Veterans Affairs Office Celebrates Reopening
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Prince George, B.C. – It’s the day local veterans have been waiting for for close to five years.
The federal government officially reopened the Veterans Affairs Office in Prince George after the previous Conservative government closed it and eight others across the country in 2012.
“This office will serve approximately 1,300 veterans and be supported by our employees (five) who will be dedicated to supporting them,” said General Retired Walter Natynczyk, Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs.
“Providing services, answering questions with respect to benefits, helping to complete applications and helping to complete medical examinations. It’s also a place where veterans will be able to come and meet with case managers and veterans service agents on a one-to-one basis.”
“It like reality is actually happening,” added John Scott, VP of Yukon/BC Command for the Royal Canadian Legion. It’s a wonderful feeling.
“When it first closed, I was so upset and so depressed about the whole thing and of course worked to get it open and I wasn’t alone. There was a lot of people working with me and helped me out. It’s just a great thing to see happen.
He said reopening the office will make a big difference to veterans across the region.
“It means they have somewhere to go and to personally talk to them about their problems and walk away feeling yes, I talked to somebody and they’re going to do something for me.”
Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr was in Prince George last August to announce the office reopening which is located on the fourth floor of the HSBC building at the corner of Victoria Street and Third Avenue.
Comments
Jair plain awesome! I know some Vets who are having difficulties with PTSD symptoms and other assorted bureaucratic issues, so this is a blessing.
Why wasn’t Zimmer there? Isn’t this a federal photo-op that he should be proud of? Or is he too ashamed that he allowed it to be closed in the first place?
Zimmer is Zimmer and that says it all.
A HUGE THANKYOU to the Royal Canadian Legion and all who supported this!
Waste of taxpayer money. Everything could have been handled through the federal government office just as well and a whole lot cheaper. The same services were still available through those 5 years. This is just vote buying by the Libs.
HUGE DISAGREE!! There are many vets and their family members with direct access to the services. The federal office was NOT able to handle services.
They had just as direct access thorough the federal office. The only reason the fed. office would not have been able to handle services would be lack of personnel, and the solution to that is to hire more as needed. But a whole freestanding office? Waste of money.
Totally agree. This is just another decision Justin made just to spite Harper. His entire government policy is to spite the Conservatives.
You got that right. Its strange I didn’t see a a whole bunch of veterans on the armistice parade.
Cheers
Congrats to the 1300 vets that will be using this office. The hard work from everyone at the legion and various clubs is much appreciated. Thank you all.
wholly crap we must be fighting World War Two all over.
Cheers
With all the waste government does with our taxes it’s nice to see something positive..
To all you veterans, thanks for your service..
To all you nay Sayers.. I am sure the military would gladly have you sign up.
Oh I do thank and appreciate the service of the vets, have relatives who are vets in this area. But it’s still a waste of money.
Give Justin a thumbs up. He did what he said he was going to do.
The 1300 vets that this office is supposed to service are spread out all over North Central BC. So lets not pretend that they are in Prince George just waiting to use this service.
I sincerely doubt that anyone posting here, has any idea of how many vets in Prince George would use this service, or how often vets from North Central BC would use it.
Will we get a statement after one year of service telling us when, where, and how this service was used. Somehow I doubt it.
Having a case manager for those who need it, is a good thing.
Good Point Pal
Cheers
How many clients will they serve in person in a day, a week or even a month?
How many clients will be served instead by phone, mail, email, faxes, etc?
How many phone calls will this office receive in a day, a week or even in a month?
I wonder if those figures will be revealed at any time in the future? Might be very interesting to see!
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