Archive for January, 2008

The more than 2,000 Canadian Forces personnel who leave the service each year now have a bridge to help them with the transition to careers, jobs—even to starting their own businesses, thanks to a job placement program launched in Oct. 25 by Veterans Affairs Canada. “This program will be a key tool to support our members leaving military service and will also help us in our ongoing effort to recruit Canada’s finest men and women to join the Canadian Forces,” said Laurie Hawn, parliamentary secretary to the minister of National Defence at a news conference in Ottawa. The aim is to fit [...]

The interests of veterans and their families will be not only the first thing on the agenda of Canada’s first Veterans Ombudsman, but “the only thing,” said Colonel Patrick Stogran at the Oct. 15 announcement of his appointment to the post. Emphasizing his role will be one of collaboration and communication, “I’m here to listen,” the seasoned soldier told the crowd of about 100 veterans and their families invited to hear the announcement by Veterans Affairs Minister Gregory Thompson. Stogran’s long military career began as a rifle platoon commander with the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Victoria shortly after [...]

By the summer of 1940 the Atlantic littoral of Europe was in the hands of the dominant land power of the age, and its army was poised to invade the British Isles. With access to the range and bases on the North Atlantic, Germany had dramatically [...]

January can be the cruellest month north of the 49th parallel; it is the height of the flu season, during which up to one in four Canadians will get sick. Influenza and resulting bacterial infections kill roughly 6,700 Canadians each year [...]

It is bright and clear and the air is crisp as the first people arrive, many laden with blankets and cushions, more than two hours early to stake out their positions for the Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial. In the end, one [...]