It is a great pleasure to appear in front of the committee again, on behalf of Patricia Varga, our Dominion President, and our 342,000 members of the Royal Canadian Legion. We offer our support to your continuing advocacy on behalf of all veterans, including still-serving Canadian Forces members, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and of course their families. Sometimes we forget about the families as we go along this road.
The Legion has been asked to discuss the front-line health and well-being services and programs that we in the Royal Canadian Legion offer veterans and their families.
Needless to say, the Department of National Defence, the RCMP, and Veterans Affairs Canada are responsible for the provision of health and well-being services for all veterans, including still-serving members of the Canadian Forces, both regular and reserve, members of the RCMP, and their families. The circumstances and requirements for each organization are different, and the circumstances are different for the veterans as well.
Some are young, some are single, some need employment, and some are married with families. Some are still serving, and of course others have left the service. Some are healthy and others suffered significant injuries attributable or not to their service. Therefore, we believe it's very important that the Department of National Defence, Veterans Affairs Canada, and the RCMP put in place complementary policies, practices, and programs supported by a sustainable research program—something we don't currently have—with the goal of providing health and well-being programs and services based on need, regardless of when and where served, and not through a myriad of eligibility hoops.
Notwithstanding that, the Royal Canadian Legion has been delivering our programs to all veterans and their families since 1926. The Legion is an iconic cornerstone of Canadian communities, at the forefront of support for military and RCMP members and their families. Today a new generation of veterans is coming home, and veterans and their families will continue to turn to the Legion in support of affordable housing, representation, benevolent assistance, career transition counselling, trauma relief, and recognition.
As the only national veterans service organization, the Legion, through its extensive infrastructure, with 1,500 branches across the country, offers a range of programs to all veterans, including still-serving members, both regular and reserve, RCMP, and their families. First and foremost, we offer camaraderie in our branches. This past summer, to celebrate the completion of the combat mission in Afghanistan, the Legion, in branches across the country, honoured over 7,000 members of the Canadian Forces who served in Afghanistan and their families with dinners, receptions, gifts, and parades. This program continues today.
To ensure that the camaraderie of military life continues after service, the Legion offers a free one-year membership to all veterans as part of the release process. This is a new program, and nearly 1,000 have signed on to it already. Membership offers veterans and their families the opportunity to volunteer to help other veterans as part of community-building, which of course is an important part of the military culture. Some veterans simply want to support a veterans service organization through their membership contribution. However, many programs are offered by Legion branches and supported by thousands of volunteers. These are core programs to the Legion, and of course membership is not a requirement.