Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 11 continued ... Over the past 2 years, the VOP has supported projects directed towards the good mental health of our ill and injured Veterans. Healing on the Fly, a fly-tying program, meets regularly at member residences in Eastern Passage and Windsor, as well as at Rally Point Retreat. The PTSD Painting Program, located in Sydney, meets regularly with a full class of 11 Veterans. We have also sponsored 2 Veterans per year to attend the national “Healing Waters” fishing trip. This annual fishing trip inspired our own Healing on the Fly participants to begin the process of scouting locations and making plans for a NS/NUC fishing trip in 2019 to the Margaree area of Cape Breton. The VOP’s most recognizable partnership is with Paws Fur Thought (PFT). During the 2014 dominion convention in Edmonton, Alberta, a non-concurred resolution was brought back to the floor and the argument for its acceptance was led by NS/NUC and other like-minded Commands. This resolution supported the use of a percentage of Poppy funds towards the costs associated with obtaining service dogs for Veterans living with operational injuries and mental health injuries as a result of their service. After the acceptance of this resolution, NS/NUC immediately began to advance our partnership with PFT, while many other Commands decided to postpone developing a service dog program at the urging of Dominion Command while waiting for national standards to be developed. During the VOP’s 7 year relationship with PFT, we have assumed a mostly administrative role, which has resulted in approximately 120 Service Dogs being matched with Veterans in need, not just in Nova Scotia, but across Canada. On a go forward basis, VOP recommended, and Executive Council agreed, that in concert with our administrative responsibilities, we should also become financially invested in PFT; a $250,000.00 investment over the next 2 years to supply 8 dogs in 2019 and 8 dogs in 2020. continued ...
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==