Re: Royal Canadian Legion - Topics & Posted Articles

by Whiskey Fri 21 Jan 2022, 4:25 pm

Legion in Hepworth, Ont. destroyed by overnight fire

Published Jan. 21, 2022

Royal Canadian Legion - Topics & Posted Articles - Page 22 Hepworth-legion-fire-1-5749535-1642785560892

https://london.ctvnews.ca/legion-in-hepworth-ont-destroyed-by-overnight-fire-1.5749522

by Ironman Wed 16 Feb 2022, 9:22 pm

'Bad situation': Kingsway Legion on the brink of closing, members remain hopeful branch can be saved

Published Feb. 16, 2022

Royal Canadian Legion - Topics & Posted Articles - Page 22 Kingsway-legion-1-5784400-1645054590926

CTV News

by Marshall Thu 24 Feb 2022, 11:20 am

Royal Canadian Legion pens letter to PM to clear disability benefits backlog for Veterans

Isha Bhargava · CBC News · Posted: Feb 24, 2022

Royal Canadian Legion - Topics & Posted Articles - Page 22 Somme-branch-31-royal-canadian-legion-in-dartmouth

CBC News

by Rekert Sun 27 Feb 2022, 9:28 am

Legion commends government funding: a crucial step for Veterans

Feb 24, 2022

Support to keep additional VAC staff will help tackle serious backlog

OTTAWA, ON, 24 FEBRUARY 2022 – The Royal Canadian Legion commends the federal government for making the necessary financial investment to eventually end the Veteran disability claims backlog. The Legion’s reaction is summarized in the following statement.

“The Legion is reassured by a significant new investment to clear Canada’s backlog of Veteran disability claims. We thank government for providing Veterans Affairs Canada with the additional financial support needed to retain extra temporary staff, and look forward to seeing this serious backlog shrink rapidly over the coming months.”

The organization has long been advocating for stronger action to end the backlog and some progress on reducing that build-up was being made. Unexpectedly, a recent media report revealed there were no guarantees VAC would be able to keep all the needed staff hired to combat the backlog. In alarm, Dominion President Bruce Julian wrote a letter of deep concern to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

This week the federal government announced it would provide $139.6 million over two years to extend temporary positions at Veterans Affairs Canada to help reduce processing times.

The Legion is pleased to know its views surrounding this issue were taken seriously and helped produce this positive development - one which will ultimately benefit our Veterans in need.

Royal Canadian Legion

by **Spider** Sun 20 Mar 2022, 9:36 am

Community says an 'emotional' goodbye to longtime Ukrainian Canadian Veterans Branch

Lauren Donnelly · CBC News · Posted: Mar 20, 2022

Royal Canadian Legion - Topics & Posted Articles - Page 22 People-dance-at-legion

CBC News

by **Hammercore** Fri 08 Apr 2022, 9:06 pm

The Royal Canadian Legion responds: 2022 federal budget

April 07, 2022

Global Newswire

by **Stargunner** Tue 24 May 2022, 7:35 pm

The Royal Canadian Legion celebrates Legion Week

Bill Cowen
May 24, 2022

Legion Week kicks off on Wednesday with a luncheon and special awards presentation among the events planned.

The Kamloops Legion President, Daniel Martin, spoke on the NL Morning News about what we can expect. “Legion Week is the time of the year to have events and to honour veterans”

It starts with a luncheon at 11:30 on Wednesday followed by a special ceremony. “The first thing that we have is a Veteran’s Lunch which is no charge to veterans, members and their families to come down. It’ll be a Chinese buffet and everyone is welcome.”

“Right after that will be an honours and awards ceremony at 1:00 which entails members that have been in the legion for a long time to say thank very much for all their years of service.”

“We have a few members receiving a 50 year service medal, I think we even have two that will be receiving 75 years of service to the legion, so that’s a very long time.”

Martin was asked how important to have a week like this when veterans are necessarily top of mind the way that they are in November. “Membership is very important. It means we can support veterans and their families. Without our members, the programs and services that we off would not exist so, it’s important for us to have events like this and involve the public.”

Martin says any of us can join. “A lot of people think that you have to be a veteran, to have served in the RCMP or the military to be a Legion member. That is not the case. Anyone can come in and ask to be a member of the legion.”

As far as the week’s activities go, Martin says everyone is welcome, starting with Wednesday’s luncheon. “You don’t have to be a member. We was as many people to come in, it’s basically like an open house.”

“Dinner on Thursday is also no charge, which starts at 5:00. The dance on Friday night, that would be by donation.”

“The pancake breakfast on Sunday morning is also free of charge and will be followed by our meat draw starting at 2:30”

Martin says many members consider the legion a second home and staying away during COVID was particularly difficult. “The last two years, as we all know due to COVID, across Canada, legions have suffered a little bit but due to generosity from the Provincial Government and the Federal Government with the grants that we received helped us a lot but to get our members back we need a safe place for member to come in.”

“We have talked to many seniors and veterans in the community saying that they missed coming to the legion because for them it’s a safe spot, it’s a safe place. You know, they feel like they’re safe there, it’s a place to go outside of their house that they won’t have to worry about anything.”

Martin say there will also be an appearance of fighter jets from Squadron 419 from CFB Cold Lake over the weekend.

“The jets will be arriving around 1:00 on Friday so keep your eyes peeled to the sky. They’ll be leaving Sunday afternoon.

Martin says if you’d like more information you can call 250-374-1742 or email him directly at president@kamloopslegion.com

Local News Now

by Cool~Way Thu 09 Jun 2022, 7:34 pm

'We're at the end of the rope': Veterans fear losing Verdun legion due to high rent

Updated June 9, 2022
Published June 8, 2022

CTV News

by Covert Thu 28 Jul 2022, 7:30 am

Branch 25 Legion in the Sault is on the move

Published July 27, 2022

CTV News

by **Starman** Fri 28 Oct 2022, 5:46 am

Royal Canadian Legion in Lethbridge ready for Remembrance Day, Veterans Week

Published Oct. 27, 2022

Royal Canadian Legion - Topics & Posted Articles - Page 22 Glenn-miller-lethbridge-legion-poppy-campaign-1-6128397-1666910109207

CTV News Lethbridge

by Covert Tue 15 Nov 2022, 7:29 am

Canadian veterans frustrated over claim wait times

By Michael Williams
Posted Nov 13, 2022

Last Updated Nov 14, 2022

Remembrance Day has come and gone, but the struggles Canada’s veterans face are very much an ongoing issue.

One of those struggles highlighted by Craig Thomson, president of the BC/Yukon Royal Canadian Legion, is the extended wait times many deal with when filing claims through Veterans Affairs (VA).

“Although Veterans Affairs say they are adding people and trying to bring the time down to acceptable [levels], we are still hearing stories of 10 to 12 months before a claim is even looked at,” Thomson told CityNews.

“If you’re talking about a veteran who has some injuries, such as PTSD or something along those lines, a year or even 10 months is too long to wait to be cleared through VA,” he explained.

Thomson notes it’s also difficult for veterans to get into the VA database.

“It’s probably the biggest [issue] we have, just getting the system going for them.”

Unfortunately, getting the claim approved is only the beginning, according to Thomson. He says there can be additional wait times to go through once the claim is processed.

Thomson believes it’s critical these claims get handled in a fast manner as many of the health issues veterans face can drastically worsen over time.

“Hearing is probably one of the biggest things that veterans deal with. So, later on in life, not necessarily within a few years of getting out of the service…but some of the injuries sustained while serving start to crop up, and that’s what prompts more claims.”

Overall, Thomson says the entire process has been aggravating enough to push some people to abandon the claim entirely.

“I personally have seen veterans who get so frustrated with the system, they give up. Some of them have problems with forms to fill out.”

“And then there’s an annual report that comes back from VA [which asks] are you still disabled? If a veteran has lost an arm or leg in combat, of course [they’re] still disabled. They get frustrated at having to every year, say, ‘Yeah I’m still disabled here.’ The system should be able to kick out those practices.”

Thomson says quitting is the wrong approach, and there is something legions can do to speed up the process that many don’t know about.

“Through the legion, we have service officers at branches who are willing to sit down with veterans and to help them through this process of paperwork and the applications.”

“We actually have a system that we can push claims through a little bit quicker, through our command service officer who has direct access to VA.”

In thinking of a solution to the problem, Thomson says a streamlined approach would be better.

“Trying to speed the initial claim up, and prioritize the more serious claims over, maybe, the more minor claims.”

Thomson recommends that any veteran who needs help filling out a VA claim or has additional questions can visit their local legion branch.

Veterans Affairs Canada says processing claims is “top priority”

In an email to CityNews, Veterans Affairs Canada says the current processing times for benefits claims are “unacceptable” and reducing them is a “top priority.”

“We welcomed the Auditor General’s report that looked at VAC’s performance from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2021 in June and agree with the recommendations. In fact, this audit outlines the very issues we have been working on in the last few years to reduce processing times for our Veterans,” the agency said.

VA says it has extended the employment of temporary workers brought in to tackle the backlog, as well as changes to how its system works.

The agency notes that it has cut down on the backlog of claims from 22,138 on Mar. 31, 2020, to 9,687 as of Sep. 30, 2022, adding waiting times have been also been reduced.

“Our service standard is for 80 per cent of applications to receive a decision within 16 weeks. In 2021-2022, we double the percentage of applications processed within 16 weeks to 46 per cent, from 23 per cent in 2019-20,” VA said, adding about 60 per cent of applications have been processed with that standard since September of 2022.

“Our work over the last couple of years has given us a better understanding of the challenges in processing disability benefits. We are continually looking for ways to accelerate the decision-making process.”

City News

by Lux4795 Thu 15 Dec 2022, 4:01 pm

Legion levelled by fire will be rebuilt

Published Dec. 15, 2022

Royal Canadian Legion - Topics & Posted Articles - Page 22 Hepworth-shallow-lake-royal-canadian-legion-1-6196357-1671128786784

CTV News London

by Firefox Fri 10 Mar 2023, 4:55 pm

‘We have to support young veterans’: Manitoba legions push to get younger veterans involved

By Marney Blunt . Global News
Posted March 10, 2023

Global News

by Seawolf Wed 15 Mar 2023, 7:03 pm

Northern Alberta Second World War veteran marks 77 years as legion member

Luke Ettinger · CBC News · Posted: Mar 15, 2023

Royal Canadian Legion - Topics & Posted Articles - Page 22 Bill-bessent

CBC News

by Kingway Wed 29 Mar 2023, 4:32 pm

Legion demands answers on budget promise for veterans' disability backlog

Published March 29, 2023

OTTAWA - The Royal Canadian Legion is asking the Liberal government for more details about its promise of more money to address longstanding delays and backlogs for ill and injured veterans.
The Liberals made the funding commitment in Tuesday's federal budget, setting aside $156 million over five years to address what has emerged as the main source of anger for Canada's veterans' community.

Yet the budget plan does not provide any real specifics on how the money will be used, including whether it will be spent on hiring more staff.

Legion dominion president Bruce Julian says clarity is critical as tens of thousands of veterans continue to wait months and even years to find out whether they qualify for federal assistance.

The legion and others have previously called on the government to hire more permanent staff at Veterans Affairs Canada, along with other changes to address the backlog.

But the Liberals have ignored those requests and instead hired hundreds of temporary employees to tackle the pile of unprocessed claims, which has started to grow again over the past year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2023.

The Canadian Press

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