While the Royal Canadian Legion is getting $1.5 million in COVID-19 relief funding from the B.C. government, the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans in Canada (ANAVETS) are not happy they’ve been excluded.
President of the ANAVETS BC Command, Randy Williams, says he has written to Premier John Horgan expressing those concerns but he hasn’t heard back yet.
“We have the same financial stresses that the Royal Canadian Legion have here in B.C.,” he said, on NL Newsday.
“Property taxes, insurance premiums, operating expenses etc. I’m glad the Legion was granted that but I wish we could get the same funding that the Legions were given.”
Williams says the ANAVETS support more than 18,000 members across Canada, helping veterans with a variety of programs and services, just like the Legion does.
“The bills just keep coming in and we don’t have any monies coming in to support not only veterans but the entire community – youth sports that type of thing or the Cadet program,” he added. “Money is not coming in since we can’t host events like our meat draw.”
“We can’t carry out our functions like we normally do.”
Unlike the Royal Canadian Legion which has 145 branches under the BC/Yukon Command, the ANAVETS have just 18 branches in the province, including one in Kamloops.
“I really couldn’t put an exact figure to it right now. I know the Legion has a lot more branches that we have units. You know, I understand that,” Williams said. “But at least [give us something] at par with what the Legion got to the amounts of units that we have.”
BC Liberals disappointed government ‘ignoring’ some veterans
The MLA for Kamloops-South Thompson, Todd Stone, says the BC Liberals will continue to push the government to support veterans organizations like the ANAVETS so they can overcome many of the financial constraints and challenges brought on by the pandemic.
“It wouldn’t amount to a number that’s going to break the provincial budget,” Stone said on NL Newsday. “It would absolutely be the right thing to do and it would demonstrate that veterans are going to be treated equally regardless of whether you are actively involved in a Legion or actively involved in ANAVETS.”
“When we are talking about veterans, the government would be in a mind set, you would hope, of just proactively wanting to reach out. You know, if we are going to put some grant money to help veterans, let’s make sure we cover off all the different veteran organizations. The government didn’t do that here.”
On twitter, Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar estimated it would cost less than $200,000 to support the ANAVETS, noting the government has a $3.1 billion COVID slush fund at its disposal.
“Good on you for following on the Legion piece but you got to step up and do the same thing for all the ANAVETS clubs around the province as well,” Stone added.
Like the Royal Canadian, much of the revenue generated by the ANAVETS comes through the sales of food and beverages which was often disrupted by public health orders that restricted indoor gatherings.
Why won’t @jjhorgan just correct this obvious oversight. Great Legions finally approved, especially for ones in #Barriere #Clearwater and #Kamloops but Kamloops ANAVETS and the other 17 in BC deserve help as well! Govt has a $3.1B COVID slush fund, this is under $200K #bcpoli https://t.co/Dd9aqbLavL
— Peter Milobar (@PeterMilobar) June 8, 2021