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With 20 years of service in the Canadian Forces and with health prob-lems including permanent hearing loss and lung damage from asbestos poison-ing, AFP/AAC member Capt(Ret’d) John Profit – along with many other veterans in the province – relies heavily on the Charlottetown Veterans Affairs District Office for support. Now he is being told, along with veterans in nine other communities across Canada, the district office is closing and he will have to rely on the toll-free phone service, the internet or drive out of province to receive service.

On March 29, in Budget 2012, the federal government announced its inten-tion to phase out eight district offices with all closing before the end of next year. Those offices are located in Sydney, Corner Brook, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Brandon, Saskatoon, and Kelowna. The ninth office in Prince George was slated for closure before Budget 2012, and it will shut its doors in January.

“I go to there [to the Charlestown district office] quite often; in fact, I was just there for a reassessment and the doctor doesn’t even know what is happening. It is all very iffy. I think the next closest office is in Saint John – are they going to pay for people to travel there or cover transportation costs? What about people who can’t drive?” says Profit. “I really don’t think they should close it.”

The government is committed to ensuring there is no reduction in services to veterans, says Janice Summerby, media relations advisor for Veterans Affairs Canada.

“Our focus is to ensure we have employees in the locations where they are most needed. As a result, some offices across the country may grow bigger while offices in some other areas will either get smaller or close,” she says. “Veterans will continue to receive

services and home visits from Veterans Affairs staff. They will also still be able to call the department, where they will be directed to a VAC employee who will assist them to meet their needs, and they can visit our website for assistance.” However, veterans and opposition members of parliament in the impacted areas say online and phone services simply won’t be an adequate replace-ment. For those in rural communities who don’t have internet access or for those who can’t afford it, that only leaves a busy phone number to call. Official Opposition Veterans Critic Peter Stoffer (MP Sackville-Eastern Shore) is lobbying the government to keep the offices open.

“It will have a huge impact, from the prairies to Corner Brook. Really, the plans to do this are shocking,” says Stoffer. “When our veterans go to one of these district offices they get to meet a human being – I know, that is something rare these days. But that veteran has someone who will sit down with them, explain what they are entitled to, or not, what other government services are available and help them fill out forms.” “In many cases, the veteran’s family is trying to do this for them, without knowledge of the military or govern-ment and don’t know where to start. Many times, there are physical and psychological issues that make it difficult for the veteran to navigate the system – if you have to sit down and pour your heart out, are you going to do that on at phone or over an email?” AFP/AAC member and Charlotte-town resident Capt(Ret’d) Steven Labchuk agrees with Stoffer that closing the office would put many veterans at a disadvantage. He served in theAir Force from 1948 to 1980, and while he cur-rently isn’t using the district office, he knows many others depend upon it. “I think this is the wrong decision, to close the only one in PEI and expect

veterans to have to go off island to access services,” he says. “How are they supposed to get there?”

Summerby says details on howVAC will continue to provide service will be finalized before the district offices are phased out and says the department “has to adjust how and where we do business to keep pace with the changing needs and expectations of the veterans we serve.”

“There will be no reduction in our case management services. The changes we are making will eliminate unneces-sary red tape as we continue to deliver better and faster service to veterans and their families. We will continue to meet or exceed our service standard of one case manager for every 40 case-man-aged veterans.”

That doesn’t reassure Windsor West MP Brian Masse. One of the district offices slated to close is in Windsor, making the next closest office almost two hours away in London, Ontario. “I have some constituents who are concerned, but many have not digested this yet. There doesn’t seem to be a tangible plan in place, there are a lot of grey areas around what is happening and confusion around it. However, this will be huge when the full impact is felt and people will be galvanized to do some-thing,” says Masse, who has represented the riding since 2002 and served as a city councilor previous to that.

“The most disappointing part of this for me is, with high unemployment rates here, Windsor was targeted by the Cana-dian Forces for recruitment purposes. We had billboards everywhere, recruit-ment tents at festivals – just encouraging people to join the ranks. Now they are coming home to find there same govern-ment is closing the office where they’d go for support. They love to stand beside a young recruit for announcements in the press, but in the end, won’t stand behind them.”