Ottawa failed vets at Vimy

Re: Harsh reviews for Vimy centennial, Dec. 12

Thank you for bringing to light the planning failures of this past spring’s Vimy centennial. Perhaps we polite Canadians were adverse to criticizing the event because of its sacred meaning for us.

I was part of a family group of nine that attended the ceremony. Right from the planning stages there were forebodings of problems.

Very little information was available prior to our leaving for France, despite holding tickets.

Then while in Paris we received emails that we had to get new and different tickets printed.

The logistical problems on the day of the ceremony confounded belief. It took almost five hours to get all of the attendees in place, and the same amount of time to get all back to buses and local billets.

Veterans Affairs Canada was aware of the number of attendees because it had issued tickets for each, and yet failed to provide adequate ingress and egress, toilets, water and shelter for the elderly.

I am aware that the event played well on television, but viewers were unaware that some attendees were there in hot sun for up to 10 hours and had to deal with overflowing toilets and lack of water.

Canadians did a great job there in 1917, but our Canadian government failed us 100 years later.

Eric Grinnell, Carseland, Alta.

It is little wonder, after the tale of incompetence and arrogance that seemed to represent the 100th anniversary of Vimy, that Canada’s veterans have very little confidence in Veteran’s Affairs. Can you imagine dealing with that agency on a daily basis?

CHILDREN ARE IMMATURE AND UNSURE OF SO MUCH. — BARBARA KAY