2019-2020 Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
Raison d’être
The Veterans Review and Appeal Board (Board) is an independent, administrative tribunal created in 1995. The Board provides an appeal program for service-related disability decisions made by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This program gives applicants two levels of redress for disability pension and disability award decisions and the final level of appeal for War Veterans Allowance claims.
The Board’s objective is to ensure that Canada’s traditional Veterans, Canadian Armed Forces members and Veterans, Royal Canadian Mounted Police applicants, qualified civilians and their families receive the disability pensions, disability awards and other benefits to which they are entitled under the law.
The responsible Minister for the Board is the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence.
Mandate and role
The Board’s mandate is set out in the Veterans Review and Appeal Board Act. This Act provides the Board with full and exclusive jurisdiction to hear, determine and deal with all applications for review and appeal made under the Pension Act, Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act - Part 3, the War Veterans Allowance Act and other Acts of Parliament. The Board also adjudicates duty-related pension applications under the authority of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Pension Continuation Act and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act.
What does the Board do for ill and injured Veterans?
The Board offers two levels of redress for those who are dissatisfied with disability benefits decisions made by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC, the Department). It operates at arm’s-length from VAC to provide an independent appeal process. Learn more about the Board.
Hearings
Hearings are conducted by Board Members, who are independent, impartial adjudicators. Their role is to decide whether the evidence meets the requirements of the legislation to award new or increased disability benefits. They are not bound by previous decisions and will change them to benefit Veterans if there is relevant credible evidence to support the change. Learn more about Board Members.
Review hearings are conducted by panels of two Board Members. Veterans have the opportunity to give oral testimony and bring new evidence and witnesses in support of their case. Appeal hearings are conducted by panels of three Board Members who did not hear the case at Review. The Appeal hearing provides a further opportunity for applicants, through their representative, to submit new information and make arguments. All hearings are non-adversarial, which means no one argues against the Veteran. Learn more about the Board’s hearings.