Feds falling short on promise to vets, docs show

OTTAWA — The Trudeau government is failing in its promise to spread the heavy caseloads borne by staff at Veterans Affairs Canada in an effort to make sure veterans are served properly, according to recent internal briefing materials.

Case managers assigned to severely disabled veterans are supposed to help cut through the red tape that stands between them and the services and benefits they’re entitled to after they have left the military, and there have long been complaints about large caseloads.

The result was many veterans had to wait months for their files to be assigned to case managers and, even then, had difficulty getting help as case managers were often overwhelmed. The Liberals promised several years ago to reduce the ratio of veterans to assigned to each case manager from a high of 40-1 under Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to 25-1 by hiring more staff.

Yet while the government has more than doubled the number of case managers at Veterans Affairs since 2015, to 411 from 194, newly released figures show the ratio has been stuck around 32-1.

Officials acknowledged their inability to meet the government’s target in briefing notes prepared for Jody Wilson-Raybould when she was appointed veterans affairs minister in January. She resigned a few weeks later, over her treatment in the SNC Lavalin affair.

“Despite the increase in funding and resources, Veterans Affairs Canada has been unable to achieve the stated objective to reduce the caseload ratios,” reads one note obtained through the access-to-information law.

The department specifically blamed a surprise increase in the number of veterans asking for case-managed services.