On 12 January 1977, CN spun off its passenger services as a separate Crown corporation, Via Rail Canada. At its inception, Via acquired all CN passenger cars and locomotives. Following several months of negotiation, on 29 October 1978, Via assumed all CP passenger train operations and took possession of cars and locomotives. Passenger train services which were not included in the creation of Via Rail included those offered by BC Rail, Algoma Central Railway, Ontario Northland Railway, Quebec North Shore & Labrador Railway, various urban commuter train services operated by CN and CP, and remaining CN passenger services in Newfoundland. At this time, Via did not own any trackage and had to pay right-of-way fees to CN and CP, sometimes being the only user of rural branch lines.

Via initially had a tremendous variety of equipment — much of it in need of replacement — and operated routes stretching from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Prince Rupert, British Columbia and north to Churchill, Manitoba. Over 150 scheduled trains per week were in operation, including transcontinental services, regional trains, and corridor services.[citation needed]

While Via remains an independent federal Crown corporation mandated to operate as a business, it is hindered by the fact that it was created by an Order in Council of the Privy Council, and not from legislation passed by Parliament. Had Via been enabled by legislation, the company would be permitted to seek funding on the open money markets as other Crown corporations such as CN have done in the past. It is largely for this reason that critics say Via—like Amtrak in the United States—is vulnerable to federal budget cuts and continues to answer first to its political masters, as opposed to the business decisions needed to ensure the viability of intercity passenger rail service.[4]

During World War I, it became clear that a coordinated approach was needed to deal with ill and injured soldiers. On February 21, 1918, the Department of Civil Re-establishment was created for that purpose. Subsequently, on June 11, 1928, the Government for Canada created the Department of Pensions and National Health, which took over responsibility for caring for ill and injured soldiers[2] Following World War II, the volume of soldiers returning home made it clear that the Government of Canada would require a department dedicated entirely to serving ill and injured veterans. Consequently, in 1944 Prime Minister Mackenzie King's government passed a motion that officially created the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Canada operated a benefits program similar to the American G.I. Bill for its World War II veterans, with a strong economic impact similar to the American case.[3] A war veteran's eligibility for certain benefits depended on the veteran's "overseas" status, defined by Veterans Affairs as having served at least two miles offshore from Canada. In the Second World War (1939–45) Canada did not yet include Newfoundland, which became a Canadian province in 1949. Thus, World War I and World War II veterans who served in Newfoundland (with Royal Newfoundland Regiment and Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve) are considered by Veterans Affairs to be "overseas veterans" (and as such may be referred to the British Service Personnel and Veterans Agency).

In the late 1970s, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau undertook an initiative to decentralize government away from Ottawa.[citation needed] He and his Minister of Veterans Affairs, Daniel J. MacDonald (Member of Parliament for Cardigan) devised the plan to move the headquarters of the Department of Veterans Affairs from Ottawa to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The department's head office has been located in the Daniel J. MacDonald Building in PEI's capital since 1980. In the early 21st century, a second building two blocks from the DJM, the Jean Canfield Building, was constructed to house Veterans Affairs and other federal government offices. The department has become a major economic contributor to PEI, and has had an important impact on Charlottetown's cultural landscape. Veterans Affairs Canada is the only major federal department whose headquarters is located outside of Ottawa.

nee Vandale

Peter Vasilevich Verigin (also recorded as Veregin) was born in Slavyanka, Russia on June 29, 1859; he became leader of the pacifist Russian sect of Doukhobors in 1886. In 1882 he was moved into Lukeria Klamakova's home, where he was taught all the religious and administrative aspects of this large sect of communally living peasants. The Doukhobors rejected secular government, the Bible, and the divinity of Jesus Christ; they were pacifists who resisted military service and did not consume meat or alcohol. For these reasons, they were persecuted and exiled to inhumane conditions in Georgia, Russia. In 1887 Verigin was exiled to Siberia.

In 1898-99 over 7,400 Doukhobors were admitted to Canada, where they established a communal lifestyle in what was later to become Saskatchewan; Verigin arrived in Yorkton in 1902. In 1905, Frank Oliver became Minister of the Interior and, interpreting the Dominion Act more strictly than his predecessor Clifford Sifton, began to pressure immigrants to register their communal lands under individual ownership and swear an Oath of Allegiance, a requirement for being granted homestead titles. When Doukhobors refused to swear this oath, their homesteads were cancelled. By 1907 their communal land system had ended, and in 1908 Verigin led 6,000 Doukhobors to British Columbia. Peter Vasilevich Verigin was killed in a train explosion on October 29, 1924; the cause of the explosion was not determined.https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/verigin_peter_1859-1924.jsp