BACKLOG OF VETS WAITING FOR BENEFITS GROWING.

OTTAWA • Despite repeated promises to fix the mess, the number of veterans waiting to find out whether they qualify for disability benefits has continued to grow, and there are fears the turmoil will only worsen.

New figures from Veterans Affairs Canada show nearly 40,000 veterans were waiting at the end of November to hear whether their applications for financial assistance would be approved — 11,000 more than the previous year.

And more than a third of the total had been in the queue longer than 16 weeks, which was also an increase and a sign that veterans are waiting ever longer to find out whether they are entitled to assistance. That is despite the Trudeau government’s move to hire more frontline staff and committing $42 million over two years in last year’s budget to clear up the backlog, which has been a source of concern for years.

Revelations about the size of the backlog have nonetheless prompted fresh shock and concern among veterans’ advocates who say long delays add stress and frustration to veterans already suffering from physical and psychological injuries.

And there are fears that the situation will only get worse as Veterans Affairs begins to roll out a new pension plan for disabled veterans next month, which will see staff using a new computer system to process a new package of benefits.

“I’m surprised it’s grown that much,” said Jim Lowther, president of VETS Canada, which supports homeless vets in communities across the country, adding when it comes to the new pension plan: “No one really knows how it’s going to unfold.”

The government is blaming the explosion on a 60-percent increase in the number of new applications over the past year that came with the introduction of several new benefits, resulting in demand outstripping the department’s ability to keep up.

At the same time, Veterans Affairs Canada’s head of operations, Michel Doiron, said Thursday that the department has taken time to put the new money to use.

“Staffing somebody in the public service is not done overnight, and here you’re looking at nurses and you’re looking at doctors,” he said. “So it takes some time to get there. I’m not seeing the benefit of the surge up until probably now.”

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay’s spokesman Alex Wellstead admitted that more needs to be done without offering specifics.

“Over the last three years we have improved the benefits and services for veterans and their families,” he said. “But we know we need to continue to improve in how we deliver those services.”