Veterans Ombudsman Advisory Council (VOAC)

On  October 11th,  I received an email from Guy Parent, Veterans Ombudsman (VO) inviting me to join the Veterans Ombudsman Advisory Council (VOAC)  to replace outgoing Governor Dave Leblanc.  The RCMPVA Past President has had the privilege of being part of this Council to represent our membership and provide input to the activities of that Office. Hereunder is a short description as seen on their website:

Quote”

The Veterans Ombudsman Advisory Council was established to provide advice to the Veterans Ombudsman on issues related to his mandate. As Veterans’ representatives, council members assist in promoting the well-being of all Veterans by identifying emerging issues of importance to the Veteran community and providing advice to the Ombudsman on how to best approach those issues. In addition, council members help raise awareness of the Office and liaise with Veterans organizations so that they too can have a voice at the Advisory Council. 

Terms of Reference for the Advisory Council

The Advisory Council consists of military and RCMP Veterans’ representatives, as well as professional advisors in fields of relevance to the work of the Office. There are also affiliate members who provide advice to the Ombudsman on a needs-basis. “ 

Unquote

On behalf of the Board and our membership I want to thank Governor Leblanc for his dedication and contributions on our behalf.

The change over from Dave to me occurred at the VOAC meeting held in Ottawa on November 5th and 6^th, 2018.  A week following the Veterans Affaires Minister National Stakeholders Summit held in Ottawa on the 29-30 October which was attended by Ruby Burns, Dave Leblanc and Ralph Mahar. 

 It will be a pleasure and an honour to represent the Association on this council.  I don’t plan on covering all of the agenda items of this meeting but I would like to underline a couple of items that, directly or indirectly, affect our association and I direct you to research documents that may be of interest to our association.

I would like to direct you to the Ombudsman web site were you will find several reports and research projects that affect our association: http://www.ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca/eng .

 In particular, the Ombudsman report 2017-2018 contains interesting information about the Ombudsman office and issues that have been addressed. http://www.ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca/pdfs/reports/annual-report-2017-18-e.pdf .

 I will keep you informed of new developments as they occur and don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance in getting info on subjects affecting our membership.

Al Rivard
Past President and GovernorRCMPVA
ajrivard@icloud.co
(506) 204-9397
(613) 296-9175 (c)