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Local Veteran Affairs office to reopen in 2017

THUNDER BAY - The federal government is making good on its promise to reopen Veteran Affairs offices across Canada, including the office in Thunder Bay.
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Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, Kent Hehr, speaks with World War 2 veteran, Roy Lamore, before announcing the reopening of the Veterans Affairs Canada office in Thunder Bay.

THUNDER BAY - The federal government is making good on its promise to reopen Veteran Affairs offices across Canada, including the office in Thunder Bay.

Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, Kent Hehr, was in Thunder Bay Thursday morning to make the announcement. The Veterans Affairs office in Thunder Bay, which was closed under the previous government in January 2014, will reopen by January 2017.

Hehr said that veterans and their families face complex issues during and following service. Providing better service for these veterans was part of the promise that his government made during last year’s election.

“We need that in person touch that just wasn’t being done under the former government and wasn’t being offered in this community,” Hehr said. “We owe it as a nation to do right by [veterans].”

The office in Thunder Bay will be located at 130 Syndicate Ave. South and employ eight staff. The office will provide information to veterans on Veterans Affairs Canada services, arrange pension and medical examinations, and provide case-managers to work directly with veterans and their families.

“Without these points of contact we were finding that these needs were just not being met under the former government,” Hehr said.

The Thunder Bay office will serve over 1700 veterans located throughout Northwestern Ontario.

“We have an obligation as a nation and as a government to support them when they return and Thunder Bay is an area that has many people who need that in person help,” Hehr said.

World War Two veteran and past president of the Port Arthur Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, Roy Lamore, who is a vocal advocate for Veterans services, said the reopening of the Thunder Bay office is great news for the community.

“If you think that I’m happy ,you want to see the veterans that are out there and not here today that are going to be really proud to have someone to go to, someone to talk to,” he said.

Lamore said that when the local office closed in 2014, veterans lost in-person contact with case managers and often endured long waits over the phone, only to be connected to a voice mail.

“It’s been awful,” he said. “Not only that, but the phone has been ringing at my house after I went to Ottawa to find out what we were going to do, and we never had answers for them, and now today it’s proving a point that we are going to have an office here and we’re going to be darn proud of it.”

Robert Cutbush, District 8 Commander of the Manitoba/Northwestern Ontario Command, Royal Canadian Legion, said when he first heard the news that the offices were going to reopen, it felt a little surreal.

“I’m happy now,” he said. “I am a veteran that uses the services. When the offices did close in January 2014, I felt the disconnect with the department.”

The Thunder Bay office is one of nine Veterans Affairs offices reopening in Canada. The cost of reopening the offices will be $70 million.

“We are looking at these as investments not costs,” Hehr said. “They are going to help veterans build their lives and you can’t put a price tag on that.”

Lamore added that the services provided by Veterans Affairs are invaluable and it makes veterans proud to know that they have someone there backing them up.

“Don’t sell veterans short,” he said. “These guys put their lives on the line for all of us. I don’t want to sell them short. They are not just veterans. They are heroes to me.”





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