The Veterans Against Nuclear Arms (VANA) was founded as a national organization in 1982 with its headquarters in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The organization's name was originally Veterans for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and changed its name to VANA in 1986. Branches of the organization were founded across the country and were made up of veterans of the Canadian military who were active in the peace movement.

The objectives of the organization were to encourage global abolition of nuclear weapons, support the role of the United Nations in peacekeeping, encourage the eventual abolition of the arms trade, support the establishment of international human rights laws, and to encourage the use of Canadian armed forces only for UN-mandated peacekeeping missions and self-defence. VANA worked toward these goals through public discourse in the form of articles, speaking engagements, press releases, and advertisements; lobbying politicians; participating in conferences, workshops, and rallies; communicating with similar veterans' groups in the United States, Europe, and the Soviet Union; and building relationships with active-duty members of the Canadian military.

The Edmonton branch of VANA was initially established as the third branch of Veterans for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament, after Halifax and Vancouver. The branch transitioned with the rest of the organization into VANA and maintained heavy activity throughout the 1980s and 1990s, while still maintaining a presence in the 2000s.

In 1987, the Edmonton branch established an office at #303-A 10451 170 Street and began publishing a local newsletter, The VANA Courier, in January 1988. The branch collaborated with other Alberta-based peace organizations such as Project Ploughshares; organized and attended rallies and protests; organized and attended peace conferences locally and nationally; issued press releases; and published and distributed position statements and research.

The fonds consists of a nearly complete documentary record of the history of the Edmonton VANA branch and includes meeting agendas and minutes, correspondence, membership rosters, committee records, conference and seminar files, posters, pamphlets, press releases, speaking notes, and resolutions.

There are also records related to specific actions, protests, and rallies related to the Persian Gulf War, Hiroshima Memorial Day, Auschwitz Memorial Day, and Hands Across the Border.

There is also a complete run of The VANA Courier, as well as newsletters from other VANA branches and the central office. In addition to VANA publications, there are also magazines, newsletters, and pamphlets from like-minded organizations, among them the Fraser Valley Peace Letter; Saskatchewan Peace News; Peace, Environment, and Third World Development Network News; Socialist Voice; and Ploughshares Monitor.

The photos and slides depict Edmonton VANA events, rallies, and conferences as well as trips to national and international events in Ottawa and the Soviet Union, among others.

The audiocassettes contain recorded remarks and presentations from a 1988 national VANA conference entitled Peacemaking and Peacekeeping: Canada and the United Nations held at Dalhousie University, Halifax.

The fonds consists of VANA Edmonton records and the personal records of Anthony Mokry as related to the VANA and the wider peace movement. When identified, Mokry's personal files have been arranged into a separate series; however, these files remain within the VANA Edmonton fonds because they are related to the administration and operation of the organization and were created in the course of VANA business.

The arrangement structure mirrors the filing system created by Anthony Mokry to a large degree, but some of the records were scattered loosely throughout the boxes in which the records were donated. These loose records were arranged by the archivist responsible for the fonds based on their original function. The files arranged by the archivist have been noted in the file list.

The fonds has been arranged into eleven series. The series are: