Canadians across the country gather at memorials for Remembrance Day. Wearing the poppy reminds us of sacrifice, but remembrance is more than a symbol—it’s a commitment.
While defence spending and military investments are soaring, critics argue Ottawa’s commitment to veterans and their families is faltering.
The 2025 proposed budget allocates $81.8 billion to defence initiatives over the next five years, yet spending on veterans isn’t keeping pace. The Liberal government identified $4.3 billion in savings from Veterans Affairs Canada, marking the department’s lowest budget in recent years, falling below 2023 and reversing growth seen earlier in the decade.
“Given the increase in defence spending, there needs to be a corresponding increase in VAC budget,” said Amanda Anderson, creator of the Facebook group, Improving Mental Health Care for Families and Survivors of CAF/RCMP Veterans.
She and other members believe the federal government does not offer adequate mental health services to the families of past service members.
Citing ombudsman recommendations from 2016 and 2021, Anderson has been calling on VAC to extend mental health care to surviving family members since 2024 and began working on petition e-6654 for the same cause this year.
As Canadians prepare to honour those who served, ceremonies like the one held Nov. 9 at the Brantwood Place Gates in Ottawa, highlight the tension between symbolic remembrance and practical support.
Brantwood Place is one of 15 Remembrance Day ceremonies across the city. But as wreaths were laid and heads bowed, questions lingered beyond the gates: is the federal government more concerned with military growth than supporting those who have already served and their families?
Critics argue investment in Veterans Affairs is crucial to rebuilding the Canadian Armed Forces. Stephanie Shapiro, writing in the National Post, emphasizes that military families are the backbone of operational readiness.
She notes that frequent relocations, housing shortages and barriers to health care, and spousal employment create systemic challenges that erode morale and retention.
A common critique of Veterans Affairs is untimely service, complex applications, and difficult-to-navigate processes. The ministry’s Red Tape Review from September outlined changes aimed at streamlining applications for benefits and services, including health care, financial and disability benefits, as well as rehabilitation programs.
With the 2025 budget proposing to cut public service and administration in favour of technological advances, only time will tell if these processes are simplified or become harder to navigate with fewer staff behind desks.
The only change to funding for benefits known at this time lies in an adjustment to the Cannabis for Medical Purposes program. Veterans, as well as members of the RCMP, would be reimbursed through the program for marijuana up to $6 per gram, instead of $8.50. The Ministry of Finance says this change better reflects the market price.
This Remembrance Day, Canadians recognize the strength of our country through the strength of the brave Canadians who served on the battlefields and the “human infrastructure,” as written by Shapiro, who support them.
Ottawa hosted 11 memorial ceremonies on Nov. 11 across the city: the National War Memorial, Beechwood Cemetery, John McCrae High School, the Carp-West Carleton War Memorial, the Kanata Cenotaph, the Manotick Cenotaph and Remembrance Park, the Nepean Cenotaph, Richmond Memorial Park, the Stittsville Cenotaph, and Royal Canadian Legion branches 632 and 627.