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The Service Bureau Director provides regular updates on priority issues dealing with VAC benefits and services and other subjects of interest in the Legion Magazine in a the “Serving You” column. This subject matter is reproduced for your information and quick reference.
- (Nov-Dec 2009)
Discussions are currently underway on a pilot project involving Alberta–Northwest Territories Command and its Service Bureau in Edmonton. The aim of the initiative is to co-locate a command service officer with the recently created Integrated Personnel Support Centre (IPSC) at the military Garrison in Edmonton.
Article...
- (Sep-Oct 2009)
The Royal Canadian Legion is reaching out to modern veterans, military members and families through a new partnership with Directorate Military Family Services (DMFS).
Article...
- (Jul-Aug 2009)
The Halifax and Region Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC) has teamed up with The Royal Canadian Legion to open both of their doors, phone lines, websites and in-boxes to a whole new crop of military families.
Article...
- (May-Jun 2009)
It has often been asked by Canadian Forces (CF) members and veterans seeking a disability claim if there are any advantages associated with using the services of a command service officer of The Royal Canadian Legion Service Bureau Network. While all advocates bring their own qualities and strengths, we would like to think that the Legion service officers are a special breed. We are there to serve those who serve.
Article...
- (Jan-Feb 2009)
If you are a former member of the Canadian Forces whose Service Income Security Insurance Plan (SISIP) Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits have been reduced by the amount of your monthly disability pension from Veterans Affairs Canada, you should know that you can be part of a class action lawsuit. Article...
- (Nov-Dec 2008)
The Canadian Virtual Hospice provides support and personalized information about palliative and end-of-life care to patients, family members and health care providers. Article...
- (Sep-Oct 2008)
In 2009, the Last Post Fund will commemorate 100 years of operations. The fund began operations in 1909 when its founder, Arthur Hair, noticed that a veteran would be buried in a pauper’s grave. The veteran had died penniless with no known relative. Since then, the Last Post Fund has lived up to its mandate that “no veteran would be denied a dignified funeral for lack of funds.” Article...
- (Jul-Aug 2008)
As a result of an initiative by Veterans Affairs Canada, a Legion provincial command service officer was invited to partake in an information session sponsored by VAC and the local Operational Stress Injury (OSI) office. The main thrust of this information session was to reach out to individuals suffering from operational stress, and to inform them of the services available to them. Presentations were made by representatives from VAC, the community, and Legion service officers on services and benefits available to our veterans and their dependants. Article...
- (May-Jun 2008)
For Legion members, the Long Term Care Surveyor (LTCS) program continues to be a popular service activity since it was instituted in 2003. Article...
- (Mar-Apr 2008)
Veterans Affairs Canada has released a new hearing loss policy which recognizes that partial entitlement may be granted for a present-day hearing loss disability where the audiogram a veteran received upon his release from the military shows a lessening, but falls short of establishing an actual disabling hearing loss. Previously, veterans needed to have a disabling hearing loss upon discharge to qualify for benefits. Article...
- (Jan-Feb 2008)
The Legion’s Dominion Command Service Bureau service officers are here to serve stillserving
Canadian Forces members, veterans, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police and dependants while representing your interests in any dealings with Veterans
Affairs Canada (VAC) and the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) in claiming
disability benefits under the Pension Act or the New Veterans Charter. Article...
- (Nov-Dec 2007)
The Veterans Affairs Canada Assistance Service is a voluntary and confidential
counselling service delivered through a nation-wide team of counsellors and
accessed initially through a toll-free line. The service, which provides access to
professional counselling 24 hours a day, seven days per week, is delivered on
VAC's behalf by Health Canada. The VAC Assistance Service is similar to the
Canadian Forces Member Assistance Program. Article...
- (Sep-Oct 2007)
On May 31, 2006, the Canadian Forces-Veterans Affairs Canada
Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS) management met
with family members of deceased Canadian Forces members and
veterans to conduct a needs analysis and determine if OSISS could
expand peer-support services to the families of those veterans and
serving CF members who die as a result of military operations, suicide,
illness or accident. Article...
- (Jul-Aug 2007)
Did you serve on-board Royal Canadian Navy ships between World War II and 1970?
If so, you are among an estimated 18,000 at risk servicemen who may have been exposed to unusually high doses of asbestos on-board naval ships. Any amount of asbestos can cause or contribute to the development of lung cancer many decades later. Article...
- (May-Jun 2007)
You are being invited to participate in a study entitled The Canadian Veterans in Transition Survey that is being conducted by Dr. Timothy G. Black. Black is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies at the University of Victoria. Article...
- (May-Jun 2007)
The Long-Term Care Surveyor program is now in its fourth year of operation. Through this successful initiative of the Dominion Command Veterans, Service and Seniors Committee, trained Legion volunteer surveyors visit designated veterans in care facilities across Canada and conduct satisfaction interviews on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada. The program clearly serves the veterans, who are interviewed and have a chance to express their level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the care received. Article...
- (Mar-Apr 2007)
Command service officers congregated in Charlottetown Nov. 1-3 for the biennial Professional Development and Training Session at Veterans Affairs Canada’s headquarters. Article...
- (Jan-Feb 2007)
Quite often, command service officers will be called upon to provide services that clearly go beyond the norm when it comes to helping veterans. The following is a good example of personalized service involving the president of a local branch, a command service officer and a Korean War veteran. Article...
- (Jan-Feb 2007)
Dominion President Jack Frost made a strong case to allow seniors’ income from private pensions and other sources to be split among spouses for tax purposes at a hearing of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance on Sept. 19. Article...
 "Serving You" is written by Pierre C. Allard,
Director Service Bureau.
Having enrolled in the militia as a private in the “Régiment de Hull”, Pierre Allard then joined the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in 1964 as a pilot. Assigned to VS 880 Squadron, he flew the CP121 Tracker embarked on HMCS Bonaventure, the last Canadian aircraft carrier.
Subsequently, through a more than thirty five year career in the RCN and the Canadian Forces, he flew various Maritime Patrol (MP) aircraft including the Argus and the CP140 Aurora, culminating in a posting as Commanding Officer of 415 (MP) Squadron, and subsequently, as the Wing Commander of 14 Wing, Greenwood, Nova Scotia. He was assigned for 2 years to the Policy and Communications Group in National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) in Ottawa. He also served in Naples, Italy as Senior Canadian Liaison Officer at NATO Allied Forces Southern HQ during the Kosovo conflict where he also held the position of Chief Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) Coordinator.
He is a graduate of the “Institut Supérieur de Défense” in Bruxelles, Belgium, received a BA in Political Science and History from the University of Manitoba and a Certificate in organizational Communications from l’ Université du Québec. He has recently completed an MA in War Studies at Royal Military College.
Retiring from the Canadian Forces in June 2001, Pierre Allard joined Dominion Command of the Royal Canadian Legion as a Service Officer. He assumed the responsibilities of Service Bureau Director in January 2003.
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