Veterans Affairs Canada just announced reopening dates for several of its offices across the country.
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Charlottetown PEI and Saskatoon will see their Veterans Affairs offices reopen in November. The VA office in Thunder Bay will be back in January.
But there’s still no word on when the Prince George Veterans Affairs Office will reopen.
“We’ll just have to wait our turn, I guess,” says Bruce Gabrielle, former Legion President. “The thing is that people will be able to go in there direct. There’s a lot of veterans here. It’s not just Prince George – it’s the surrounding area. Also, a lot of people are not aware that the RCMP are veterans as well.”
Gabrielle says travelling to Vancouver and phone consultations aren’t good options for local veterans.
“One of the biggest things that we try to explain is that hearing can be a problem. There might be a good person on the other end of the phone way down in Vancouver but they get frustrated and the person up here gets frustrated and the bottom line is that the veteran doesn’t get the help they need.”
Hearing impairment is one of the most common injuries suffered by veterans. Gabrielle says there’s just no substitute for face to face assistance.
“When you can sit down with people…I know before, some of the ladies they had here in the Prince George office, they were just excellent. They helped so many people. They cared. Plus, it’s hard for people who have to go down to Vancouver. They have to get down there and they don’t always get given the money [up front].”
Veteran’s Affairs Canada says it does not yet have a timeline for the reopening of the Prince George office, other than May of 2017, but should have more information shortly.
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