Help Our Veterans

Please see the attached Op-Ed by Virginia Vaillancourt, UVAE National President. May 9, 2019 Winnipeg Free Press. 

The Public Service Alliance of Canada applauds the federal government’s decision to re-open Veterans Affairs offices in nine cities within one year.

The federal government is attempting to silence veterans who are speaking out about the devastating impact of Veterans Affairs office closures.

Capitalizing on the added traffic through the ports of entry for the Louis Riel Day long weekend, PSAC members handed out mailers to the traveling public. The postcards condemned the closures of Veterans Affairs offices across Canada and called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to reopen the offices.

The federal government announced today that it would be eliminating 44 positions at Veterans Affairs Canada. The cuts represent the final step in the contracting-out of treatment authorization for ill and elderly veterans to Medavie Blue Cross.

Re-opening frontline offices across the country and reversing cuts to Veterans Affairs Canada would go a long way in re-establishing trust with Canada’s veterans.

Julian Fantino has been replaced as Minister of Veterans Affairs, almost a year after he  disrespected and ignored a group of veterans who had come to Ottawa to ask the government to stop the closure of nine veterans’ affairs offices.

Last Friday, LaVar Payne, Conservative MP for the Alberta riding of Medicine Hat, penned an opinion piece in the Medicine Hat News boasting about all the great things the Conservatives are doing for veterans. The opinion piece comes more than six weeks after the offices closed. PSAC Prairies Regional Executive Vice-President Marianne Hladun responded to the letter to set the record straight.

On February 23, Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Larry Maguire and Edmonton Centre Conservative MP Laurie Hawn held a roundtable discussion in Brandon and invited veterans to attend to provide feedback on the federal government's new veterans charter.Suddently, after closing nine Veterans Affairs Canada offices across Canada without consultation with the veterans affected or the union representing the employees, the federal government is interested in what the veterans have to say.

Ignoring widespread opposition across the country, on January 31, 2014 the federal government went ahead with plans to shut down Veterans Affairs offices in Corner Brook, Charlottetown, Sydney, Thunder Bay, Windsor, Brandon, Saskatoon and Kelowna. The office in Prince George closed last year.Veterans mobilized and held protests and events across the country and PSAC was proud to be an ally and supporter of these events. Here is just some of the media coverage we received in the Prairies.Coverage of Saskatoon media conference: