There’s no disputing that 2020–21 was a challenging year. The global pandemic changed the way we operate internally as well as how we interact—with our clients, partners and stakeholders across the country.
What didn’t change was our commitment to honour and serve Canada’s Veterans and their families. I am proud to say that our employees have risen admirably to the challenges faced due to the pandemic to provide crucial services to Veterans. They have improved the way we deliver benefits and programs and streamlined our processes.
The following pages detail some of the progress we’ve made over the last fiscal year. This includes:
- funding 23 initiatives through the Veteran and Family Well-Being Fund (VFWF) to improve the lives of Veterans, including those who are homeless or at risk;
- hiring more than 300 temporary employees to help reduce the time it takes to make disability benefit decisions;
- launching new tools and processes to help employees make faster benefits decisions;
- marking significant military anniversaries—the Liberation of the Netherlands/end of the Second World War in Europe, Victory over Japan, and Veterans’ Week—virtually, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic;
- making repairs to over 8,000 war graves;
- working with Statistics Canada to secure a Veteran identifier question on the 2021 short form Census; and
- establishing a $20M Veterans’ Organization Emergency Support Fund to help Veterans’ organizations maintain operations during the pandemic.
Even with our successes, there is still more to be done. Reducing processing times continues to be our top priority and we continue to work with partners across government to position ourselves to meet the needs of our Veterans and their families.
In a year of necessary isolation, cancelled events and physical distancing, we continued to commemorate the service and sacrifice of Canadians who have served in uniform.
We completed projects to preserve and restore war memorials overseas and here at home and we also consulted with Canadians and came up with innovative new approaches to commemorate Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members and Veterans.
The coming years will present many opportunities to improve our services, the way we deliver them, and the lives of Veterans and their families.
I am confident that with the dedicated, professional team at Veterans Affairs, and with the ongoing support of our partners, we will continue to enhance supports for the Veteran community in Canada.
Sincerely,
The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, PC, MP
Minister of Veterans Affairs and
Associate Minister of National Defence