| |
|
Veteran
Voice.info
VVi is
for you, all veterans, regardless of whether you belong to a
veteran organization or not. VVi is a distribution centre, a
conduit for making sure that the information you need as a veteran
is there for you in a timely fashion. Our aim is to provide a
forum for all Canadian
veterans, serving members and their families to have access to
information pertaining to veteran rights.
VVi is
an independent site,
not associated with any governmental department, agency or veteran
organization. VeteranVoice.info is maintained by independent
contributions.
|
 |
|
The Saga Continues
What
is the MVA's reasoning for not including VeteranVoice.info (VVi) in the 24
Oct Veterans
Affairs Advisory/ Stakeholder Committee?
VVi
20 Oct 2011 db
Truthfully, the MVA's refusal to
have VVi attend the 24 Oct Stakeholder Meeting was expected. If
you were the MVA or one of the well paid VAC senior bureaucrats,
would you want a well established, very knowledgeable, capable,
large and unwavering veteran advocacy organization to be at one of
your meetings?
Copies of the email
correspondence may be found below, most recent first.
I personally do not know the exact
reasoning behind the MVA's decision, but from years of monitoring
VAC, a number of possibilities present themselves. Maybe I should
explain a probable reason why VAC may be nervous to be sitting at
the same table as VVi by reviewing what VVI is, and where it came
from. Minister Blaney, as requested, what follows is your
presentation on VeteranVoice.info.
VVi has been established in one
form or another since 1998. In its current form, since 2003. It
consists of a dedicated, and an extremely knowledgeable staff as
well as excellent, long-time veteran advocate contributors and
advocacy subject experts. Most importantly, it has a subscriber
list that has hovered above the 100,000 mark for the past three
years.
Is VVi a 'media outlet' as the
MVA's Director of Policy,
Andrew Bernardo, claims? Simply, the response is no. It is true that
VVi wants to get all information dealing with veteran issues out
to the veteran community. As clearly stated in our mandate on the
web (one cannot miss it http://www.veteranvoice.info/WebPages/1home.html),
VeteranVoice.info is an electronic information
system (IS) and provider (IP), to maintain a centralized database
and dissemination centre for all veteran-related news, articles,
notices, correspondence and comment available to ALL
veterans.
Within the same opening page, it is
also clearly stated that VVi is independent of any outside
influence, be it government or what have you. Unlike the media,
VVi is not out to make a buck. VeteranVoice.info makes absolutely
no money; there is no monetary gain. In fact, the opposite
applies, as the website, the tools to enhance the website,
provider services, etc are all funded from the pockets of the
all-volunteer staff. Since 2003, and beyond, only one year did VVi
have to turn to veterans for financial assistance. The response
was immediate and overwhelming to the point that the request for
gifts of money was turned off very shortly after the fund-raising
campaign had begun. Veteran's donations came in so fast and in
larger amounts then expected that VVi swiftly met its expences for
the whole year. Currently, through personal saving, as well as
access to credit, VVi operating costs have been paid out to
2020.
Yes, VeteranVoice.info intends to
be around for a long time to come and to continue to publish
information pertinent to veteran issues. The staff look on VVi ,
not as a cashless job, but as a duty. From years of uniformed
service to the time of their release, this sense of duty has been
ingrained into their beings, that duty to country cannot and does
not end with the removal of the uniform. Hence, the formation of
VVi's motto:
The
Veteran's Duty
We, the veterans of today,
are to prepare the way
for those that follow.....
What
is most disturbing is not that this is a slap in the face to VVi.
Rather, it is so transparent that the new MVA and the entrenched
senior bureaucrats have no intention to change or to evoke
substantive rewrites of the NVC. It appears that this newly established
Stakeholder Committee will again be nothing more than a departmental
PR ploy, informing the mass media, that once again VAC has met and
discussed with the veteran stakeholders, and everything is just
fine. Tid-bits will be given out and made to sound as if it is a significant
bonus to veterans, where in reality, the mathematical calculations
say otherwise. This is the reason as Publisher VeteranVoice.info,
I has to put something in print. Samo-samo is not good enough.
Drastic, positive change to the NVC is what is needed, and now.
Our veterans deserve no less.
CJ
Wallace CD plsc
Publisher
VVi
publisher@veteranvoice.info
|
|
|
Email
Correspondence -
Stakeholder Committee
Gentlemen,
I
am writing to inform you that the Minister of Veterans Affairs
has decided to exclude veterans from his scheduled meeting with
stakeholders on Monday, October 24, 2011. His office was
sent requests to include representatives of Veteran Voice and he
chose to decline in the mistaken believe that VVi is merely a
media outlet. The staff of VVi are all veterans and have
worked diligently to provide the Veterans Community of Canada
with information of particular interest to this community and
other interested Canadians.
The e-mails exchange between VVi and the minister's office are
included below so that you can read for yourself what has been
written.
It is surprising that the minister has made this decision
considering the reason for the formation of the stakeholders
committee. His excuse that it is too late to invite additional
veterans is consider very insulting and insincere. It is
not as if a few additional places could not be found as there
was never any intent to suggest that VVi would be inviting all
members of the Veterans Community (over 800,000 Canadians) and
any interested family members to attend. It certainly
would be nice if the minister could accommodate any stakeholder
who wanted to attend.
His
decision is consider another glaring example of the
unwillingness of his department to treat Veterans with dignity
and respect. It also is very contrary to the government's
position on transparency and accountability. Instead it is
a very obvious example of the long term policy within VAC to
reveal as little as possible and operate in secrecy.
I hope that you will share this information with your colleagues
in Parliament.
Yours truly,
Perry
Gray CD
|
|
Dear Minister
I fully support Perry Gray's
attendance as representing Veteranvoice.info as he indicates
below. I also fully support seeking an apology from the Minister
on October 24 to Veteranvoice.info, its executive and community.
If Perry Gray is refused
admittance then you will have forced supportive
parties concerned to seek other more public measures which will
bring attention to this matter.
How sad that this all could be
avoided with a simple invitation. This, Minister is just the
beginning of unified action by veterans and groups of which
bureaucratic insensitivity and intransigence is terrified.
Respectfully
Sean Bruyea
|
|
Sent:
Wednesday, October 19,
2011 9:59 PM
Subject:
Re: VAC Advisory
Council Meeting: VeteranVoice.info
Dear Sir,
I am more than disappointed
by your cavalier dismissal of Veteran Voice as a major
representative of the Veterans Community. You have
invited a number of groups that claim to represent Veterans
and yet you do not have any specific standards for such
groups. A group needs only a fancy title and a warm body
to fill a chair at one of your stakeholder meetings. It
is quite possible that such groups have a membership of one.
In that case, you are have ostracised hundreds of
thousands of members of the Veterans Community as any one of
them could form a group tomorrow and demand representation.
You falsely claim to be
interested in the stakeholders but are ignorant of the
stakeholders and their concerns. This is apparent from
the failure to responsibly consider most of the
recommendations to the NVC from stakeholders, who were members
of various advisory groups. These groups were created by
your own department.
I plan to attend the meeting
on 24 October at which time I expect a public apology from the
minister. If he is unwilling to meet then I shall be
informing the media that the minister refuses to follow his
own policies with regards to communicating with Veterans and
involving them in discussions about Veterans issues. In
fact I shall state that the minister gave VVi the finger along
with all of its subscribers and readership within the Veterans
Community.
Since you believe that
Veteran Voice is merely a media outlet, then I shall seek
redress from the "fourth estate".
Perry Gray
Editor
|
From: Sean K
To:
Andrew Bernardo <Andrew.Bernardo@vac-acc.gc.ca>;
Blaney.S@parl.gc.ca
Cc:
VVis-groupof7 <groupof7@veteranvoice.info>; Don
Leonardo <don@veteransofcanada.ca>
Sent:
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 8:32:52 PM
Subject: Re:
VAC Advisory Council Meeting: VeteranVoice.info
Dear Mr. Bernardo and
Minister Blaney
It is unfortunate that you
have delayed this issue considerably and then
justified the exclusion of VeteranVoice.info upon
reasons of tardiness.
We note your offer to
brief you on our organizational structure of
VeteranVoice.info. We fear that you have been unduly
prejudiced by your bureaucratic advisors.
Minister Blaney, have you
asked all organizations present to give an equal
account of their organizational structure? Have you
asked for an independent audit of their membership?
Have you asked for proof that these organizations
actually consult their membership when they claim they
represent their membership in supporting what are
purely VAC and not stakeholder initiatives?
Until such a time as you
demand this of other organizations, we feel it highly
discriminatory to ask this of VeteranVoice.info to
provide such a briefing. To our knowledge, VAC has
never asked such briefings of any stakeholders.
However, if your true
concern is (as we hope) the current well-being of
veterans and their families, we will brief you. If
your are willing to fulfill your mandate and
openly receive independent input from the veteran
and their families you claim to serve
instead of heavily filtered and biased information
from the bureaucracy, then we will brief you.
Otherwise, your request to
place Veteranvoice.info under discriminatory and
unfair scrutiny smacks of continued attempts to punish
the large community of VeteranVoice.info because, as
multiple internal Privacy Act documents in my
possession reveal, senior VAC bureaucrats have taken
an apparent biased approach to some of our
executive members and/or our organization.
Your request also smacks
of placing more effort into bureaucratic procedures
than any willingness to listen to the truth from
the clients and veterans you are legally mandated to
serve.
Please let us know soonest if
you wish to receive a briefing from VeteranVoice.info
on the needs and difficulties of your legally
mandated community. Please let us know if you wish to
receive recommendations for improving the
well-being of the wide-ranging community of
veterans, CF, RCMP, VAC employees and the
families of all.
That is, please let us
know if you wish to receive information more in
keeping with the legal duties of a Minister
as spelled out in section 4 of The Department
of Veterans Affairs Act, the act which legally
defines your ministerial raison d'être.
We look forward to
receiving your invitation to brief you on our
stakeholder input as required by your legal
mandate.
Sincerely
Sean Bruyea
On Behalf of the
VeteranVoice.info Executive and Advocacy Arm
|
|
From: Andrew
Bernardo
To: 'seankis@rogers.com'
Sent: Wednesday,
October 19, 2011 6:38 PM
Subject: Re:
VAC Advisory Council Meeting: VeteranVoice.info
Mr. Bruyea,
Thank you for your correspondence regarding the inclusion of
VeteransVoice.ca in the upcoming VAC Stakeholder Committee.
Unfortunately, the membership for the October 24 meeting has been
established.
This being said, it is important to know that this is not the last
meeting that the committee will have.
I can assure you we will carefully consider VeteransVoice's request
for the next meeting.
In the interim, I would encourage Mr. Wallace or Mr. Gray (or
yourself as a member of the executive) to get in contact with me at
andrew.bernardo@vac-acc.gc.ca to set up a meet and greet (perhaps
including a presentation by veteransvoice on their mandate,
organizational structure, etc.) with myself and our policy advisor
in charge of stakeholder relations in the near future.
Best Regards,
Andrew
As a sidenote, I will get in touch with you within the next couple
weeks with regards to setting up a meeting between you and I re:
your previous emails. Have a good evening.
|
|
To:
Andrew.Bernardo@vac-acc.gc.ca; Frederik.Boisvert@vac-acc.gc.ca
CC:
Steven.Blaney@vac-acc.gc.ca;
Date:
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:15:07 -0400
Subject:
Re: VAC Advisory Council Meeting: VeteranVoice.info
Dear
Minister Blaney and Mr. Boisvert,
I
trust you have had sufficient time to reconsider an invitation for
VeteranVoice.info to attend the Advisory Committee on Monday October
24, 2011.
It
has come to our attention that the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman
supports the attendance of VeteranVoice.info.
As
you are also aware, I will be attending the meeting in my capacity
as Special Advisor to Don Leonardo and VeteransofCanada.ca. I
am an advisor to a number of organizations and individuals and each
of my capacities requires that I devote my attention to the
organization at hand. As
such, I will not be representing VeteranVoice.info. This leaves
VeteranVoice.info uninvited and unrepresented.
I respectfully
ask on behalf of VeteranVoice.info and its executive that you, as an
alternative to my representation, invite executive members Perry
Gray and Ron Cundell. The Chief Executive Officer, CJ Wallace is
otherwise unavailable.
The
attendance of both individuals is necessary in order to accommodate
their disabilities by providing mutual support which would otherwise
make individual attendance deleterious to their health.
Mr.
Gray resides in Ottawa. However, Mr. Cundell resides an hour north
of Toronto. As such, he will have to make appropriate travel and
accommodation arrangements. I therefore
request that you provide formal invitations to these to two
VeteranVoice.info executives no later than 18:00 (6:00p.m.) on
Wednesday, October 19, 2011.
On
behalf of VeteranVoice.info, I thank you for your attention to the
matter.
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 12:45 PM
Subject: VAC Advisory Council Meeting: VeteranVoice.info
Dear Minister Blaney
Perhaps we did not explain the role of
VeteranVoice.info sufficiently clearly. VeteranVoice.info is not a
media outlet any more than the Royal Canadian Legion is a Media Outlet
because it publishes the Legion magazine.
VeteransVoice.info is both an
information portal as well as a community of veterans, family
members and associated stakeholders including VAC employees.
As such, VeteranVoice.info can both represent the views of this
community as well inform this community of relevant issues
affecting the community.
It has come to our attention that the
Stakeholder Committee meeting involves the participation of such
veterans' groups as the Gulf War Veterans, NATO and CPVA as well
as CAVUNP. The GWVA is unable to provide any
evidence of a registered membership. Its representation is
restricted apparently to just one member, the representative VAC
invited. The other organisations mentioned refuse to confirm their
membership numbers publicly but it is certain that their
membership combined is less than 2000 members but likely less than
1000, few of which are actively participating in advocacy issues.
No organisation invited other than VeteransofCanada.ca and CVA can
provide evidence that any issues they raise at the meeting
represent a timely membership's consensus of sorts.
VeteranVoice.info gathers timely input from the much of the
veteran, family, VAC employee and professional treatment community.
With a subscription base of more than 100,000 individuals plus
the participants in the most extensive internet veteran
sharing community, VeteranVoice's executive advocacy represents the
views, interests and concerns of more CF veterans than all
other organisations combined.
At VeteranVoice.info, we note with
great enthusiasm the following written commitment from the
Department and the Minister regarding the Committee:
"the objective of this
committee is to provide a forum for representatives of both
traditional and non-traditional veterans’ organizations, as well
as others such as the Veterans Ombudsman, to come together in
partnership with Veterans Affairs Canada to discuss issues of
common interest and concern related to the advancement of Veterans
policy and programs."
We would like to correct any
misperception you may have. VeteranVoice.info is indeed a
non-traditional veteran organization. It is also an
innovative approach to bringing together VAC stakeholders. As you
are well aware,VAC has been consistently criticised for failing to
reach out to the greater community.
It would be a disservice to the
largest single community of CF veteran and associated stakeholders
if VAC were to deny an invitation to VeteranVoice.info.
Considering VAC has invited an organization with just one member,
it would be both short-sighted and highly discriminatory to deny
VeteranVoice.info a seat at the table.
We look forward to receiving your
reconsideration of this matter soonest.
Sean Bruyea
on behalf of the VeteranVoice.info
Executive.
|
|
From: Andrew
Bernardo
To: sean k
Cc: Frederik
Boisvert ; Steven
Blaney
Sent: Wednesday,
October 12, 2011
12:16 PM
Subject: Re: Sean Bruyea Re: VAC
Advisory Council Meeting
Mr.
Bruyea,
Thank you very much for your expression of interest in having
VeteransVoice.info participate in our newly established Veterans
Affairs Stakeholder Committee.
As you know, the objective of this committee is to provide a forum
for representatives of both traditional and non-traditional
veterans’ organizations, as well as others such as the Veterans
Ombudsman, to come together in partnership with Veterans Affairs
Canada to discuss issues of common interest and concern related to
the advancement of Veterans policy and programs.
Unfortunately, it is not intended as a forum for media outlets.
I note, however, that Veterans of Canada, a stakeholder organization
of which you are a member of its advisory council, will be
represented at the stakeholder committee this month.
Your continued interest in Veteran's issues is appreciated.
Best Regards,
Andrew Bernardo
Director of Policy
To the Hon. Steven Blaney
tel. (613) 996-4649
fax. (613) 954-1054
|
From:
Sean K
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 03:02 PM
To: Andrew Bernardo; Steven Blaney <steven.blaney@parl.gc.ca>;
Frederik Boisvert
Subject: Sean Bruyea Re: VAC Advisory Council Meeting
Dear Minister Blaney
I would like to follow-up on the
letter sent to you on the part of VeteranVoice.info and the
respectful request to attend the planned VAC Advisory Council meeting.
Could you please let me know the
status of your decision to invite VeteranVoice.info. The
100,000+ subscribers and the advocacy executive are conscious
of the fact that we are in October, the intended month when the
meeting is to be held.
I look forward to your response
soonest.
Thank you Minister Blaney
Sean Bruyea
cc. VeteranVoice Executive
|
|
From:
Sean K
To: Andrew Bernardo; Steven Blaney <steven.blaney@parl.gc.ca>;
Frederik Boisvert
Sent: Thursday,
September 15, 2011 4:05 PM
Subject: VeteranVoice.info
Letter to Minister Blaney
Dear
Minister Blaney
Please
find attached a letter for your consideration. The letter requests
an invitation for VeteranVoice.info representatives to attend the
upcoming bilateral consultations between VAC and its stakeholders.
We are a highly influential and prominent stakeholder in the
community of CF, veterans, RCMP and their families.
Thank
you for your Minister for your attention to this matter.
|
|
|
|
Public Not Wanted
By Chief Editor VVi, Perry
Gray
VVi19
Oct 2011 db
VAC
has once again demonstrated its lack of openness with regards to
Veterans’ issues, particularly for those of the Veterans Community
that do not belong to a recognised organisation.
Just in case anyone is not aware, the majority of the Veterans
Community is not represented officially by any one group.
There are many that claim to represent a majority; however, no
group can produce a membership list that includes the majority of the
more than 800,000 Veterans and dependants who are part of our community.
Only a select few have been invited to attend the Veterans
Affairs Stakeholder Committee on 24 October.
The invitees do not include anyone from Veteran Voice, which is a
non-traditional organisation in that it does not have members just over
100,000 subscribers. The Veterans Ombudsman recommended that VVi be
invited to the meeting. Having as many groups as possible seems to be reasonable if
the Minister of Veterans Affairs truly believes in the purpose of having
such meetings:
“VAC
is developing an approach to stakeholder engagement which is more
flexible and adaptable, will evolve with time and will help position the
Department to respond to Veterans and their evolving needs, as well as
those of their families.”
If
VVi and other groups are not involved then it indicates that VAC will
continue its long term habit of excluding the Veterans Community from
any meaningful discussions of important issues.
This was unfortunately the tactic employed in the development of
the NVC, which resulted in many Veterans being stripped of services and
benefits available to the Veterans Community up to 2006.
VAC
seems more inclined to rely upon its bureaucrats, academics and
consultants to develop its services and programs rather than the only
stakeholders who matter, and that is everyone in the Veterans Community.
The
exclusion of stakeholders from a Stakeholder Committee is another reason
for a second national protest on 5 November, 2011.
VAC
believes that VVi is a media outlet.
This is wrong. VVi
is a Veterans organisation staffed by Veterans to provide information
about the Veterans Community.
One
other major criticism of the Stakeholder Committee is the lack of time
to discuss issues. The
minister will only have two meetings scheduled each year.
Furthermore only five or six issues will be addressed each
meeting. This is a
ridiculously low number given that there are almost 400 outstanding
recommendations to the NVC, which VAC refuses to implement as well as
thousands of outstanding complaints with regards to the lack of support
for the Veterans Community. Systemic
problems date back many decades and are one of the main reasons that VAC
finally agreed to the appointment of an ombudsman (after many complaints
to the federal government).
All
members of the Veterans Community should be outraged by the lack of
interest expressed by the MVA and the federal government. We are being treated like disenfranchised citizens instead of
getting the dignity and respect that Canada repeatedly says that it
should give in return for the sacrifices of the Veterans Community.
Many politicians and bureaucrats have said that the national debt
owed to the Veterans Community cannot be realistically repaid, but that
does not stop VAC from reneging as much as possible and as frequently as
possible.
Mr
Blaney remember that God gave you two ears and one mouth.
It may be better to do more listening than talking.
On 24 October, listen to your stakeholders and hold your tongue
until the end of the meeting.
See
pdf copy...
|
|
|
You
Can Help!
All veterans are
encouraged to pass information, opinions, links to self-help sites
onto VVi. VeteranVoice.info is a distribution centre and we are
dependant on others to pass information. This is your site. Tell
other veterans about your site. Email info@VeteranVoice.info
.
VVi-CAV
Joint Veteran Support Programs
Need
Other Veterans' Assistance?
See
http://www.veteranvoice.info/webpages/9volunteer_jvsp_vetaid_dbsearch.html
Need
a service, including legal and medical help, or interested in job
opportunities?
See
http://www.veteranvoice.info/webpages/9volunteer_jvsp_profsvc_dbsearch.html
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To
subscribe to VeteranVoice.info! |
Disclaimer
and Non-Endorsement for VeteranVoice.info
|
|
Canadian Forces Chief of Defence Staff Military Family Fund:
