It’s a Government agency designed to assist Canadian service men and women.
But Veterans Affairs hasn’t always been painted in a positive light.
The department has received a fair share of criticism over the years for not always treating vets, past and present, with the respect they deserve.
But in 2007, the office of the veterans ombudsman was created and since then work has been done to improve services.
“My concern is are there needs being met and that’s what is important,’ says Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent.
Parent is in the Okanagan talking to local vets.
On Monday afternoon, he was at the Kelowna Legion.
While impartial, the ombudsman admits that there are areas that still need to be addressed.
They include things like the complexity involved in accessing services and eligibility criteria as well as communication.
“A lot of people don’t know what is out there they don’t know what is available to them and our office the calls we get has to do with I have this and this is there anything in place to help me and our people would say well yes there,” says Parent.
89 year old George Barr knows all about some of the struggles.
The Kelowna senior served in the Second World War, Korea and Vietnam.
He’s been trying to access home support funding for half a year now to no avail.
“Probably six months ago and I have not heard a sound since. There are always little battles going on it is all dollars and cents,” he says.
The ombudsman is sympathetic to these kind of concerns.
“This is the type of situation we want to hear about cause that is what we do on a daily basis they say hey we have applied, we have not heard anything,” says Parent.
Steve Fuhr is a former fighter jet pilot who’s also running for the Liberals in the upcoming federal election.
He’s frustrated for his fellow vets.
“We have veterans groups and veterans in legal proceedings with the Government over benefits and so it is bad,” says Fuhr.
But he says it can be fixed if the Government was willing to spend more money.
“They will have to cut a cheque to fix the problem. We don’t need to analyze the problem anymore. We know what the problem is,” says Fuhr.
Parent says albeit slow, progress is being made.
He says the Government is currently considering 19 recommendations put forward by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.
“We need to work with advocacy groups and veterans at large to try and convince the Treasury Board, the Minister of Finance to make sure these things happen,” says Parent.
The Ombudsman will be in Penticton talking to vets in the South Okanagan on Tuesday afternoon.
The event takes place at 2p.m. at the Legion on Main Street.
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