On April 9, 2018, Federal Retirees hosted a Veterans Summit in Ottawa to bring together more than 50 people from different veterans-focused organizations and government departments to examine the Listening to Veterans and Veterans Speak reports, and identify what is and isn’t working for veterans and their families. During the Summit, attendees explored the barriers and opportunities that surround veteran and family well-being. It was discovered that while there is a lot of work being done to serve veterans and their families, knowledge of what others are doing is limited between organizations and departments. Several opportunity paths for collaborative work between attending organizations emerged from the Summit: integration of services, veterans ID card, simplification of processes, measure results, communication, and an “Honour the Veteran” campaign.
On November 29, 2018, Federal Retirees hosted another workshop, focused on building collaboration and increased communication among government and non-government organizations that work with veterans – to ensure veterans, those transitioning out of uniformed service and their families, get the supports and services they need, and to further discuss progress on the opportunity paths identified in April. And some progress has been made: CAF’s reinstituting an ID card for veterans, CAF and VAC working together towards a more comprehensive transition process for medically releasing military, Military Family Services and VAC working together to expand services at military family resource centres (MFRC) beyond those currently serving to veterans. Further opportunities for collaboration were identified, and participants left the meeting with agreements to connect. The Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Honourable Seamus O’Regan, also joined the group to field questions and wrap up a productive day of discussion and cooperation.
Access all three reports (Listening to Veterans, Veterans Speak and April 2018 Summit) here.
As Federal Retirees looks forward to 2020, we are eager to build on the success of our ongoing Veterans Outreach Initiative and expand our impact.
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