Veterans

Minister of Veterans Affairs Lawrence MacAulay uses his phone as he arrives for a cabinet meeting in Ottawa, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. Tens of thousands of Canadian veterans who sustained long-term injuries from their military service are waiting to find out whether Veterans Affairs Canada will approve their disability claims. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

The Backlog: Thousands of veterans with disabilities are waiting years for support

Tens of thousands of veterans are waiting to see if their injuries qualify them for support

Minister of Veterans Affairs Lawrence MacAulay uses his phone as he arrives for a cabinet meeting in Ottawa, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. Tens of thousands of Canadian veterans who sustained long-term injuries from their military service are waiting to find out whether Veterans Affairs Canada will approve their disability claims. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Canadian soldiers Benjamin Van Eck, left, and Dan Campbell are shown in Kandahar, Afghanistan in this 2007 handout image. While Campbell would eventually settle down to start a family, Van Eck struggled with drug addiction and homelessness after hanging up his uniform before his lifeless body was found on the streets of London, Ont., this past June. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Dan Campbell, *MANDATORY CREDIT*

The Streets: Ottawa faces calls to step up on veteran homelessness

Grassroots organizations have stepped in to feel in the gaps left by government services

Canadian soldiers Benjamin Van Eck, left, and Dan Campbell are shown in Kandahar, Afghanistan in this 2007 handout image. While Campbell would eventually settle down to start a family, Van Eck struggled with drug addiction and homelessness after hanging up his uniform before his lifeless body was found on the streets of London, Ont., this past June. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Dan Campbell, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
FILE – The Canadian flag flies at half-mast at the funeral for Lionel Desmond and his mother Brenda Desmond at St. Peter’s Church in Tracadie, N.S. on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. Desmond killed his mother, wife and young daughter before taking his own life earlier in the month. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

The Caseload: Veterans Affairs staff overwhelmed by number of vets assigned to them

An internal review released in 2019 found case managers spent more time filling out paperwork than helping veterans directly

FILE – The Canadian flag flies at half-mast at the funeral for Lionel Desmond and his mother Brenda Desmond at St. Peter’s Church in Tracadie, N.S. on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. Desmond killed his mother, wife and young daughter before taking his own life earlier in the month. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
Grade 11 Brookswood Secondary student Charlie Farquharson, 16, wrote and recorded a rap song for Remembrance Day last year as part of a Grade 10 class assignment. He did the entirety of the project from his home computer using software he was already familiar with, calling writing and recording music a hobby. (Special to Langley Advance Times)

B.C. teen writes, records rap to bring Remembrance Day to forefront for youth

16-year-old Charlie Farquharson says youth should be engaged in different ways

Grade 11 Brookswood Secondary student Charlie Farquharson, 16, wrote and recorded a rap song for Remembrance Day last year as part of a Grade 10 class assignment. He did the entirety of the project from his home computer using software he was already familiar with, calling writing and recording music a hobby. (Special to Langley Advance Times)
Sooke artist Linda (Gord) Gordon created this painting in memory of Second World War veteran Jack Cockrell. (Contributed - Linda (Gord) Gordon)

A token of remembrance: veteran commemorated through art

Sooke artist Linda Gordon creates painting of Jack Cockrell

Sooke artist Linda (Gord) Gordon created this painting in memory of Second World War veteran Jack Cockrell. (Contributed - Linda (Gord) Gordon)
A previous edition of Operation Raise a Flag is seen. Canadians across the country are once again invited to buy a flag to be planted outside the Sunnybrook Veterans Centre in Toronto this Remembrance Day. (Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre)

British Columbians invited to help plant 30,000 flags at Canada’s largest veteran facility

Toronto’s Sunnybrook Veterans Centre seeking nation-wide support to plant flags for Remembrance Day

A previous edition of Operation Raise a Flag is seen. Canadians across the country are once again invited to buy a flag to be planted outside the Sunnybrook Veterans Centre in Toronto this Remembrance Day. (Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre)
Members of the Sidney Concert Band perform at 2019’s Salute Our Veterans concert. (Sidney Concert Band)

Sidney Concert Band announces Nov. 7 Remembrance Day concert

Salute to Our Veterans concert to be held at Mary Winspear Centre

Members of the Sidney Concert Band perform at 2019’s Salute Our Veterans concert. (Sidney Concert Band)
Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin, Royal Canadian Legion BC and Yukon commander Angus Stanfield and temporary aide-de-camp to the Lt.-Gov. Glen Greenhill at Rockland Avenue’s Government House, Oct. 26. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)

VIDEO: Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin presented the first poppy of BC and Yukon Legion’s 100th remembrance campaign

Poppies will be available by donation at several organizations across Canada as of Oct. 29

Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin, Royal Canadian Legion BC and Yukon commander Angus Stanfield and temporary aide-de-camp to the Lt.-Gov. Glen Greenhill at Rockland Avenue’s Government House, Oct. 26. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)
A Canadian soldier keeps a close watch as one of his men investigates a suspicious device near a road between two of Canada’s bases in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, June 2, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel

Taliban victories prompt fresh questions, soul searching for Canadian veterans

Veterans, some still in uniform, have taken to social media in recent days to express their pain and sadness

A Canadian soldier keeps a close watch as one of his men investigates a suspicious device near a road between two of Canada’s bases in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, June 2, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel
John Hillman, 102, marks down the last lap for the day hitting 80 on July 6. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff)
John Hillman, 102, marks down the last lap for the day hitting 80 on July 6. (Christine van Reeuwyk/News Staff)
Stocky Edwards at his home in Comox, on June 4, 2021, one day before his 100th birthday. Photo by Erin Haluschak

Celebrating Stocky Edwards: Vancouver Island Spitfire pilot and flying legend turns 100

‘That’s my life. I just hope I lived it well because I’ve always done the best I could.’

Stocky Edwards at his home in Comox, on June 4, 2021, one day before his 100th birthday. Photo by Erin Haluschak
Carl Kolonsky CROP. Photo by Luke Shields

Campbell River veteran receives flowers, letter of thanks from Dutch student on Liberation Day

Dutch city honours Canadian WWII veterans for role in liberating the Netherlands

Carl Kolonsky CROP. Photo by Luke Shields
Cynthia Cummings, decked out in tie-die at The Funky Food Truck in Royal Bay, Colwood. (Dawn Gibson/News Staff)

Psychedelic food truck the next thing for veteran’s wife in Colwood

From tropical resort to thrift store and now a food truck, if Cynthia Cummings thinks it, she’ll do it

Cynthia Cummings, decked out in tie-die at The Funky Food Truck in Royal Bay, Colwood. (Dawn Gibson/News Staff)
Victor Osborne, 102, of Nanaimo, who was born during the Spanish flu pandemic and took part in an influenza A vaccine trial while in the Royal Navy in 1934, will get his first COVID-19 vaccine dose on Monday, March 15. (News Bulletin file photo)
Victor Osborne, 102, of Nanaimo, who was born during the Spanish flu pandemic and took part in an influenza A vaccine trial while in the Royal Navy in 1934, will get his first COVID-19 vaccine dose on Monday, March 15. (News Bulletin file photo)
Jack Coles, a Second World War veteran with the Royal Canadian Air Force, turns 100 on Nov. 16. (Michael Briones photo)

Still up to par at 100: Jack Coles celebrates a century of active living

Qualicum Beach veteran keeps the body moving in the gym and on the golf course

Jack Coles, a Second World War veteran with the Royal Canadian Air Force, turns 100 on Nov. 16. (Michael Briones photo)
Victoria residents pin poppies and flowers to the fence surrounding the Victoria cenotaph on Remembrance Day 2020. (Jane Skrypnek/News Staff)

Vancouver Island remembers

Residents pay their respects from around our communities on Nov. 11

Victoria residents pin poppies and flowers to the fence surrounding the Victoria cenotaph on Remembrance Day 2020. (Jane Skrypnek/News Staff)
In 2005, Trevor Whitten (front right) served as an Honor Guard member during the Aboriginal Spiritual Journey at Vimy Ridge, honouring the Indigenous veterans of the First and Second World Wars. (Photo courtesy of Trevor Whitten)

Victoria man follows seven generations of Indigenous veterans

Joining the military at age 20 was a no-brainer for Trevor Whitten

In 2005, Trevor Whitten (front right) served as an Honor Guard member during the Aboriginal Spiritual Journey at Vimy Ridge, honouring the Indigenous veterans of the First and Second World Wars. (Photo courtesy of Trevor Whitten)
A poppy is projected on the side of the Peace Tower in Ottawa, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. On the eve of Remembrance Day, the federal Liberal government is moving ahead with plans to provide emergency assistance to veterans organizations that have been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

VIDEO: Legion, other veterans groups to get $20M to weather COVID-19

Legion dominion president Tom Irvine welcomed the new funding as a long time coming

A poppy is projected on the side of the Peace Tower in Ottawa, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. On the eve of Remembrance Day, the federal Liberal government is moving ahead with plans to provide emergency assistance to veterans organizations that have been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Korean War veterans Andy Barber, left, and Ron Kirk, raise the Canadian flag at the Halton Naval Veterans Association Burlington, Ont. on Friday November 6, 2020. Barber and Kirk served as in the navy as part of a peacekeeping force immediately following the armistice in July 1953. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch

70 years on, Canadian veterans keep memories of ‘forgotten’ Korean War alive

It took till May 1982 before the National War Memorial was rededicated to include the dates of the Korean War

Korean War veterans Andy Barber, left, and Ron Kirk, raise the Canadian flag at the Halton Naval Veterans Association Burlington, Ont. on Friday November 6, 2020. Barber and Kirk served as in the navy as part of a peacekeeping force immediately following the armistice in July 1953. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch
FILE – A Canadian flag sits on a members of Canadian forces that are leaving from CFB Trenton, in Trenton, Ont., on October 16, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg

Feds gave 1,600 veterans priority hiring, but could have been higher: report

Act was launched on July 1, 2015 and was to intended to help veterans find post-military work

FILE – A Canadian flag sits on a members of Canadian forces that are leaving from CFB Trenton, in Trenton, Ont., on October 16, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg