Aboriginal Veterans Autochtones forms its roots from the now-defunct National Aboriginal Veterans Association. There were two groups that started up; the carpet was yanked from under NAVA. At that time I had just been elected vice-president for NAVA, only to find that somebody had pulled a fast one and had taken it away from us. Instead of fighting this issue, we formed an organization with a French connection as well, Aboriginal Veterans Autochtones, as a national organization. The majority of the members from NAVA came with us. The other ones had either been disillusioned with what had taken place or went their own way.
We have a mission statement stating that we're looking after advocacy, remembrance, and community services. That's our job; that's our role. I have a director in each province in Canada. There's nothing in the territories as yet, but that's still being worked on. I have the ability to get that going, because of a few of our Métis people who have retired just recently.
We are a national organization. Our numbers are very close to 200. We sit and look after.... I'm on the mental health advisory group, I have somebody on the family committee with Veterans Affairs and one on policy.