Volunteer to fight for the
rights of CF personnel
Committed to protecting and repre-
senting the rights of Canadian Force re-
tirees and their spouses, the officers of
AFP/AAC volunteer their time and energy
to the association and its mandate. This
dedicated group of individuals are: na-
tional chairman Tony Huntley, national
vice-chair Dan O’Connor, vice-chair mil-
itary widows Helen Rapp-Bowen, secre-
tary Sharon Halayko, treasurer Chuck
McCabe and director Murielle Butts.
Gen(Ret’d) Al Geddry is the association
volunteer translator.
With the recent passing of Al Cony-
ers, a long-standing director, and with
LCol(Ret’d) Dan O’Connor moving into
the vice-president role, AFP/AAC is now
accepting statements of interest from
AFP/AAC members who are interested in
joining the Board.
The Board meets several times a year
by teleconference, including the Annual
General Meeting each spring. There is no
cost (nor pay!) involved and applicants to
the board can be from any part of Canada
but must be current AFP/AAC members.
Secretariat services are provided by
Megram Consulting Services under the
leadership of executive director Bonnie
James. If you are interested in volunteer-
ing your time to represent CF retirees and
their survivors, please contact bonnie@af-
paac.ca. Candidates will be reviewed and
selected by the Board at the AGM.
4
ARMED FORCES PENSIONERS
’
/ANNUITANTS
’
ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
An additional benefit for
AFP/AAC members
As part of the ongoing effort to pro-
vide quality and tangible benefits to
AFP/AAC members, the association has
recently partnered with TD Insurance
Meloche Monnex for home and auto in-
surance advantages. AFP/AAC members
will be entitled to special privileges in-
cluding preferred group rates and en-
hanced coverage.
“Thanks to the partnership between
the Armed Force Pensioners’/Annuitants’
Association of Canada and TD Insurance,
members can enjoy preferred group rates
on both your home and auto insurance,”
says Lyne Bélanger, vice-president of
Client Services Centres for TD Insurance.
“We are committed to offering you qual-
ity insurance products for your home, car,
motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile and more.
In addition to personalized service, you’ll
get coverage with flexible limits for
made-to-measure protection.”
TD Insurance is also offered an op-
portunity to win a Lexus ES 300h hybrid
or $60,000 in cash – all those who request
a quote will be automatically entered in
the draw.
“We wanted to offer our members
discounts based on a partnership with a
strong, reputable company,” says Bonnie
James, AFP/AAC executive director.
“Our members are in no way obligated to
take part, but we wanted to give them
another option for service.”
A detailed information advertising
sheet has been included in this issue of
AFP/AAC. Alternatively, members can
go on the website and follow the link to
access
more
information
at
ARE YOU A
CANADIAN
VETERAN?
CAN YOU
PROVE IT?
If you are a Canadian Forces vet-
eran, you may have nothing official to
prove it – nothing that is a standard
government issued identity document
consistent to all personnel.
While CF members are provided a
Certificate of Service at the time they
are released from service, and some
Second World War and Korean War
veterans may have received a docu-
ment stating they were honourably re-
leased, many veterans have nothing
showing they served.
Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent
is recommending the VAC developed
and issue a new National Veterans
Identification Card to 750,000 Cana-
dian veterans. He goes further to say
former members of the Royal Cana-
dian Mounted Police should be for-
mally recognized as veterans as well,
as the members “have historically pro-
tected Canadians at home and abroad
while often being put in harm’s way.”
Parent made the recommendation in
a report released at the end of 2012 titled
“Honouring and Connecting with
Canada’s Veterans: a National Veterans
Identification Card.” The report includes
purposes of the card, card features and
capabilities as well as the minimal costs
it would take to roll out the program. A
timeline was also proposed.
The full report can be found under
the reports section on the Veterans
Ombudsman website at
man-veterans.gc.ca. AFP/AAC mem-
bers are encouraged to contact
members of parliament and express
their desire for the creation of the Iden-
tification Card.
