Via Tracey Wilson;
We need to tell you what happened with the National Afghanistan Monument groundbreaking on May 4th. And we are going to tell it straight.
When we were preparing for April 15th, Veterans Affairs Canada reached out to us. They had an outreach problem. We had dozens of Afghan veterans descending on Ottawa from across the country to present the petition. VAC asked us to help bring those veterans to the groundbreaking ceremony. We agreed. We were told it would happen between our press conference and luncheon on April 15th at 11 am.
Two days before April 15th VAC cancelled. We scrambled to tell the veterans we had invited that it was rescheduled. We were told May 4th. We were told Valour in the Presence of the Enemy would be invited. People personally assured us that email was coming. The week before May 4th we were told directly — “you will get that email, I made sure of it.”
That email never came. […]
And quietly, without explanation, we were removed from the list entirely. An organization led by the former Chief of the Defence Staff. A wounded veteran shot three times in Afghanistan. An original member of the advisory committee. Someone who chaired the Service Excellence Committee for over a decade. They did not want us there. They did not want questions about Jess. They did not want questions about the Victoria Cross. Look at the photos from that ceremony. Members of Parliament outnumber Afghan veterans five to one.
It does not feel like a lot of elbows are up more like a selfie. Not a lot of the people who actually fought that war.
