelessness, but this work is not yet operationalized. [MLC9]

We monitor active projects that focus on reducing Veteran homelessness and offer support to those at risk of becoming homeless. Project activities included providing shelter, individualized counselling, help in achieving personal goals, emergency supports (e.g., food, supplies, clothing, etc.), wrap around services, and reducing isolation. In October 2022, the VFWF launched a new call for applications. As a result, five new projects that focus on homelessness/housing were selected for funding. [MLC9]

To strengthen social integration and well-being, this Departmental Result was added in 2022–23 to focus on community belonging and relationships with friends and family. A Veteran’s relationship with family has been found to be important for well-being outcomes and satisfaction with life in general^{Footnote 2}, while satisfaction with relationships with friends could indicate a higher likelihood of social support. Social support is important for transition to life after service, as lower levels of social support often result in a more difficult adjustment^{Footnote 3}.

We promote the Operational Stress Injury Social Support and the Support for Operational Stress Injury peer support programs with our clients and with the broader community to ensure they are aware of available support. Peer support connects Veterans to a supportive community of people with similar experiences. Breaking down the stigma and providing social support has led many to seek the help they need and change their lives for the better.

We delivered Mental Health First Aid for the Veteran community. From June 2016 to fiscal year end, we delivered 245 training sessions (both virtually and in-person) to 3,636 members of the community. We fund this important initiative which offers mental health literacy to support those experiencing mental health issues. [MLC7]

To better support those impacted by military sexual trauma, we are working with the Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre to collaborate on areas of mutual interest and promote awareness of each other’s programming.

For example, we are co-developing an online and face-to-face peer support program for current and former CAF members who experienced sexual misconduct during their service. The peer support program is being launched in phases and the first program offering was an anonymous and confidential online discussion forum, Togetherall, launched in June 2022. [MLC2]

We monitor active projects that focus on Veteran employment and retraining. Project activities included assisting Veterans by offering opportunities to repurpose and translate their skills and experience, offering education opportunities (e.g., self-paced, virtual or in-person courses), and assisting in finding job opportunities. In October 2022, the VFWF launched a new call for applications. As a result, we selected three projects that focus on employment/retraining for funding. [MLC5]

We are mandated to “Deliver a higher standard of service and care” and we take that very seriously. Measuring Veterans’ satisfaction with service delivery helps us plan and determine next steps.

We are always looking for new ways to make our processes more efficient. We implemented VAC Healthshare for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus which helped us receive decision making documents faster, meaning faster service for Veterans.

We centralized nurses’ roles in facilitating long-term care benefits for Veterans. This streamlined processes and improved standardization for faster turn-around times for Veterans, and enhanced the quality and availability of support for Veterans and their families.

In an effort to improve Veteran-centric care and expand outreach, we developed a plan to support the delivery of virtual health professional services. While new, feedback from Veterans of all ages and abilities was overwhelmingly positive. Veterans who chose to access their services virtually reported very high satisfaction with the quality of the service itself, the quick availability of appointments, and the ease of access.

In 2022–23, we worked on a number of initiatives to improve our outreach to Indigenous Veterans. First, after a pause due to COVID-19, we got ready to resume travel to each of Canada’s three territories four times a year to provide in-person service delivery to our clients. We also established an Indigenous Veteran Engagement team, which was slated to begin work in early 2023–24. This team will aim to ensure that Indigenous Veterans and communities are aware of our benefits and services, and will learn about any obstacles that Indigenous Veterans may encounter when coming to us for assistance. Finally, we completed and shared a pamphlet for current and former Indigenous Canadian Rangers. The multilingual pamphlet explains how Rangers can contact us for assistance related to service-related injuries and is offered in four Indigenous languages: Denesuline, Inuktitut, Oji-Cree and Innu-Aimun (Montagnais).

In 2021, we held a three-week consultation on Let’s Talk Veterans to ask how we could improve the disability benefit application experience. In May 2022, we published a report that summarized the feedback and how we will address it. We are acting on the recommendations in this report to ensure immediate and ongoing improvements in the process.

In addition, we made process changes to send reassessments with specific criteria directly to our medical advisory team. As a result, there is a reduced touchpoint for these files, leading to faster processing time.

During the fiscal year, many sessions were provided in Operational Stress Injury (OSI) Clinics for a variety of services. All OSI Clinics offer services in-person or virtually, and the latter was chosen by clients for 61% of the appointments.

We developed a performance reporting system and framework to make evidence-informed decisions that ensure the health and well-being of Veterans. For example, measuring and evaluating practices, outcomes and resource requirements. Accurate and reliable reporting on Case Management (CM) services, outcomes, caseloads and service standards are available by using automated reports and dashboards on these services.

Before the fiscal year ended, we implemented a new CM tiered level of service standards, and we started reporting client’s complexity level and associated contact service standard.

From internal stats within our systems, including GCcase and the CM Assessment Tool, we can extract data on Veteran outcomes, but work is still ongoing. We will be able to report on client satisfaction with their self-reported physical and mental health, and their ability to manage day to day responsibilities. We will also provide data on Veterans demonstrating progress in improving and achieving their case management goals.

We are no longer running the MVA user satisfaction survey focused on the online application process. The last survey was in 2021. At that time, MVA received a consistent satisfaction rating of over 80%. This year, we introduced a new design for MVA and to ensure the design meets our user’s needs, we introduced a user experience survey and a feedback channel for users to send us feedback. We reviewed all feedback and actioned as appropriate.

We continued to improve accessibility of MVA, as well as other external and internal VAC systems to ensure their ease of use and understanding by diverse groups. This includes ensuring all new enhancements meet or exceed accessibility standards, as per the Standard on Web Accessibility and the Policy on Service and Digital. MVA’s level of accessibility has improved. In 2022, we completed a full assessment against the standard and results revealed some critical, serious, moderate, and minor non-conformance issues. In 2022–23, we addressed those issues in order of severity and have removed all critical and serious items. Work on all new features or updates in MVA now begins with an accessible design review and usability testing.

In addition to MVA, we improved other digital services by consulting with end users to inform our strategic direction. All new developments in client facing and client support tools such as Benefits and Health Services On-Line, Rehabilitation Services and Vocational Assistance Program (RSVP) and more have had a user experience analyst overseeing the work.

Library and Archives Canada published the final 2022 VAC National Client Survey (VNCS) report in February 2023. Since then, we engaged in a secondary analysis of the results to better understand clients’ experiences with our programs including VIP, Disability Benefits, Commemorative Initiatives, and the Rehabilitation program. We are now turning our focus to the experience of underrepresented groups including women, Indigenous and racialized Veterans. We will also use the secondary analysis to provide insight into the service experience and communication challenges of those with disabilities as identified in the Accessibility Action Plan. [MLC3, 4]

The National Client Contact Network received 398,558 calls in 2022–23, answering a total of 378,633, which is a 95% response rate. They also managed 131,975 incoming MVA secure messages.

On 28 February 2023, we put out a Request for Proposal for the next FHCPS contract, which provides health authorization and claims processing services to Veterans, their families, and serving members of the CAF and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This next contract includes a focus on data, automation, and innovation to help make claims authorization and payment processes more efficient and effective. This is the first step to ensuring that we implement the next FHCPS contract by the end of the current contract in July 2026.

In 2021–22, VAC implemented a Service Health Records (SHR) Search tool for hearing loss and tinnitus. This tool uses enhanced machine reading capability and handwriting recognition. It is a behind-the-scenes tool that automatically gathers relevant information related to a client’s claimed condition. It searches SHRs and Digital Images based on keywords, phrases, and documents while leveraging handwriting recognition. In 2022–23, we expanded the search function to include additional conditions for which we receive high volumes of applications.

We have also developed system functionality to allow adjudicators to determine if an applicant’s military career path has left them with a high probability of cumulative joint trauma. This is a first step to capture this information in the system, allowing us to look towards automating it in the future.

Moreover, we enhanced our favourable decision letter for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus. This enhanced letter extracts information from various sources within our systems to pre-populate most of the decision letter. This will allow for a simpler, faster, standardized decision letter and will lay the foundation for further development of letters.

We gradually resumed in-person service by appointment in July 2022 in our offices across the country and we resumed home appointments in February 2023. Home appointments may be appropriate for assessments, comprehensive screenings, CM services, guided support services or benefit and service delivery based on client needs.

We have updated the terms of references/guiding principles for our Benefits Review Committee (BRC) to include consideration of the impact that coverage of a given service/treatment/benefit is expected to have on diverse groups of individuals (such as 2SLGBTQI+ and Indigenous groups). BRC members now include a representative of the Office of Women and 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans so that the perspectives and needs of these Veterans can be shared and considered by the BRC when making recommendations to Senior Management. [MLC3, 4]

As part of VAC and the Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre’s co-development of the Military Sexual Trauma Peer Support Program, individuals with lived experience participated in a consultation process to inform the design of a program that would meet their needs. This consultation will continue through the implementation of the final program. [MLC2]

Building on the efforts of the Veteran Excellence Team, the Bureau of Pension Advocates (BPA) has used temporary funds to hire junior lawyers to continue to process simpler claims across the country. This allows senior lawyers to continue to work on more complex files.

Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus)

We implemented our GBA Plus Strategy with a focus on changing the culture and raising awareness to integrate GBA Plus into the design from the outset of all new initiatives.

We also implemented a GBA Plus policy that confirms our commitment to mainstreaming GBA Plus. The policy details how we will integrate GBA Plus principles into every aspect of our work. As well, it reinforces the shared commitment across all functional areas from research, to policy, to service delivery, to audit and evaluation. This includes supporting GBA Plus training for all staff at all levels. We continued developing and improving data collection, analysis, and assessment of program impacts on gender and diversity. We are working on a process for standardizing how and where we document gender when gender-diverse Veterans ask to include this information on their file.

We are also working with Statistics Canada to potentially be able to link program data with census and survey data as part of Statistics Canada Disaggregated Data Action Plan. These data linkages will allow us to conduct an analysis of our programs using identity factors that we do not currently have the authority to collect, including information that will allow us to better understand our gender-diverse, Indigenous, and racialized Veterans. [MLC3, 4]

In addition, the biannual 2022 VNCS contained gender, Indigenous, and visible minority indicators, which allows us to disaggregate and analyze responses by subpopulation. [MLC3, 4]

Furthermore, we worked on implementing the Government of Canada’s policy direction on the Modernization of Sex and Gender Information Practices, beginning with a review when we require sex information and limiting who can view it in our systems to those who need it for decision making. We continue to explore ways to recognize gender diverse Veterans who wish to have their identity factors changed in our systems and acknowledged by our employees. Also, we will be assessing the collection of gender information on a program-by-program basis. Many program areas are developing dashboards to report on GBA Plus data as required.

We are currently in a multi-year modernization of primary tools we use to support decision making for Disability Benefits; the EEGs and TOD. As part of this modernization, we are reviewing these tools to ensure that they are always based on up-to-date health related evidence and provide for consistent, efficient and swift decision making. We developed a GBA Plus methodology specific to this work and is being applied to the revisions of each EEG and TOD Chapter to ensure that these tools consider the diverse health related experience of Canadian Veterans.

We ensured that research funded by the Department conforms to principles of Sex and Gender Equity in Research to inform how we design, conduct, and report findings to ensure fair representation of women Veterans and underrepresented groups in our research initiatives. We achieved this with the Military Sexual Trauma Critical Conversations study (McMaster University); the INSPIRE INcreasing VeteranS’ Pathways to Information, Resilience, and Empowerment study (MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Center); and the Women Veterans Homelessness Scoping Review study (Ontario Tech University). [MLC2, 3]

Our National Nursing Unit launched the National Committee for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nursing to promote inclusive care for equity-deserving Veteran groups. This includes excelling in care, compassion, and respect; acknowledging implicit biases; using sensitive language in all correspondence and documentation; seeking the Veteran’s voice, creating a safe space based on trust and acceptance; understanding intersectionality of clinical need, and promoting health equity.

Gender-based Analysis Plus was integral to the design of the new Mental Health Benefits. Research we conducted in collaboration with Statistics Canada and Department of National Defence demonstrated that mental health conditions are much more prevalent amongst Regular Force Veterans than any age and sex standardized group of other Canadians. In many cases the incidence is twice as high and for PTSD it is 10 times as high. There is an unequal distribution of mental health diagnoses among male and female Veterans, with sexual assault and trauma presenting the highest risk for developing PTSD. The military population is at higher risk for sexual assault with female members four times more likely than males to report sexual assault. [MLC7]

While there is more to do and learn to understand differences between male and female Veterans and other factors (additional identities such as sexual orientation, ethnicity, race and culture), this MHB initiative will contribute to Canada’s Gender Results Framework in the area of improved mental health and well-being outcomes in supporting psychological well-being. [MLC7]

Moreover, we started planning to lead the Canadian Veteran Well-Being CHNA. We engaged key stakeholders and community partners; and identified existing research to conduct a secondary data analysis, literature review, and environmental scan. CHNA work is ongoing to engage with Canadian Veterans to systematically identify their health and well-being strengths and needs by engaging with equity deserving groups of Veterans including, women Veterans; 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans; Indigenous Veterans; Black and racialized Veterans and Veterans with disabilities. [MLC3, 4]

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

We helped advance this SDG based on our Well-Being Surveillance Framework by assessing Veterans needs for the seven domains of well-being: health, culture and social environment, housing and physical environment, life skills, social integration, finances and purpose. An interdisciplinary team approach created a sustainable model for delivering CM Services. By leveraging their expertise and increasing their involvement with our most complex Veterans, we provided high quality service to Veterans and their families, ensuring they received the appropriate level of service at the right time.

SDG 4: Quality Education

We offered several programs that provide financial support for education, training and their related financial costs for Veterans and their families.

SDG 5: Gender Equality and SDG 10: Reduced inequalities

We made improvements in the turnaround times for applications from female Veterans. For 2022–23, the average turnaround times for first applications were 28.9 weeks for females and 27.9 weeks for males. In the 2021–22 fiscal year, the average turnaround times were 40.2 weeks for females and 39.6 weeks for males.

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

We offered several programs to help CAF Veterans find jobs and provide other career-related services and information.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Our pan-governmental work towards ending homelessness among Veterans supports the UN goal of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. In 2022–23, we partnered with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Infrastructure Canada to develop the Veteran Homelessness Program.

SDG 16: Peace and Justice and Strong Institutions

BPA specializes in administrative law, particularly legislation that applies to the Veteran community. The Bureau represented Veterans, free of charge, before the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) in support of Veterans receiving entitlement to disability benefits. This contributed to promoting the rule of law and providing access to justice for all.

Innovation

BPA has invested in a significant project called DARE (Digital Age Renewal) focused on digital transformation and innovation in processing practices designed to achieve the Bureau’s service standard and to lessen wait times for Veterans who wait for a review or appeal decision at the VRAB. The Bureau initiated DARE in 2022–23 and began a thorough analysis of potential new practices that can leverage digitization for efficiency.

We have developed the initial prototype to allow for the auto-population of certain types of Disability Benefit decision letters, reducing the time requirements placed on decision makers. As we build upon this prototype, we will look towards adding additional functionality, allowing more letter types to be auto populated. [MLC1]

Data and Analytics

We partnered with Statistics Canada to identify Veterans in the following national surveys: Canadian Survey on Disability, Indigenous Peoples Survey, Canadian Community Health Survey, and the Canadian Housing Survey (CHS). We also partnered with them to conduct the first cycle of the Canadian Veteran Health Survey (CVHS) in the last three months of 2022. The CVHS replaced the Life After Service Survey (LASS) and is the first national survey to represent all Canadian Veterans, including older Veterans for whom we previously had little information.

Furthermore, we continued to work with Statistics Canada to learn about modern-day Canadian Veterans using data from the 2021 Census.

You can have data without information, but you cannot have information without data. — Daniel Keys Moran

DATA SOURCE CHANGES: Providing better representation and increasing comparability.

The LASS, last completed in 2019, was replaced with the CVHS in order to provide better representation of certain Veteran groups, particularly older Veterans, and will align closely with the content covered in the Canadian Community Health Survey, allowing increased comparability with the broader Canadian population.

The CVHS, conducted by Statistics Canada on our behalf, covers all individuals released before May 2021 and who did not re-enlist at the time of the survey. It was administered to Veterans living in the 10 provinces of Canada, 18 years of age or older, and not living in institutions. Veterans living in the Territories are represented in the Indigenous Peoples Study.

Many of our performance measurement indicators are derived from Veteran surveys. Indicators based on questions from the CVHS will be similar to those from LASS as many of the questions are identical. However, the Veteran population surveyed differs: the 2019 LASS covered Regular Force Veterans released from 1998 to 2018, while CVHS covers all Veterans who were released up to May 2021. As such, results for indicators based on CVHS questions (from 2022 on) cannot be directly compared to those sourced from LASS.

Results achieved

The table on the following page shows, for Benefits, Services and Support, our results achieved, performance indicators, targets and target dates for 2022–23, and our actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

We continually look for ways to improve and determine next steps when results are not meeting targets. Rationales for any target not met can be found on the Government of Canada’s (GC) InfoBase.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Benefits, Services and Support, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as actual spending for that year.

Fluctuations in spending are normal, given that initial forecasting is typically done many months in advance of the reporting period and adjusted throughout the year. A full analysis of the budgetary financial resources and Full-time Equivalents (FTEs) is available in the “Spending and human resources” section of this report. This includes explanations of variances between planned and actual resources.

Complete framework methodologies, as well as financial, human resources and performance information for the Program Inventory are available in GC InfoBase. This also includes explanations of variances between program-level planned and actual resources. 

Commemoration

Description: Pay tribute to the sacrifices and achievements of those who served in Canada’s military efforts.

Results

We endeavor to keep alive the achievements and sacrifices made by those who served Canada in times of war, armed conflict and peace and to promote an understanding of the significance of these efforts in Canadian life as we know it today.

With this in mind, we will continue to support the Government of Canada in its duty to pay tribute to the contribution and sacrifice of all who have served, and continue to serve, Canada in times of war, military conflict and peace. Below we have listed how we are working through various initiatives and the Minister’s MLCs to achieve our goals.

It is our collective responsibility to remember and honour the sacrifices of those who have served our country.

In 2022–23, we developed a comprehensive social media plan for each milestone anniversary which we shared with Canadians. This included Veterans’ written profiles and videos, ensuring their legacies live on and are shared with future generations of Canadians.

We led the planning and execution of programming, ceremonies and an official Government of Canada delegation to mark the milestones listed below. We engaged Veterans, CAF members, their families, youth, Indigenous communities and hundreds in local communities in these remembrance activities to honor those who died in service [MLC8]:

• We supported National Peacekeepers’ Day ceremonies in Ottawa, Winnipeg and other cities with the presence of our team members. The Minister of Veterans Affairs delivered a speech at the Ottawa ceremony;
• An official delegation visited Windsor, Ontario, to mark the 80^th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid with local Veterans and CAF members, including a National Commemorative Ceremony at Dieppe Gardens. We also organized an official delegation that travelled to France to take part in the international event. It included Second World War Veterans, representatives of Indigenous organizations, members of the RCMP, CAF, youth, and parliamentarians. Three of the Veterans served in the Second World War, and one, Gordon Howard Fennell, took part in the Dieppe Raid on 19 August 1942. The event was broadcast via Facebook live on Canada Remembers.
• For the 105^th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a National Commemorative Ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa was broadcast live and began with an Indigenous lead cleansing ceremony. We also planned and delivered a program at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial from 8-10 April 2022 to mark the anniversary.

At the same time, we planned and delivered international commemorative events in Gallipoli, Türkiye, in September 2022 for the dedication of the sixth and final bronze Caribou Monument in the Caribou Trail. Our Minister, the Premier and other representatives for the province Newfoundland and Labrador were joined by parliamentarians, and other officials from Canada and Türkiye. The dedication ceremony was shared via Facebook Live on Canada Remembers.

Furthermore, we made progress through research and consultations with Canadian embassies in Eastern European countries as we continue to explore event options for overseas events and ministerial visits to mark the 30^th anniversary of the first large-scale Canadian participation in the United Nations Protection Force in the Balkans.

We supported the successful bid for the Invictus Games 2025 in Vancouver and Whistler, awarded to Canada in April 2022. The Games will be a high-profile opportunity for Canadians to pay tribute to and honour the service and sacrifices of wounded, ill, and injured Veterans. Broadcast and social media coverage of the Games will ensure that Canadians and audiences around the world engage in the inspiring stories of the 550 competitors from more than twenty nations.

• We are providing $15 million in financial support for the Games beginning in fiscal year 2022–23 through to fiscal year 2024–25. The first progress payment of $1.5 million was made in 2022–23 to the not-for-profit entity which was established to organize the Games.
• The Government of British Columbia is providing an equal amount of funding for the Games, with the remaining financing to be raised by the not-for-profit entity.

Meanwhile, we completed our five-year project to address over 57,000 urgently needed repairs to Veteran grave markers across Canada for which we are responsible. Despite labour and supply issues because of the global pandemic, we addressed 98.5% of the urgently needed repairs, as well as more than 60,000 additional repairs.

We also started addressing recommendations in the 2022 Evaluation of the Funeral and Burial Program and the Cemetery and Grave Marker Maintenance Program, relating to grave marker maintenance and the two departmental cemeteries.

We continued to develop the Visitor Experience at the overseas memorial sites, including completion of a comprehensive visitor survey, continued improvement of on-site directional and interpretive signage, delivery of special events and programming, and creation of temporary exhibit content highlighting the contributions of Canadian Peacekeepers.

We distributed over 4.72 million commemorative learning products to Canadians in the weeks leading up to Veterans’ Week, which included content on diverse groups of Veterans, including women, Indigenous, racialized and 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans, as well as Veterans who served in modern-day military efforts, such as the Gulf War. [MLC8]

Also, we created street banners to display for Veterans’ Week, featuring the Balkans and Dieppe Raid, to support the CAF Around the World theme.

We developed and consulted with the Office of Women and 2SLGBTQI+ on a new web feature and learning resources highlighting the contributions and sacrifices of 2SLGBTQI+ service members.

Furthermore, we completed some improvements to the classroom materials section, including a review of all lesson plans to ensure relevance and enhanced web content on the Red River Flood and 1998 Ice Storm. School events in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick focused on these domestic services in particular.

We worked closely with stakeholders and the French government to identify a reasonable and achievable solution to end the dispute about the land next to the Juno Beach Centre in France.

Veterans want Canadians to understand the price of freedom. They are passing the torch to the people of Canada, so the memory of their sacrifices will continue, and the values they fought for will live on in all of us. In 2022–23, we worked on many initiatives to contribute to this shared goal.

We provided funding to organizations for 174 commemorative initiatives through the Commemorative Partnership Program for total support of $2,835,009.

Of this, we funded 30 projects totaling $397,881 led by Indigenous communities or commemorating Indigenous Veterans. We also issued a successful call out for projects focusing on under-represented groups of Veterans (Indigenous Veterans, racialized Veterans, 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans, women Veterans, modern Veterans), which resulted in 34 projects totaling $537,439. [MLC8]

We also created and launched an online application portal for the Commemorative Partnership Program to improve user experience and accessibility.

To ensure recognition for all Indigenous Veterans and modern-day Veterans, notably those who served in domestic operations, we carried out various events and programming that reflected the diversity of our Veterans [MLC8]:

• We marked the 25^th Anniversary of Operation Assistance - Red River Flood with a day of presentations and activities for students at a school in Winnipeg by Veterans of the mission, still serving members, Parks Canada and the University of Manitoba.
• With over 150 students at W. O. Mitchell Public School in Ottawa, we led programming for Indigenous Veterans Days, engaging Indigenous Veterans, CAF members and their families.
• We marked the 25^th Anniversary of Operation Recuperation – 1998 Ice Storms in new and creative ways, including learning activities in schools and museums as well as holding an event at the National War Memorial during Winterlude festival in Ottawa. This included large interpretative panels showing Canadian troops helping Canadians and Veterans stories and an ice sculpture themed to Operation Recuperation.

Moreover, to reflect the diversity of our Veterans, and the broader Canadian population, Indigenous performers, a modern-day Veteran, and clergy were part of the delegation that travelled to France to mark the 80th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid. The group offered ceremonial performances, prayers and participated in youth learning activities. [MLC8]

As part of the implementation of our 10-year Strategic Plan for Commemoration, which includes the commitment to maintain, protect and present Canada’s memorials, we:

• completed significant preservation and conservation work at six overseas memorials including the Courcelette Canadian Memorial, the Dury Canadian Memorial, the Monchy-le-Preux Newfoundland Memorial, the Masnière Newfoundland Memorial, the Hill 62 Canadian Memorial and the St-Julien Canadian Memorial.
• undertook the conditional surveys of the 4 memorial sites in Belgium to assess priority maintenance work, and managed the transition of care and maintenance of the Gallipoli Newfoundland Memorial in Turkey, from the Newfoundland Government to VAC.
• completed several infrastructure refurbishment and enhancement projects at Canada’s only two overseas National Historic Sites: the Canadian National Vimy Memorial and the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial as part of Budget 2022. These projects included pathway resurfacing, heat pump installation, site fencing and gate improvements, roofing repairs, secured tunnel entry doors, as well as working with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) on the technical requirements and procurement for the Vimy parking lot redevelopment, the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) renewal at Beaumont-Hamel and the Vimy monument joint refurbishment.
• started preparations and procurement for the accessibility assessment to be undertaken at 13 overseas memorial sites in 2023.

Additionally, we began the development of a digital plan for commemoration. This included consultation with both internal and external stakeholders. We also created a 6-year planning calendar which identifies upcoming commemorative milestones and events we will recognize. The planning calendar is also linked to the Commemoration 10-year Strategic Plan as a foundational document for resource management.

Meanwhile, we completed consultations and released the Summary of Consultations on the Future of Remembrance. We used this to further refine our plan’s goals and objectives to ensure they align with the needs of Veterans and Canadians.

Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus)

Canadians from all walks of life and diverse backgrounds have served. As diversity is always top of mind in all communications initiatives around commemoration, we ensured the inclusion of numerous identity factors in our approach to developing, delivering and evaluating initiatives. While also broadening our approach to include more recent military history, we will continue to tell their stories with ceremonies and events at home and abroad. We profiled a wide variety of Veterans throughout the year via videos, written pieces and social media posts.

In 2022, we completed an Attitudes towards Remembrance and Veterans’ week 2022 which included information on those with diverse backgrounds and their attitudes towards Veteran’s Week. The key finding to emerge is that, in general, immigrants were less aware of Veteran’s Week and less likely to engage in remembrance activities. However, after living in Canada for six or more years, awareness and engagement levels of those who immigrated to Canada became more similar to those born in Canada. Going forward, this data will help inform the development of our commemorative material and programs as we strive to reach more diverse populations.

Analysis of consultation on the strategic plan included some disaggregation of data, particularly around how the views of Veterans and underrepresented groups may have differed from larger results. [MLC3]

Within the 4.72 million commemorative learning products we distributed to Canadians in the weeks leading up to Veterans’ Week, the content included diverse groups of Veterans, including women, Indigenous, racialized and 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans, as well as Veterans who served in modern-day military efforts, such as the Gulf War. Additionally, we developed and consulted with the Office of Women and 2SLGBTQI+ on a new web feature and learning resources highlighting the contributions and sacrifices of 2SLGBTQI+ service members.

In August 2022, Commemoration student researchers presented a 1-hour virtual presentation on 2SLGBTQI+ experiences in the First World War for Public Service Pride Week. The Ghosts of Vimy Student Research Project explored the experiences of queer soldiers and nursing sisters, highlighting Canada’s court-martialed records and the invisible minority of 2SLGBTQI+.

Meanwhile, through the Commemorative Partnership Program, we funded 30 projects totaling $397,881 that were led by Indigenous communities or commemorated Indigenous Veterans. We also issued a successful call out for projects focusing on under-represented groups of Veterans (Indigenous Veterans, racialized Veterans, 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans, women Veterans, modern Veterans), which resulted in 34 projects totaling $537,439. [MLC8]

The Invictus Games 2025 include important legacy programs that support diversity and inclusion and raise awareness of Canada’s Indigenous Armed Forces. Also, the collaboration of the Squamish, Lil’wat, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (Four Host First Nations) in the hosting of the Invictus Games 2025 responds to action 91 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which calls for full participation of Indigenous communities in all aspects of planning and hosting international sporting events and for ensuring that their territorial protocols are respected.

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

We recognized Veterans through commemorative initiatives which support overall well-being, especially mentally and socially.

Our financial support for the Invictus Games 2025 supports SDG3 by promoting better health and well-being for persons with disabilities. The Games are an international sporting event for wounded, injured and ill Veterans and still-serving members of the armed forces that use the power of sport to support recovery and rehabilitation, and generate a wider understanding and respect of all those who serve their country. The Invictus Games 2025 will also leave behind lasting legacies and community benefits, including ongoing support for adaptive sports programming for ill and injured Veterans.

SDG 15: Life on Land

We planned, prepared and undertook the planting of over 2,100 trees at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, the largest planting program since the 1920s. As part of forest conservation, we engaged a consultant to undertake a full fauna and flora study of the site.

We also worked closely with stakeholders and the French government to identify a reasonable and achievable solution to end the dispute about the land next to the Juno Beach Centre in France. By doing so, we ensured that the museum, built to honour the service and sacrifice of Canada’s Second World War Veterans, and the protection of the surrounding site will continue for generations to come.

Innovation

We created and launched an online application portal for the Commemorative Partnership Program to improve user experience and accessibility.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for Commemoration, our results achieved, performance indicators, targets and target dates for 2022–23, and our actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

We continually look for ways to improve and determine next steps when results are not meeting targets.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Commemoration, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as actual spending for that year.

Human Resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23.

A full analysis of the budgetary financial resources and FTEs is available in the “Spending and human resources” section of this report. This includes explanations of variances between planned and actual resources.

Complete framework methodologies, as well as financial, human resources and performance information for the Program Inventory are available in GC InfoBase. This also includes explanations of variances between program-level planned and actual resources. 

Veterans Ombudsperson

Description: Provide an independent and impartial review of complaints and issues related to programs and services delivered by the Veterans Affairs Portfolio and uphold the Veterans Bill of Rights.

Results

The Office of the Veterans Ombud (OVO) investigates complaints and challenges policies and decisions of VAC where individual or systemic unfairness is found. The Office committed to improve the general awareness of the OVO as a fairness based, Ombud organization, as well as help the Veteran community understand the services it can provide and encourage those who do not believe that they have been treated fairly to contact the office.

Individual complaints help the OVO to identify emerging trends and systemic issues for further investigation.

In 2022–23, the OVO reviewed and addressed 91% (1,195) of the 1,470 individual complaints related to programs and services provided by VAC or by third parties on VAC’s behalf, including decisions related to programs and services for which there is no right of appeal to the VRAB. The Office completed 94% of complaints (reviewed and assessed), within the 60 working day service standard and they also addressed 86% of all cases requiring referrals within the 10-day service standard.

In 2022–23 the OVO contributed to this departmental result by conducting systemic reviews and publishing reports and a letter to the Minister to identify and address issues of fairness for Veterans and their families.

The OVO published two reports, one letter to the Minister, one resource guide, our 2022 Report Card and 2021–22 Annual Report. To increase awareness of OVO recommendations, we shared them with key stakeholders, Parliamentarians, media and the general public, through proactive outreach and engagement activities. These activities included in-person and virtual meetings, and Parliamentary committee appearances. The OVO highlights our reports and recommendations through OVO social media channels, targeted media briefings, as well as interview opportunities.

In April 2022, OVO published a report on the Adjudication of Sexual Dysfunction Claims Consequential to an Entitled Psychiatric Condition. The report found sex-based biases in the decision-making process for sexual dysfunction claims and made the following recommendations:

• eliminate sex-based bias in VAC’s adjudication of sexual dysfunction claims consequential to a psychiatric condition;
• update the medical questionnaire to equitably capture sexual dysfunctions affecting all clients;
• update the TOD to standardize the adjudication process for all clients;
• refine the data collection systems to fully capture the nature of sexual dysfunction claims in the diverse VAC client population.

In September 2022, the OVO published an update to our 2018 study on wait times for disability benefits. This update found that wait times continued to exceed the service standard for most applicants, that VAC had resolved the inequity in wait times for female applicants as compared to their male counterparts, francophone applicants continued to experience inequities in wait times and male francophones waited the longest for decisions. The update urged VAC to meet their service standard for disability benefit claims and to put in place our 2018 recommendation to triage applications based on unmet health needs.

In December 2022 the Ombud sent a letter to the Minister of Veterans Affairs regarding Disability Pension reductions for recipients of the Merlo-Davidson Settlement Compensation. Published in February 2023, the letter advises the Minister that the OVO has found unfairness in the reduction of the compensation amounts from disability pensions for psychological or psychiatric conditions for these claimants. The letter made two recommendations to rectify the unfairness, including ceasing reductions for some claimants and publishing the methodology used to calculate the reductions for others.

The Office continued to conduct research and analysis for three other ongoing projects. One examines the programs and services that enable Veterans to remain independent in their own homes, the second examines the Department’s internal review process, and the third concerns the payment of Pain and Suffering Compensation when a Veteran dies with no surviving spouse or dependent child.

In 2022–23, the OVO employed the use of an informal early resolution and escalation process to engage staff within VAC at more senior levels for discussion and consideration of unfairness issues related to individual cases. This process resulted in early engagement and discussion with senior program officials where issues of fairness and impacts were clear and well defined. This informal engagement enabled the OVO and VAC to work together to identify solutions to address some of these situations.

Moving forward, the OVO will explore ways to formalize reporting on individual cases to show the effectiveness of the early resolution and escalation process. In addition, the OVO continues to work towards regularized reporting on all types of individual cases reviewed by our office, including those determined to be fair, and where VAC has acknowledged and addressed cases of individual unfairness when presented with an evidence-based assessment.

In 2022–23, the Veterans Ombud, along with her team, resumed in-person outreach. Throughout the year, they travelled to parts of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, where they met with partners and stakeholders, and held town hall meetings with CAF and RCMP members, Veterans, survivors, and families.

Other key stakeholder meetings and presentations included:

• The Assembly of First Nation Veterans Committee
• The RCMP Commissioner
• The Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command Executive
• Service Officer training at the Dominion Command

In 2022–23, the OVO attended two Conferences: The Canadian Institute of Military and Veteran Health Research in Halifax and the Conference of Defence Associations in Ottawa, where they had information booths, attended sessions, met with partners and stakeholders, and delivered presentations.

Through social media, the OVO created an average of three weekly posts sharing content with the Veteran community. In 2022–23, the Office’s social media platforms counted 739 new followers, more than 4,195 likes, 932 shares, and close to 3,320 overall reactions. Also, the OVO advertised in several print and online Veterans’ publications, including the RCMP Quarterly, Legion Magazine, Canadian Military Family Magazine, Esprit de Corps magazine, and Sage magazine, reaching an audience of over 780,000.

Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus)

During the fiscal year, the OVO began to regularly collect and analyze data related to various sub-populations of OVO clients, including women. In addition, analysis was conducted on the OVO’s case management system to identify opportunities for improved data collection. The OVO will continue to work with VAC to identify and implement improvements that will assist in better understanding the demographics and GBA Plus profile of the Office’s clients.

The OVO continues to integrate GBA Plus into all systemic reviews.

United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

SDG 5: Gender Equality

Our report on the adjudication of sexual dysfunction claims (Adjudication of Sexual Dysfunction Claims Consequential to an Entitled Psychiatric Condition), published in April 2022, advanced sustainable development goal number 5: gender equality. Our report found sex-based biases in the adjudication of sexual dysfunction claims, which may contribute to longer wait times for female Veterans, and the potential for inequitable outcomes for access to treatment coverage for similar conditions. The implementation of our recommendations, which we will monitor on an annual basis, will contribute to ensuring female Veterans have equitable access to benefits when they experience sexual dysfunction disabilities related to military service.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for Veteran Ombudsperson, our results achieved, performance indicators, targets and target dates for 2022–23, and our actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Veterans Ombudsperson, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as actual spending for that year.

Human Resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23.

A full analysis of the budgetary financial resources and FTEs is available in the “ Spending and human resources ” section of this report.

Complete framework methodologies, as well as financial, human resources and performance information for the Program Inventory, are available in GC InfoBase.

VAC Internal Services

Description: Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The service categories are:

• Management and Oversight Services
• Communications Services
• Legal Services
• Human Resources Management Services
• Financial Management Services
• Information Management Services
• Information Technology Services
• Real Property Management Services
• Materiel Management Services
• Acquisition Management Services
• Travel and Other Administrative Services

Results

We deliver the resources and infrastructure needed by the Department to provide effective services to Veterans and clients. This includes a complement of staff that is well-trained, whose mental and physical well-being are supported, and whose diversity is respected. We also ensure that the work is done in a fiscally responsible manner that effectively manages Canadian taxpayers’ dollars, and in a sustainable manner that safeguards our environment.

In addition to ensuring the delivery of routine services, we have made progress in a number of areas aimed at modernizing the delivery of internal services within VAC.

We are making improvements to how we use data to support financial planning and management, through the establishment of a data analytics unit and the re-structuring and centralization of financial planning functions. We have increased our data analysis capacity through additional staffing and continue to increase digital/data literacy within our finance department. Furthermore, we have worked to develop an overall digital and data literacy program in consultation with other departments and are working toward launch.

Through the leveraging of our financial system, and with changes to processes and procedures, we are supporting the automation of the approval and payment process. While expanding the use of data and business intelligence tools for Real Property and Facilities Management and Human Resources, improved reporting and decision-making and supported service delivery and planning.

We have been advancing work on a digital solution for the security clearance process that is intuitive, efficient and provides improved access to and use of data and we continue to identify additional processes which could benefit from the same. We developed a new Departmental Security Plan, and we continue to increase training and awareness measures, and implement enhanced security screening and contract security processes.

We began work on a departmental Open Government strategy to improve and strengthen information management. In addition, we have increased our capacity to deliver Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) services through staffing and development of supporting processes and streamlined ATIP activities the identification and procurement of software tools. The global pandemic gave insight into ways to improve our Business Continuity Program including updated plans and the development of a 3-year training cycle.

Our collaborative approach ensures internal and external partners are engaged in the development and delivery of our services and has led to supporting HR-to-Pay through engagement with PSPC and engagement with the Public Service Commission to support changes to staffing and support the design and delivery of training.

Our interdepartmental engagements have helped to support the development of our hybrid workplace approach. During this period, we also met the challenges posed, applied best practices, and used modern tools in transitioning to a new post-pandemic hybrid workplace model while meeting mandated Treasury Board Secretariat timelines. Also, by reconfiguring head office locations into an “unassigned work environment” model we supported hybrid work arrangements and began using the “myWorkArrangements” digital tool to support this approach. We also built on lessons learned in other departments to foster innovation.

Supporting our employees, attracting and retaining top talent, and ensuring an inclusive and healthy workplace remain key priorities. We have developed a new Employment Equity and Diversity Action Plan (to launch in 2023–24) in which we commit to identifying and addressing systemic issues facing equity communities. We also are establishing mandatory training requirements for Inclusive Hiring Practices for Diverse Workplaces and Unconscious Bias for those exercising hiring authorities.

As we strive to ensure our workforce appropriately reflects the diversity of society, we have implemented staffing changes to support inclusivity. We seek to increase opportunities for persons with disabilities, Indigenous persons, and racialized persons, including at the executive level. By establishing a pool of Employment Equity seeking candidates for leadership roles, we were able to make appointments to a number of positions. In support of employee wellness, we promoted the Workplace Wellness Program through regular messaging and digital tools to support awareness and access to supports. A number of tailored information sessions were also delivered to support employees affected by significant events, such as Hurricane Fiona.

We have continued our efforts aimed at ensuring we provide an environment that is accessible and inclusive. This year, we realized a major milestone toward achieving this through the release of our first Accessibility Action Plan in December 2022. This plan will support the Department as we work to make it more accessible and inclusive, both as an employer as well as a service provider. It is the result of a wide-ranging collaborative effort to identify accessibility barriers and ways we can prevent and remove them.

Effective infrastructure provides an important foundation for our activities. This year we :

• Enhanced our cloud-based computing infrastructure and adopted a smart cloud strategy to ensure secure and reliable operations.
• Launched development and implementation of a multi-year plan to support modernization of core department-wide applications to replace legacy systems.
• Provided support to CTS contract renewal, Mental Health Automation, Integration of RSVP systems and deployed key applications to support Automation of claims processing.
• Reached a number of milestones in the modernization of the Daniel J. MacDonald building including vacating and decommissioning the facility in preparation for the start of renovations.

Furthermore, we were recognized as a government-wide leader in Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) with our comprehensive OHS program evaluation of our Hazard Prevention Program.

Building upon the successes of previous years, we continued to increase our capacity in communications at analyzing emerging data trends and sources and standardizing our reporting procedures. On a monthly basis, we reported on these trends to senior management and our Minister’s Office. Wherever we undertook major campaigns (frequently in line with major commemorative anniversaries such at the 105^th of Vimy Ridge, the 80th of the Dieppe Raid) or major departmental initiatives (e.g., the publication of the Timely disability benefits decisions: Strategic direction for improving processing times plan) or new strategic directions (focus on storytelling) these reports would offer data informed insights on the effectiveness of chosen tactics. Increasingly, we integrated sound environmental analysis and key performance indicators into our plans and sought to report back on their results at the end of implementation. During the past year, we also used our analytics capacities to offer timely reporting on hot-button issues (MAiD, RSVP contract) with daily/weekly updates on topic visibility and conversation insights.

In 2022–23, we improved the Let’s Talk Veterans consultation platform increasing the number of registered users and the engagement rate. We also consulted with women, 2SLGBTQI+, Indigenous, and other Veterans through focused roundtables, events and forums. [MLC3, 4]

Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

The Government of Canada implemented measures to renew and strengthen its relationship with Indigenous peoples by providing increased economic opportunities to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis businesses through the federal procurement process. This requirement will include public reporting and implementation will occur through a phased-in approach.

We are a Phase 2 organization and aim to achieve the minimum 5% target by the end of 2023–24. We voluntarily participated in this initiative during the 2022–23 fiscal year and surpassed the target of $1.5 million, with total spending on contracts with Indigenous suppliers of $4.3M.

Indigenous procurement is highlighted in information sessions offered to areas throughout the Department and we will continue to seek to increase Indigenous supplier engagement for Professional Services and engage with managers to seek their support to target Indigenous suppliers.

We provided regular updates on contract spending with Indigenous suppliers to our Contract Review Board and Senior Management Committee.

Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus)

Working closely with our Diversity and Inclusion team and others, we implemented functionality enabling staff to identify their pronouns across multiple applications via a single entry. We have also progressed changes which will allow staff to change their display name in the system to something other than their legal name.

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Internal Services, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as actual spending for that year.

Human Resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill our internal services for 2022–23.

A full analysis of the budgetary financial resources and FTEs is available in the “ Spending and human resources ” section of this report. This includes an explanation of the variances between planned and actual expenditures.