It’s been just over three years since Veterans Affairs Canada released a strategy to tackle its 23,000 backlogged benefits applications, and that file has landed on the desk of a new minister for the first time.
Ginette Petitpas Taylor has taken over from longtime minister Lawrence MacAulay, and she says finishing the job by 2024 — the department’s stated target — is among her top priorities.
“We absolutely want to eliminate that backlog to make sure that we can meet our service standards,” she said in an interview.
Her other top issues: developing an employment strategy and commemorating the events of the past.
Advocates
