As I understand the Member's statement and it brings up an important aspect of an open-door policy that has more to do with communications than it does with the physical surroundings. Prior to the recommendations coming forward, the staff at the WCB were being put through a regimen of sensitivity training, as well as since the recommendations came forward we've also been instituting plain language training, in particular for claims letters. As well, we have been insisting that the letters of denial be approved by a manager before they go out. We've made the vice-presidents of operations within the WCB accountable for ensuring that all the letters that are going out are understandable and in plain language so that people can actually understand them. Because we heard loud and clear from the committee at the hearings in June that this was a concern, that they couldn't explain the letters being brought to them by their constituents, and it was made abundantly clear in the Auditor General's report as well.

The other part of this is the policy development and as part of our three-year planning cycle for policy development we are looking at our policies because there's the recognition that if somebody walks in the door of the Workers' Compensation Board with an expectation that comes from reading a policy and you can communicate to them very clearly that it doesn't fall under the policy, but you've still created a very negative response from the claimant in that situation. So we are looking at both our policies themselves over the next three-year policy development period, but also the resources like our website and like our brochures to make sure they explain the policies in clear language. It's a major effort over the next year with our staff.

Sometimes the words that are used in describing how we communicate with the public are callous and fortress-like and I just wanted to mention that the people behind the doors of the WCB are not callous and we don't have any intention to create a fortress-like atmosphere. We're public servants. We care about the people we serve. I can speak for every member of the staff that we do take our relationships with the claimants very seriously.