CPVA Advocacy
GENERAL ADVOCACY
CPVA has been involved in advocating for our Veterans since our inception. We recognize the unique conditions of military service, especially the unconditional obligation inherent in such service, and work with various levels of government to recognize those conditions and ensure that our Veterans are treated fairly.
DEPUTY MINISTER'S INFORMATION MEETINGS
General (Retired) Walk Natynczk, CMM, MSC, CD, then serving as the Deputy Minister at Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), began a series of very informal meetings with a select group of Veterans organizations in 2017. The aim of these meetings was both to give VAC an opportunity to update the various groups on the state of Veterans issues within the Department, but also to give those groups a venue to raise their concerns in a very informal atmosphere. This group usually includes representatives from The Royal Canadian Legion , NATO Veterans Organization of Canada (NATO Vets), CPVA, Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping (CAVUNP), Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada (ANAVETS), Canadian Army Veterans (CAV), Gulf War Veterans Association of Canada, National Association of Federal Retirees(NAFR), the National Council of Veterans Organizations , along with a number of VAC staff.
CPVA is usually represented by our President, Donald MacPherson, and we feel these meetings are a very useful venue for the exchange of information and concerns.
MINISTERIAL ADVISORY GROUPS
Veterans Affairs Canada maintains six ministerial advisory groups for consultation on issues of importance to Veterans and their families. They are the Advisory Group on Families, the Care and Support Advisory Group, the Commemoration Advisory Group, the Mental Health Advisory Group, the Policy Advisory Group, and the Service Excellence and Transition Advisory Group. Our Treasurer, Ray Kokonnen, has been a member of the Commemoration Advisory Group for some years now.
THE COALITION FOR RETIREMENT SECURITY
This group of 21 diverse organizations was formed in 2015 under the leadership of the National Association of Federal Retirees to advocate against the adoption of Bill C27 by the Government of Canada. That Bill, although not directly affecting most current Government employees, was seen as a first attempt to replace the current Defined Benefit pensions with Targeted Benefit pensions, thus reducing the risk to the government and increasing the risk for a reduction in the pensions earned by our members. The CPVA newsletter, the Blue Beret , included an explanation of these differences in the Spring 2015 edition.
The advocacy of this group and the NAFR resulted in Bill C-27 dying on the order paper when the 2019 election was called. The various member organizations have been standing by should the government again try to raise this issue. While many of the member organizations have a much wider mandate than CPVA, we retain a monitoring presence. Our past President, Ray Kokkonen, and past Vice President, Tim Sparling, have been working with this group.