1 May 2024, 13:00 – 15:00 (ET)
Virtual via Microsoft Teams
Commemoration Advisory Group members
- Captain (Retired) Ray Kokkonen, Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association
- Major (Retired) Gerry Wharton, Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada
- Lee Windsor, University of New Brunswick, Gregg Centre (Co-Chair)
- Derrill Henderson, National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada and Hong Kong Veterans Association of Canada
- Anne Hurtubise
- Lia Taha Cheng, Royal Canadian Legion
- John Moses
- Sean Graham, Directorate of History and Heritage, Department of National Defence
- Lieutenant Colonel Wallace Noseworthy, Canadian Joint Operations Command, Canadian Armed Forces
- Robert Jardine
Veterans Affairs Canada officials
- Paul Thomson, Director General, Commemoration Division, Veterans Affairs Canada (Co-Chair)
- Amanda Kelly, A/ National Program Manager, Commemoration
- Amy MacDougald, Senior Advisor, Community Engagement
- Kirstin Sweet, Project Officer, Community Engagement
Presenter
- Brigadier-General (Retired) Greg Mitchell, Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association
Office of the Veterans Ombudsman
- Jamie Morse, Office of the Veterans Ombudsman
Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs
- Sarah Cozzi, Director of Policy, Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs
Regrets
- Caitlin Bailey, Vimy Foundation
- Simon Coakeley
- Andree Gracie
Welcome and opening remarks
The VAC co-chair opened the meeting and thanked everyone for joining virtually. They continued with an overview of the agenda and shared that there is a lot to discuss at today’s meeting.
The member co-chair shared that it was great to see everyone at the National Stakeholder Summit in Montreal in March and agreed that there is a lot of information to cover today.
Land acknowledgement
The VAC co-chair offered a land acknowledgement recognizing that he is joining this meeting from the land of the Mi'kmaq people. Everyone on the call is joining on the traditional and unceded territory of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people, covered by the historic Treaties of Peace and Friendship.
Debrief from National Stakeholder Summit (5-6 Mar 2024)
The VAC co-chair discussed the National Stakeholder Summit and shared that a summary report is currently being prepared and will be distributed in the fall of 2024.
The member co-chair shared that the Summit emphasized that the demographics of Veterans are diverse and there is great challenge in the absence of research on current subjects related to commemoration. There are a range of ways people have served since 1950.
Members were then invited to share their feedback and opinions about the Summit. Overall the Summit was a well organized and worthwhile event. Members were struck by the level of complexity of the issues that were raised. People need to be heard and this is good for all to keep top of mind during discussions about the mandate items.
Peacekeeping 75 Education Project
The group then heard a presentation from the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association regarding their PK75 initiatives, specifically the PK75.ca website. Although the anniversary period officially ended on 31 December 2023, their work will continue to serve as an educational resource. The website features hundreds of YouTube videos, articles and research, which creates an anthology of stories from Peacekeeping Veterans. The site is primarily geared towards elementary and secondary school levels and the Association is looking into developing a site for the university and research level.
The model is entirely transferable to other Veteran group types (Afghanistan, Bosnia, etc.) and the Association is happy to share their knowledge with anyone interested in creating a similar resource.
The Gregg Centre at the University of New Brunswick
The member co-chair thanked the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association for sharing and segued into a presentation of InServiceofCanada.ca, the Gregg Centre’s newest online resource that allows students to travel virtually around the world through Canada’s military history since 1949. This platform helps students to understand modern Canadian Armed Forces missions in time and space and linked with the nation’s role in international affairs and current events in such a way as to tie to existing curriculum in every province. The project was student centric, with thirty University of New Brunswick students and faculty involved in the creation of the resource.
The VAC co-chair shared that this project has been very expensive and time intensive to build but aligns well with Veterans Affairs Canada’s CAF around the World initiative. This model could be used as a template for future development of shared activities between VAC and community partners.
Mandate Letter Priority 1
The VAC co-chair guided the discussion to the first priority item from the advisory group’s mandate letter: What new learning materials could the Department develop and implement to focus on the service and sacrifice of modern day Veterans? The co-chair asked the group if there is a specific area they would like the Department to focus on.
- Members complimented VAC on their learning materials and suggested more promotion of existing resources.
- Members discussed the direction of commemorative initiatives and who the target audience should be. Youth and new Canadians were identified as key targets.
- Indigenous Veterans should remain a focus and a priority. An option could be to tie in their stories into others, including on the home front.
- The VAC co-chair shared that the Department is developing lots of Indigenous content and there is a focus on underrepresented cohorts in all learning materials being developed. Departmental representatives are engaging with the Assembly of First Nations and other Indigenous partners to ensure the focus of these materials is accurate.
- Students today are very interested in current events. They know what is happening and they want to know why. Ensuring resources are as relevant to current situations as possible can help to keep students engaged and interested. Students also want to hear from people who have current or recent experience in the Canadian Armed Forces. It can also be helpful to cover a little bit of everything in smaller snippets of information, with links to longer form content if they want to learn more.
- The member co-chair shared that source availability can be an issue. In lieu of waiting for declassification of military records we need to act faster with the information we currently have available. This can help to make the past more relevant to the present to help students understand what is happening in the world.
- The VAC co-chair shared that the Department is currently partnering with the Human Rights Museum in Manitoba on learning activities for students. We have had good success and positive feedback on learning activities for students where, as part of the program, we invite a modern Veteran to participate and tell their story.
- Parks Canada also has a great team of historians and a network of historic sites that can be utilized to bring commemoration to life.
Mandate Letter Priority 2
The VAC co-chair invited the group to consider the second priority item from the mandate letter: What concrete measures could the Department implement to ensure learning materials focused on equity-deserving Veteran populations reach rural and remote Veteran community schools?
- There is a series of layers to consider to this question including diverse groups, rural communities and ideology in rural schooling can be challenging.
- Reaching teachers directly and through teachers’ organizations can help to facilitate the sharing of information. Getting in touch with future teachers still in university can also open a pathway to the classroom that lasts for decades.
- Local, rural Legion channels are a great resource to connect with remote communities. They are often very active in schools and the community at large. Dominion Command can help to connect with rural branches.
- Helping rural and remote communities to connect with their own Veterans could also be a solution to this priority item. Student activities like interviewing local Veterans can contribute to skills development and education which can help with integration into school curriculums.
- The Canadian Rangers are celebrating the 80th anniversary of their founding in 2027. Sharing their story can help with the connection to rural communities and could also lead to an interest in military service. There is a challenge to find these individual Veterans willing to share.
- The CAF Liaison Officer can arrange the tasking of Ranger Patrol to reach out to their 180 communities and assemble a list of Veterans in their areas. The VAC co-chair will reach out to plan the next steps for this exercise post D-Day.
- Capturing the experiences of equity deserving groups can also help to connect with modern audiences.
- Sharing the stories of modern day Veterans in domestic operations is also very important, including controversial missions.
Next steps and closing remarks
The co-chairs closed the meeting by thanking everyone for sharing their ideas today and recommendations will be crafted based on this discussion, then circulated to the group. The next meeting will occur in late May where the recommendations will be reviewed.