This is from a larger publication, Alternative federal budget 2026-27: Bridge to independence
Introduction
As military spending commitments increase, so too must our investment and commitment in the well-being of those who have served.
People are more likely to serve, stay and have confidence in the institution when they and their families are supported after service. Yet the support system from Veterans Affairs Canada has not kept pace with the changing realities of military, RCMP and family service. Veterans and families continue to face fragmented benefits, difficult transitions, uneven access to care, housing insecurity, backlogs, and gaps in research and support. This is particularly the case for women and other under-serviced groups.
Every veteran deserves a transition experience that supports timely care, financial security and respectful acknowledgement of their time in service—and it can’t be one-size-fits-all. A modern veteran system must treat care of service members as a life-course obligation, and measure success through real outcomes.
As Canada expands and strengthens its military, it must also invest in the people who served, the families and those that support them, and the systems and services needed to ensure no one is left behind.
Overview
A comprehensive review of programs and services for veterans
The last time that the federal government undertook a comprehensive independent review of veterans’ benefits and services was in the 1960s. The current system reflects structures originally designed around the needs of aging World War II and Korean War veterans. As of March 31, 2023, war service veterans represent 4,162 of VAC’s 194,098 clients—approximately two per cent.1Veterans Affairs Canada, Welcome to Veterans Affairs Canada, July 2023, https://public.cdn.cloud.veterans.gc.ca/pdf/about-vac/who-we-are/department-officials/minister/briefing/welcome-kit-2023/4-vac-101.pdf.
VAC programs and services are slow to evolve with the needs of all veterans and their families. Canada’s veteran population is diverse in age, service experience, family composition, health needs and identity. Women veterans, reservists, RCMP veterans, Indigenous veterans, 2SLGBTQI+ veterans, and veterans living in rural and remote regions all continue to report barriers in accessing equitable services and recognition.
Canada’s veteran support system remains fragmented, reactive and too often difficult to navigate. The New Veterans Charter of 2006 brought dozens of legislative changes, new benefits and “enhancements” to programs and services. Policy objectives are aimed at providing supports for optimizing health and well-being, but in practice many veterans and families continue to experience long wait times, inconsistent access to care, complex eligibility systems, and gaps in support during and after military transition, which have also led to feelings of institutional betrayal.
Health care and transition gaps
Veterans continue to struggle when transitioning from federal military to provincial civilian health systems, especially those without access to a family physician.2Meagan Gillmore, “Should veterans get priority access to family doctors?,” Canadian Affairs, April 5, 2026, https://www.canadianaffairs.news/2026/04/05/should-veterans-get-priority-access-to-family-doctors/. Many civilian providers have limited familiarity with military occupational exposures, operational stress injuries, chronic pain, military sexual trauma, musculoskeletal injuries, or the long-term impacts of repeated deployments and service-related trauma.
The importance of access to adequate continuity of care was also addressed in the 2026 report from the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs on suicide prevention among Canadian veterans.3House of Commons of Canada, Suicide Prevention Among Canadian Veterans: Report of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, April 30, 2026, https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/45-1/ACVA/report-4/. Veterans are at a higher risk for death by suicide than the general population, but programs that could help are underfunded or difficult to access.
While telemedicine can improve access in some situations, there are limitations in its ability to meet complex mental health, chronic pain, rehabilitation or women’s health needs. Veterans using telemedicine have reported concerns such as feeling rushed, having limited privacy in their homes, experiencing long wait times and finding limited accommodation for accessibility needs.4Deanna L Walker et al., “Telehealth experiences in Canadian veterans: Associations, strengths and barriers to care during the COVID-19 pandemic,” BMJ Military Health, May 12, 2023, https://militaryhealth.bmj.com/content/early/2023/05/11/military-2022-002249.
Family members and caregivers are also affected by military service, yet they often lack independent access to appropriate mental health support. For years, the Office of the Veterans Ombud has called for investments in mental health coverage for family members of the Canadian Armed Forces veterans in their own right.5 Programs and services to support aging veterans, such as the Veterans Independence Program, will also need to evolve to meet changing needs, including support for families and unpaid caregivers.5M Brydges et al., Addressing the Coming of Age and Its Related Complexities Among Canada’s Veterans, Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research, November 2024, https://cimvhr.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/24-56_VeteransReport_v6_Accessible.pdf.
Preventing homelessness and housing insecurity
Veterans are disproportionately represented among unhoused populations. Experts note the nature of veteran homelessness makes it difficult to quantify; estimates of the number of unhoused veterans vary from 2,400 to more than 10,000.6Taylor Chase, Alison Clement, Sandrine Desforges and Anmol Gupta, Addressing Veteran Homelessness in Canada, McGill, July 2023, https://www.mcgill.ca/maxbellschool/files/maxbellschool/ofha_veteran_homelessness_policy_brief_-_2023.pdf. Women veterans represent 30 per cent of veterans experiencing homelessness,7Homelessness here includes individuals who reside in emergency shelters, provisional accommodations or unsafe housing situations. and often face additional challenges related to military sexual trauma, intimate partner violence, caregiving responsibilities, disability and poverty.
As current shelter systems and veteran services are still largely designed around male veterans, they do not always provide safe, accessible or trauma-informed supports for women and gender-diverse veterans.9,10 Veteran policy needs to place greater focus on prevention, recognizing the downstream impacts of challenges with transition health care, income instability and access to timely services.
Backlogs and staffing pressures
Wait times for Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) disability benefit claims remain one of the most common complaints raised by veterans. While efforts have been made to reduce the backlog of claims, case managers are still carrying high caseloads and staffing pressures remain unresolved. The ratio of veterans to case managers is currently about 32:18Veterans Affairs Canada, “Question Period Note: Case Management (VAC-2023-QP-00003),” Government of Canada Open Government Portal, December 2, 2024, https://search.open.canada.ca/qpnotes/record/vac-acc%2CVAC-2023-QP-00003.and some case managers have reported as many as 50 veterans in their caseloads.9Lee Berthiaume, “Excessive workloads hurting veterans and staff, former case manager alleges,” CBC News, November 14, 2021, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/excessive-workloads-hurting-veterans-and-staff-former-case-manager-alleges-1.6248806. The Bureau of Pension Advocates within VAC faces staffing reductions, despite a significant backlog, risking lengthened wait times and limited access to free legal support for appeals.10Catherine Morrison, “Unions, MPs warn funding cuts could affect services for veterans,” CTV News, March 13, 2026, https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/unions-mps-warn-funding-cuts-could-affect-services-for-veterans/.
Sustained investment in resources and staffing with improvements to benefit entitlement claims processing are necessary to manage growing claim volumes, meet client needs and ensure veterans receive their eligible entitlements in a timely manner.
Less reliance on privatization
The contract issued to administer the VAC rehabilitation program with Partners in Canadian Rehabilitation Services (PCVRS), a private venture between Lifemark Health Group and WCG International, is approaching its end.
Veterans’ concerns about the rehabilitation program include excessive bureaucracy, inadequate care and threats to benefits.14,15 Health care providers have also raised concerns, including Lifemark’s failure to consider the complex nature of the client population and failures to mention trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder in documents sent to practitioners.11Lee Berthiaume, “Rehab contract sparks new fight between veterans and the Liberal government,” The Canadian Press, February 12, 2023, https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/health/rehab-contract-sparks-fresh-battle-between-veterans-and-the-liberal-government/article_afccf23a-c02b-5f51-a1b2-595155408ecc.html. The Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees has called for the end of the contract.12Public Service Alliance of Canada, “Unions and Veterans Call for End to Privatization of Veteran Rehabilitation Services,” March 2, 2023, https://psacunion.ca/unions-and-veterans-call-end-privatization-veteran.
A Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs study outlined a lack of oversight (PCVRS is responsible for its own performance evaluation); and lack of information provided to case managers, veterans and care providers.13Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, New Contract for the Administration of Veterans Affairs Canada’s Rehabilitation Program, House of Commons of Canada, June 2023, https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/441/ACVA/Reports/RP12515046/acvarp11/acvarp11-e.pdf. In 2026, the committee began a subsequent study to monitor the rehabilitation contract awarded to PCVRS.
These concerns call into question the ability of the current, privately contracted, model to deliver the timely, trauma- and violence-informed, accountable and veteran-centred rehabilitation that veterans deserve at value for money.
Equity for women veterans
Sex and gender invisibility in military and veteran systems has led to research gaps, bias and ultimately a system that is designed around male military norms.
These gaps have wide-reaching impacts: from disability adjudication and rehabilitation to homelessness risk, chronic pain management, reproductive health, menopause-related impacts and recognition of military sexual trauma.
A consistent and transparent application of sex and gender equity in research (SAGER), sex- and gender-based analysis (SGBA), and gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) lenses within the Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence is needed.
A 2024 Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs report, Invisible No More, identified several areas that could improve outcomes for women veterans: research, addressing specific medical and health needs, recognition and commemoration, and removing barriers to services and support.14Emmanuel Dubourg, “Invisible No More. The Experiences of Canadian Women Veterans,” Report of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, June 2024, https://www.ourcommons.ca/documentviewer/en/44-1/ACVA/report-15.
Meaningful implementation of these recommendations will drive transformative policy shifts. They should be integrated into modernization efforts system-wide across the Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Veterans Affairs Canada—not viewed as a separate women’s issue. Modernization requires current and timely data (including publicly disaggregated data), equity and accountability.
Actions
The AFB will launch an independent review to ensure that veterans, loved ones, caregivers, survivors and surviving family members receive the benefits, services and supports they need, when and where they need them. The inquiry will produce a public report with concrete, time-bound and measurable recommendations.
The AFB will require Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) to identify and register all eligible veterans proactively, rather than relying on them to come forward when seeking services. This will provide a more accurate view of the veteran population in Canada and allow VAC to design more preventative, targeted supports.
The AFB will ensure that caregivers and family members, including spouses, former spouses, survivors and dependent children, can access mental health care when their mental health concerns are connected to the veteran’s military service.
The AFB will fund occupational medicine supports for veterans, especially those without a family doctor. It will also provide civilian health care providers with barrier-free training on military sexual trauma, operational stress injuries, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use, VAC documentation, military occupational exposures, and other veteran-specific health issues.
The AFB will require mandatory, in-person training sessions for all VAC personnel on trauma- and violence-informed, culturally safe and veteran-informed best practices.
The AFB will not renew the private contract with Partners in Canadian Rehabilitation Services. It will return the administration of VAC’s rehabilitation program to the public service as of June 30, 2027.
The AFB will increase funding to hire more permanent staff and case managers if wait times don’t improve, however, the budget 2025 commitments to stabilize processing capacity for disability support benefit applications may be sufficient.
The AFB will consolidate and enhance existing transition programs, with specific attention to homelessness prevention, mental health literacy, career transition, community re-integration, family support and early identification of at-risk members.
The AFB will require proactive transition planning for all regular force and reserve force members, including Class A, B, and C reservists. This will include VAC registration, pre-release screening, injury documentation and clear referral pathways before release.
The AFB will fund and implement a long-term research program on servicewomen and women veterans, including co-ordinated research across VAC, Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Statistics Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and community-based researchers.
The AFB will fully fund the implementation of the recommendations in the report of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, Invisible No More, in collaboration with women veterans. This will include public timelines, outcome measures and annual progress reporting.
The AFB will expedite updates of VAC entitlement eligibility guidelines and the table of disabilities for medical conditions that affect women veterans. This work will apply transparent SAGER, SGBA and GBA+ methods and processes to address gender bias, evidence gaps and data equity.
The AFB will establish a dedicated military sexual trauma policy and adjudication framework at VAC. This will include trauma- and violence-informed claims processing, recognition of secondary conditions, access to specialized treatment and public reporting on outcomes.
The AFB will ensure veteran-serving organizations are connected to homelessness management information systems so veterans who are unhoused can be better identified and supported.
The AFB will establish a housing certificate program that provides individualized rent supplements to veterans experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
The AFB will direct the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to create veteran-specific streams under the National Housing Strategy. This will include funding through low-interest and forgivable loans, women-specific housing, family-inclusive housing, and housing that accommodates dependants and service animals.
The AFB will develop a new joint suicide prevention strategy for military members and veterans, including reservists. The strategy will include measurable objectives, public reporting and a dedicated veteran pathway through Canada’s 9-8-8 crisis line to improve timely access to veteran-informed crisis support.
The AFB will require Veterans Affairs Canada, the Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to publish annual disaggregated data on transition outcomes, disability claims, wait times, homelessness, suicide risk factors, medical releases, rehabilitation outcomes, appeals and client satisfaction. These are to be broken down where possible by sex, gender, race, Indigenous identity, disability, service component and region.
The AFB will restore and expand Bureau of Pension Advocates staffing so veterans have timely access to free legal advice and representation for disability benefit reviews and appeals. Staff will be expanded to 250 to clear backlogs.
The AFB will co-develop an Indigenous veterans strategy with First Nations, Inuit and Métis veterans. This strategy will address culturally safe services, rural and remote access, housing, commemoration, claims support and family needs.
The AFB will review gaps affecting Royal Canadian Mounted Police veterans and ensure federal veteran policies address RCMP-specific service injuries, operational stress injuries, sexual misconduct, transition, disability adjudication and family supports.
The AFB will require public annual reporting on veterans programs, including the Veterans Homelessness Program, that detail measurable outcomes for veterans, in addition to program creation and spending. This reporting will include independent evaluation, lived-experience feedback and performance-improvement measures.
