QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Veterans Affairs
Mental Health Services
October 23, 2025
In 2021, the Veterans Ombudsman made a number of key recommendations addressing mental health care needs of families of Canadian Armed Forces, or CAF, veterans — though unfortunately not those of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, whom we also need to consider. They included that:
. . . the Government ensure that family members, including former spouses, survivors and dependent children, have access to federal Government funded mental health treatment in their own right when the mental health illness is related to conditions of military service experienced by the family member . . . .
In a CBC article published on August 21, 2024, the Veterans Ombudsman reported that families continue to be denied critical mental health care.
What is being done to address this issue? It seems to be taking a long time.
I would like to acknowledge the Ombud for her ongoing advocacy and her previous service with the Canadian Armed Forces.
The work of the Veterans Ombud is incredibly important. The contributions they bring to the discussion about strengthening supports and benefits are invaluable.
We have some programs available to support family members, including spouses, children and caregivers, with immediate access to 20 sessions of support through the VAC Assistance Service, which is staffed by mental health professionals and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is in addition to other resources offered through the Veteran and Family Well-being Fund, which are also available to family members in these communities.
We are working hard to address this. Most importantly, there is still more for us to do.
Minister, thank you for that answer and for assuring us you’re working on these issues. It’s so important they are addressed in an expeditious way.
This recommendation captures a key issue that many military spouses have raised. The phrase “. . . in their own right . . .” in this recommendation recognizes the spouses and family members of veterans need to be treated as people with their own inherent and constitutionally protected rights, not as dependents of the veteran. That does not seem to be the case. Would you share your thoughts on this?
You’ve touched on something important here: When a veteran serves, they do not serve alone. Their family, caregivers, children and spouses also serve with them.
To return to one of the key things about the VAC Assistance Service — it is available to the spouses or other family members without the veteran necessarily having an open file. It is available independently, which I believe speaks to what you were addressing there. It is independent of the veteran’s file. Again, there is more for us to do.
