When Sgt. Nina Usherwood joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1979, she went by a different name and gender. 

During her service, the Comox, B.C., resident transitioned and legally changed her name. But she says when she went to apply for a medical discharge last year, it took “a number of months” for Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) to update her medical records to show her new identity.

Usherwood, who calls the process potentially “traumatic” for many LGBTQ veterans, is one of a group of voices calling for a more streamlined, organized and inclusive process to help veterans out of the Armed Forces and