1. Why veterans should use CanLII
The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) provides free public access to decisions issued by the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB).
The database is a valuable research resource for veterans who:
- Have had a disability claim denied by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).
- Believe their disability assessment does not adequately reflect the severity or impact of their condition.
- Are preparing an application for Review or Appeal before VRAB.
- Want to understand how VRAB has interpreted particular medical conditions, injuries or service-related exposures.
- Want to identify decisions in which other veterans established entitlement or obtained a higher disability assessment.
- Want to understand what medical evidence, service records and arguments were considered by the Board.
2. Getting started: Understanding the database
Open the CanLII – Veterans Review and Appeal Board database. You are accessing written decisions in which VRAB considered challenges to decisions made by Veterans Affairs Canada.
Decision documents commonly describe the veteran's service history and medical condition, the arguments and evidence presented, the legislation and legal principles considered, the Board's analysis and the final outcome.
Choose the appropriate search field
| Search field or feature | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Document text | Searches words and phrases throughout the decision. | Finding decisions involving your medical condition, service circumstances or legal issue. |
| Document title or citation | Searches case names and identifying citation information. | Finding a particular decision when you already know its name or citation. |
| Noteup | Finds other decisions that refer to a particular decision or legal authority. | Finding later decisions that cite a case you consider relevant. |
For most veterans researching a medical condition or disability claim, begin with Document text.
3. The four most important search techniques
Boolean operators allow you to combine search terms, include alternatives and exclude material that is not relevant. They make the difference between a broad search and a focused one.
AND — require both terms
AND tells CanLII that the decision must contain every term you specify.
asbestos AND "lung cancer"
This looks for decisions containing both asbestos and the phrase lung cancer.
Other examples:
tinnitus AND "hearing loss" "prostate cancer" AND "military service" PTSD AND entitlement
Tip: Spaces between search terms are generally treated as AND, so asbestos cancer works as an AND search.
OR — allow alternatives
OR tells CanLII that a decision can contain either one term or another. Use it when a condition or event may be described in different ways.
"lung cancer" OR mesothelioma
PTSD OR "post traumatic stress disorder" tinnitus OR "ringing in the ears"
OR broadens your search and can help you avoid missing decisions that use different terminology.
NOT — exclude a term
NOT excludes decisions containing the word or phrase that follows it.
asbestos NOT mesothelioma
PTSD NOT "sleep apnea"
Use this only when you have identified a particular source of irrelevant results.
Brackets ( ) — group your terms
Brackets keep related search expressions together and make the intended logic clear.
(asbestos OR "occupational exposure") AND "lung cancer"
This asks for asbestos or occupational exposure, and also requires lung cancer.
PTSD AND (military OR "traumatic incident")
This requires PTSD and at least one of the two service-related expressions.
Why brackets matter
Compare these two searches:
PTSD AND (military OR trauma)
(PTSD AND military) OR trauma
They do not mean the same thing. The first requires PTSD and either military or trauma. The second finds decisions containing both PTSD and military, or decisions containing trauma even if PTSD is not mentioned.
CanLII gives OR priority over AND. Brackets make the intended grouping explicit and reduce the risk of an unintended search.
4. Searching for exact phrases and word variations
Quotation marks — search for a phrase
Put quotation marks around words when you want to search for them as a phrase rather than as separate terms.
"military service" "occupational exposure" "benefit of the doubt" "reasonable doubt"
This is useful when researching legal language or expressions that appear in VRAB decisions.
The EXACT operator
CanLII also provides an EXACT() operator for restricting a search to the exact wording inside the expression, rather than the usual variations of a word.
EXACT(assessment)
Use it when you need to distinguish an exact word from its related grammatical forms. Check CanLII's current Search Help for the precise syntax and behaviour.
The asterisk (*) — find word variations
The asterisk is a suffix wildcard. It can stand for zero or more characters at the end of a word.
assess* injur* occup* expos*
For example, assess* can retrieve forms such as assess, assessed, assessing, assessment and assessments. This can help when the Board uses different grammatical forms of the same word.
5. Finding words that appear close together
Proximity operators can help when you want two terms to appear near one another in the decision, rather than anywhere in a long document.
| Operator | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
/s | Both terms must appear in the same sentence. | asbestos /s exposure |
/p | Both terms must appear in the same paragraph. | cancer /p service |
/n | Both terms must appear within a specified number of words. | military /5 exposure |
For example, military /5 exposure looks for the terms military and exposure within five words of one another. Proximity searches can be useful when the relationship between two concepts matters.
6. Practical search examples for veterans
The following examples are starting points. They are not guaranteed to retrieve a particular successful decision. Adjust the terminology to match the language used in your service records and medical evidence.
Example 1: Asbestos exposure and lung cancer
Imagine a former Navy veteran who believes asbestos exposure aboard naval vessels contributed to a later lung cancer diagnosis.
- Start broadly:
asbestos
Review the results and note the terminology used in relevant decisions. - Add the medical condition:
asbestos AND cancer
This narrows the search to decisions containing both terms. - Include alternative medical terminology:
asbestos AND (cancer OR mesothelioma)
- Add the military connection:
asbestos AND (cancer OR mesothelioma) AND (navy OR naval OR shipboard)
- Investigate the Board's reasoning. Look for whether exposure during service was established, what medical evidence was accepted, whether a connection to the condition was established, how the time between exposure and diagnosis was considered, and what the Board ultimately decided.
The objective is not simply to find a decision mentioning asbestos. It is to find decisions in which the Board actually considered the relationship between military exposure and the medical condition.
Example 2: PTSD entitlement
Suppose a veteran's PTSD claim was denied because VAC concluded that the evidence did not sufficiently establish a service-related connection.
PTSD
PTSD AND entitlement
PTSD AND (military OR deployment OR combat)
PTSD AND (stressful OR traumatic OR operational) AND entitlement
When reviewing results, consider what evidence established the circumstances of service, what medical evidence supported the diagnosis, how the Board considered the connection to service, and whether witness statements or service records were important.
Example 3: Challenging a disability assessment
Sometimes VAC accepts that a disability is service-related but assigns an assessment the veteran believes is too low. A veteran with an accepted musculoskeletal condition, for example, may believe the assigned percentage does not reflect the severity of the condition.
"Assessment Review" AND (back OR spine) AND increase
A broader alternative is:
("Assessment Review" OR reassessment) AND (back OR spine) AND (increase OR assessment)
Look for decisions discussing the applicable Table of Disabilities criteria, medical findings, functional impairment, range of motion, pain and other relevant symptoms. Check whether the Board changed the VAC assessment and why.
7. How to examine a decision once you find it
Finding a potentially relevant decision is only the beginning. The real value comes from understanding what happened in that case and why the Board reached its conclusion.
- Identify the medical condition. Is the decision about the same condition as yours, or one with similar symptoms and medical characteristics?
- Identify the military circumstances. What service, occupation, deployment, exposure or incident was involved?
- Identify the original VAC decision. Was entitlement denied, or was the disability assessment considered inadequate?
- Examine the evidence. What medical reports, specialist opinions, service records, witness statements and other evidence were presented?
- Read the Board's analysis. What legislation, regulations, policies and medical evidence did the Board consider important?
- Find the actual outcome. Was the veteran successful? Was entitlement granted? Was the assessment increased? Was the original decision upheld?
- Identify the reasons for the outcome. What specific evidence or arguments persuaded the Board, or why did it reject the claim?
8. Keep a record of useful decisions
Maintain a simple research record rather than relying on memory or repeatedly searching for the same decisions. For each useful decision, record:
| Information | What to record |
|---|---|
| Case citation | CanLII citation, decision date and permanent link. |
| Medical condition | The condition addressed by the Board. |
| Service circumstances | Exposure, injury, occupation, deployment or other relevant history. |
| Original VAC decision | Whether the dispute concerned entitlement or the disability assessment. |
| Board outcome | Successful, unsuccessful or partially successful—and what was actually granted. |
| Important evidence | Medical reports, service records, testimony and other evidence. |
| Important reasoning | Why the Board reached its conclusion. |
| Relevance to your claim | How the decision may help you understand or prepare your own case. |
Keep the decision's permanent CanLII link so you can return to it and share it with your representative. You can also use Noteup to find other decisions that cite a particularly relevant case.
9. Important considerations when using previous VRAB decisions
A successful decision does not guarantee your claim will succeed
Every claim is considered on its own evidence, circumstances and applicable legislation. A previous decision involving similar facts can nevertheless provide valuable insight into how the Board approached the issue.
Look for similar circumstances, not just a similar diagnosis
Two veterans may have the same diagnosis but very different military occupations, exposures, service histories and medical evidence. A decision involving similar circumstances may be more useful than one involving the identical diagnosis but entirely different facts.
Read the reasons, not just the result
Understanding why a veteran succeeded or failed is considerably more valuable than simply knowing the outcome.
Look for decisions that cite other decisions
If you find a particularly relevant decision, use CanLII's Noteup feature to find other decisions that cite it. This may reveal additional cases dealing with the same legal issue.
Previous decisions are not automatically binding on other panels
Previous VRAB decisions can be persuasive and informative, but veterans should not assume that the Board must reach the same conclusion in their own case.
For additional information, see VRAB's information about reaching a decision.
10. A recommended approach to your research
Approach CanLII research as an evidence-gathering exercise. The objective is to answer five questions:
- Has VRAB previously considered a claim involving my medical condition?
- Have other veterans experienced similar military service circumstances or exposures?
- What evidence did those veterans present?
- What arguments and legal principles did VRAB consider?
- What can I learn from those decisions that might help me prepare my own application?
The database gives veterans an opportunity to conduct independent research that would otherwise be difficult without access to legal research resources. It can also help veterans have more informed discussions with their representatives and better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their claims.
11. Additional assistance for veterans
Veterans who disagree with a VAC disability decision may also obtain assistance from the Bureau of Pensions Advocates (BPA), which provides legal advice and representation to eligible veterans at no charge.
- Telephone: 1-877-228-2250
- VAC information: How to review or appeal a decision
12. Quick reference: CanLII search commands
Keep this table beside you while conducting research.
| Command | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
AND | Requires both terms. | PTSD AND military |
OR | Allows either term. | PTSD OR depression |
NOT | Excludes a term. | PTSD NOT depression |
( ) | Groups search expressions. | PTSD AND (combat OR deployment) |
" " | Searches a phrase. | "military service" |
EXACT() | Restricts a search to exact wording. | EXACT(assessment) |
* | Finds word variations. | assess* |
/s | Terms in the same sentence. | cancer /s exposure |
/p | Terms in the same paragraph. | cancer /p service |
/5 | Terms within five words. | military /5 exposure |
Official search instructions: CanLII Search Help and Query Syntax. Search features and syntax can change; consult CanLII's current help page if an operator does not behave as expected.
Knowledge is an important tool in advocacy
Veterans should not have to rely exclusively on what they are told about the likelihood of success of their disability claims. They have a right to understand how similar cases have been considered, what evidence has been accepted and why decisions have been made. CanLII gives veterans an opportunity to do exactly that. The better informed veterans become, the better equipped they are to ask questions, challenge inadequate assessments, identify relevant evidence and participate meaningfully in decisions affecting their lives.
Prepared as an educational resource for veterans by Veterans With Cancer Inc. This guide is intended to help veterans conduct independent legal research. It is not a substitute for legal advice or representation. CanLII is an independent legal information service and is not affiliated with Veterans With Cancer Inc. or VAC.claims.