The new Veterans Affairs Minister says she’s focused on eliminating the backlog of disability applications in her department.

Three weeks into the job, Ginette Petitpas Taylor says her priorities also include creating an employment strategy and commemorating the work of the military.

That backlog of applications has decreased in the last three years, but still, more than 55-hundred cases have taken longer than the 16-week standard.

Advocates say they want to see action on other issues, things like housing, care for post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental-health issues, as well as  culture change.