Vets upset with plans to close Veterans Affairs office

Saskatoon veterans are disappointed with the federal government's plans to close the Veterans Affairs office in the city. 

Along with Saskatoon, seven other Veterans Affairs offices across the country will close next month. While the federal government says they're underused, some veterans disagree with the closures. 

Saskatoon's Ken Lowther is one of them. He said face-to-face contact is important. 

"To express your problems over a phone to somebody you have no idea you're talking to, is so hard for these people," the former peacekeeper said.

Without a regional office in the city, Lowther wonders how older veterans will access services.

"They need to talk to somebody face-to-face, not over a telephone," he said.

You can't have resources if you close offices.- Reginald Harrison, Second World War veteran

Lowther and the younger generation of veterans worry about the older vets, and vice-versa. Reginald Harrison was a Second World War pilot and he thinks the changes are horrible and worries about the next generation.

"I am very disappointed because they keep saying they have the interests of the veterans at heart," said Harrison, who was in four plane crashes during his service. "I mean, we all know how terrible it was for the ones who committed suicide, some of those probably needed help. But they keep saying 'oh, we've got resources'. But where are the resources? You can't have resources if you close offices."

The seven other offices slated for closure are in Corner Brook, N.L., Charlottetown, PEI, Sydney, N.S., Thunder Bay, Ont., Windsor, Ont., Brandon, Man. and Kelowna, B.C.

Replay the Saskatoon Morning live chat that looked at the plans to close Veterans Affairs offices across Canada.