Quick Facts 2022-23

  • The Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) is an independent appeal tribunal for the disability pension and disability award programs administered by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).
  • If an applicant is dissatisfied with their VAC decision, they can come to the Board where they have two levels of appeal available to them, a Review Hearing and an Appeal Hearing. In any given year, about 10% of applicants appeal their VAC disability benefit decisions to the Board.
  • About three quarters of the cases heard by the Board deal with entitlement to disability benefits, and the other quarter are related to assessment of entitled disabilities. The Board also hears reviews and appeals on the Critical Injury Benefit and final appeals on the War Veterans Allowance.
  • Applicants may bring forward new information, be represented at no cost and present arguments in support of their application for disability benefits. The Board's appeal process is non-adversarial, which means that no one is arguing against the applicant.
  • The Review Hearing is the only time in the process when applicants may appear and testify about the facts of their application. Review Hearings are conducted by two Board Members and take place virtually and in locations across Canada in both official languages.
  • If applicants are not satisfied with their review decision, they may request an Appeal Hearing before three different Board Members. While the legislation does not permit applicants to testify in person again, they may submit written statements and new evidence. The hearing is a further opportunity for their representative to make arguments on their behalf.
  • Currently, the Board has 22 Members.
  • Ten Board Members have military or RCMP/policing experience.

VRAB Statistics for 2022-23:

  • In 2022-23, the Board finalized 3,600 review decisions and 474 appeal decisions.
  • VRAB applicant profile: 84% Canadian Armed Forces members and Veterans; less than 1% Traditional Veterans (Second World War, Korean War); 16% RCMP.
  • The Board ruled favourably in 91% of Review decisions and 83% of Appeal decisions.
  • Our goal is to schedule a hearing, conduct the hearing and issue a decision within 16 weeks. In 2022-23, we achieved this in 49% of review cases and 40% of appeal cases.

  • Top 6 medical conditions:
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