Veterans Affairs
How Veterans Affairs spent its budget in fiscal year 2023-24, shown as net expenditures by standard object from Public Accounts Volume II.
Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) is the federal department responsible for supporting Canadian veterans, still-serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces, and their families. It delivers financial benefits, health care and rehabilitation services, and recognition programs, and it leads the national remembrance initiatives that preserve Canada's military history.
Department Spending
In FY 2023-24,
$6.07B
was spent by Veterans Affairs
In FY 2023-24,
1.2%
of federal spending was by Veterans Affairs
On the consolidated accrual basis (Volume I), this portfolio’s expenses were $532M in FY 2023-24 — see the overview and methodology.
VAC spent $6.07B in fiscal year (FY) 2024, or 1.2% of the $521.4 billion in overall federal spending, ranking thirteenth among federal departments in total spending.
Spending by entity, FY 2023-24
Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Review and Appeal Board
$6.05B
$18.1M
Federal spending shifts over time with population growth, changes in policy and programs, and emerging priorities. Over the long run, VAC spending has grown more slowly than overall federal spending, leaving the department's share of the federal budget close to where it stood decades ago. Acute events can also move spending sharply from year to year: during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada's total expenses rose from $346.2 billion in 2019 to $373.5 billion in 2020 and $644.2 billion in 2021, while VAC's expenditures grew only modestly over the same period once adjusted for inflation.
How did Veterans Affairs spend its budget in 2023-24?
Federal departments often span several entities. In FY 2024, VAC's $6.07B was divided between two: the Department of Veterans Affairs, which accounts for nearly all of the total, and the much smaller Veterans Review and Appeal Board. That spending supports benefits and services for veterans and their families and funds national commemoration programs.
Veterans Affairs’s share of federal spending
Percentage of federal spending, 2014–2025
Line items
Every transfer-payment (grant and contribution) program, in dollars. These are the named programs behind the transfer-payments object in the chart above. Search, sort, and download the full table.
| Category | Description | Amount ▼ |
|---|---|---|
| Grants | Pain and Suffering Compensation | $1,608,757,205 |
| Grants | Income Replacement Benefit | $1,260,702,576 |
| Grants | Pensions for disability and death, including pensions granted under the authority of the Civilian Government Employees (War) Compensation Order, P.C. 45/8848 of November 22, 1944, which shall be subject to the Pension Act; for former prisoners of war under the Pension Act, and Newfoundland special awards | $1,012,069,671 |
| Grants | Housekeeping and Grounds Maintenance | $291,478,596 |
| Grants | Additional Pain and Suffering Compensation | $276,261,939 |
| Contributions | Contributions to Veterans, under the Veterans Independence Program, to assist in defraying costs of extended health care not covered by provincial health programs | $65,488,938 |
| Grants | Education and Training Benefit | $28,961,516 |
| Grants | Caregiver Recognition Benefit | $22,308,657 |
| Grants | Commonwealth War Graves Commission | $11,859,340 |
| Contributions | Centre of Excellence on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other related mental health conditions | $9,191,941 |
| Contributions | Contributions under the Commemorative Partnerships Program, to organizations, institutions and other levels of government, in support of projects related to the health and well-being of the veteran population, and commemoration activities and events | $8,038,034 |
| Grants | Earnings Loss and Supplementary Retirement Benefit | $7,182,831 |
| Contributions | Contributions for Research Funding Program | $7,141,355 |
| Grants | Last Post Fund | $6,393,536 |
| Grants | Grant for Veterans and Family Well-Being Fund | $5,933,062 |
Explore other federal departments
Veterans Affairs figures are net expenditures by standard object from Public Accounts Volume II, and will not match the Volume I consolidated headline totals. See the methodology for details.
