A.N.A.F. Unit #284 {Steveston} B.C.

Although the precise start-date is obscured by time, it is known that a charter was given in 1840 by Queen Victoria to create a unit in Montreal.

It is felt that other units may have existed well before that time, perhaps as early as the Conquest of New France in the 1700's.

The Association derives its name from the remnants of British and French colonial regiments which were left in Canada when their regiments returned either to Britain or France following their tours of overseas duty, protecting the colonies.

These men banded together to exchange information on service benefits that might be available to them, and to fraternize in a social environment.

They were known as "The Army Veterans in Canada".

Reference to Canada became an integral part of the association's title as incorporated by the Government of Canada in 1917, in order to distinguish them from "The Army Veterans of Britain, The Army Veterans of Australia, and The Army Veterans of South-Africa.

Following the War of 1812 sailors from the British Navy who patrolled the Great Lakes and the eastern seaboard, subsequently remaining in Canada, joined the Army Veterans in Canada.  The association's title was then changed to "The Army and Navy Veterans in Canada".

The association was also composed of volunteers who had answered the call of the Canadian Government for active service during the Fenian Raids of 1860, 1870 and 1871, the Red River Expedition of 1870, and the North-West Rebellion of 1885.

A cairn was raised in 1902 by the Toronto Army and Navy Veterans Association to commemorate the first Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, John Graves Simcoe, the founder of York (now Toronto) and to mark the Military Burying Grounds (now the Victoria Memorial Gardens) situated in a park at the junction of King Street West and Bathurst Streets, in Toronto.

One of the founding members of the Last Post Fund in April 1909 at Montreal was Mr. W.W. Marsh, a member of "The Army and Navy Veterans Association".

During World War II, members of the Air Force were welcomed as members into the association.

In 1946 we became the "Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada" as enacted by Parliament, by an amendment to our original Act of Incorporation.

In addition to our formal title of the "Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans", the association also uses the short form term "ANAVETS" to identify itself.