True Patriot Love was proud to attend the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) Forum in Ottawa from October 20 to 22.  

CIMVHR works to enhance the health and well-being for the diverse population of Canada’s military personnel, Veterans, public safety personnel and their families. By engaging academic and government research resources, fostering new research, and promoting knowledge translation, CIMVHR plays a crucial role in addressing their unique risks and needs.  

True Patriot Love has been a proud sponsor of the CIMVHR Forum since 2012, in addition to funding military and Veteran health research projects with CIMVHR for over a decade. 

Reconnecting with our research colleagues 

As a research funder, we were particularly pleased to reconnect at the 2025 Forum with researchers whose projects we supported.  

Congratulations to Dr. Nicola Fear at King’s College London, on being named a CIMVHR Fellow and for moderating a thoughtful panel on Collaborating Perspectives at the 2025 Forum.  

It was also great to re-connect with Dr. Alyson Mahar, Dr. Tim Black, Dr. Don Richardson, Dr. Anthony Nazarov, Dr. Linna Tam-Seto, Dr. Deborah Norris and so many more.  

Thank you to Dr. Heidi Cramm and Dr. Alyson Mahar for your leadership with the Garnet Families Network which True Patriot Love is proud to participate in.   

Recognizing excellence in Canadian research 

True Patriot Love also sponsors the Major Sir Frederick Banting Award which is presented annually at the Forum and is adjudicated by the Office of the Surgeon General.  

Our CEO Nick Booth joined Surgeon General Major-General S.F. Malcolm on stage to present the 2025 Banting Award to Dr. Andrea Jones.  

Strengthening Veteran volunteerism  

To coincide with the Forum, True Patriot Love brought together 39 participants from 21 organizations and presented new analysis on the impact of Veteran volunteerism on both Veterans’ health and well-being and the health of Canadian communities. We also invited participants to give their feedback on the framework of our National Veteran Volunteerism Action Plan.  

In addition the need to strengthen Canada’s volunteer sector is urgent.  

The percentage of Canadians volunteering for nonprofits and charities has dropped significantly, from 41% in 2018 to 32% in 2023. According to Imagine Canada and Volunteer Canada, “with fewer donors, fewer volunteers and increasing community needs, organizations are being pushed to do more with less.” 

Thank you to our partners who participated in a robust discussion on how the skills and talents of Veterans may be leveraged to support local communities across Canada through volunteerism.  

Want to learn more? 

Click here to read an article by CIMVHR researcher Dr. Alison Mahar on why volunteering should be at the forefront of Veteran policy in Canada.