Veterans Affairs
How Veterans Affairs spent its budget in fiscal year 2024-25, shown as net expenditures by standard object from Public Accounts Volume II.
Veterans Affairs Canada is responsible for providing benefits, services, and support to veterans, still-serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and their families. Its programs include disability benefits and compensation for service-related injury or illness, income support, health and wellness services, and commemorative activities that recognize the service of veterans. The department also administers case management and rehabilitation services intended to help veterans transition to civilian life and manage the lasting effects of their service. The Veterans Review and Appeal Board operates alongside the department as an independent tribunal that hears appeals related to disability benefit decisions, providing veterans with a further avenue of recourse when they disagree with an initial determination.
Veterans Affairs spent $7.65B in the 2024–25 fiscal year, accounting for 1.4% of total federal spending. This places the department among the larger recipients of federal spending, reflecting the scale of the benefit and compensation programs it administers on behalf of veterans across the country.
Almost all of this spending was recorded within the Department of Veterans Affairs, with a much smaller amount attributed to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. Transfer payments make up a large part of the department's activity and are concentrated in a small number of large benefit programs: Pain and Suffering Compensation and Additional Pain and Suffering Compensation, which address the effects of service-related disability; the Income Replacement Benefit, which supports veterans' income; long-standing pensions for disability and death administered under the Pension Act and related authorities; and the Housekeeping and Grounds Maintenance program, which helps eligible veterans remain in their homes and communities. Together, these programs form the core of the department's direct financial support to veterans and their families.
Department Spending
In FY 2024-25,
$7.65B
was spent by Veterans Affairs
In FY 2024-25,
1.4%
of federal spending was by Veterans Affairs
On the consolidated accrual basis (Volume I), this portfolio’s expenses were $546M in FY 2024-25 — see the overview and methodology.
How did Veterans Affairs spend its budget in 2024-25?
Spending by entity, FY 2024-25
Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Review and Appeal Board
$7.63B
$21.3M
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 | $2,305,747,176 |
| Grants | Income Replacement Benefit | $1,433,906,543 |
| 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 | $992,936,662 |
| Grants | Additional Pain and Suffering Compensation | $327,196,477 |
| Grants | Housekeeping and Grounds Maintenance | $318,962,874 |
| Contributions | Contributions to Veterans, under the Veterans Independence Program, to assist in defraying costs of extended health care not covered by provincial health programs | $71,707,616 |
| Grants | Education and Training Benefit | $28,940,536 |
| Grants | Caregiver Recognition Benefit | $27,767,018 |
| Grants | Commonwealth War Graves Commission | $12,858,930 |
| 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 | $12,213,527 |
| Contributions | Centre of Excellence on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other related mental health conditions | $9,134,525 |
| Contributions | Contributions for Research Funding Program | $7,141,355 |
| Grants | Last Post Fund | $5,927,212 |
| Grants | Grant for Research Funding Program | $4,290,714 |
| Grants | Earnings Loss and Supplementary Retirement Benefit | $4,119,779 |
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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.
