In the months leading up to Remembrance Day, I become a mixture of emotional burnout, system advocate, and sceptic. As a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), I have thirty-plus years dealing with service-related injuries. I also have decades dealing with government bureaucracies and their promises, denials, retractions, coverups and hostility towards veteran advocacy. Why on earth would anyone join our military knowing the Canadian government’s duplicitous and neglectful treatment of the military and its veterans?
Canada has tens of thousands of veterans in similar situations to my own — waiting for the services and support our government routinely pledges but fails to provide. During publicity campaigns or calls for support, the federal government paints a pretty picture of the CAF — but in reality our government refuses to offer little more than lip service as they continue to slash the budgets of the Department of National Defence (DND) and Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).
Currently, Canada can barely field a combat-effective battle group of 2,500 combat troops domestically. The situation is so bad, Canadian troops have to pay out of their own pockets when ordered overseas by the Canadian government. The CAF cannot provide air and naval assets to support international operational expectations, yet, our government continues to make commitments they know they can’t meet. As well, Canada fails to reach its defence spending promises to NATO and continues to proclaim they will.
Worse still, Canadian soldiers are being forced to buy their own personal gear and ballistic armour in preparation for overseas deployments. This, while our national braintrust supplies the militaries of other nations with Canadian purchased personal gear and ballistic armour. Imagine deploying to an operational theatre, preparing for war, and lacking food, critical equipment, protective ballistic armour, and the weapons to defend yourself — only to see other nations arrive in the gear taken away from you and provided to them.
Welcome to the world of one of Canada’s most vulnerable demographics: the soldiers, sailors and air personnel of the CAF. Our military personnel are routinely put in extremely high-risk situations with little more than antiquated weapons and equipment, poor combat service support, and little to no national support. This unacceptable reality is decades old and I believe will continue to be for decades more.
Remembrance Day — originally called Armistice Day — represents the service and sacrifice of more than 1.6 million of our “war service veterans,” who fought in the First and Second World Wars. According to Veterans Affairs Canada, more than 118,000 gave their lives. Those who returned faced many challenges reintegrating back into Canadian society; but they had a committed government support program, a Royal Canadian Legion focused on helping returning veterans, and the mindset that they personally contributed to winning the war and overcoming evil.
Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case. Today, the Korean War, Peacekeeping era, Gulf Wars, and the war in Afghanistan (Canada’s longest war — 12 years long) hardly receive recognition for the service and sacrifice of more than 215,000 Canadians, including 804 dead.
As our world devolves into a continuous series of corporate backed conflicts, Canada continues to be less than supportive of the veterans they order into foreign conflicts. Troops return home to face considerable stigma, shaming, and isolation.
My personal experience is that the government and the Royal Canadian Legion are now much less supportive to veterans as they focus more on civilian programming. Navigating onerous government support creates additional mental health challenges, and without a resounding military victory, veterans may feel their sacrifices were made in vain, further compounding issues.
All the while, private military contractors and the military-industrial complex make unbelievable profits off this continuous string of wars. Often, war is needed to deplete stockpiles of ordinance and materials. Lobbyists then employ politicians to gain the public support needed to manipulate political arenas and jump on the bandwagons of war.
With wars raging in the Ukraine and Israel and the potential invasion of Taiwan stoking confrontations between superpowers, it is entirely possible Canada will be called upon to provide more than political lip service. Enlistment in our military comes with more hazards than frontline service. The proud and world-respected members of the Canadian Armed Forces deserve better than our government’s ignorance and abuse.
If you choose to serve, know what you’re getting yourself into. Hopefully, your sacrifice will not be in vain, but your country will likely offer you little in the way of support regardless.
Steve is a third-year BFA creative writing/visual arts student who’s been a contributing writer, staff writer and now an editor at The Cascade. He's always found stories and adventures but now has the joy of capturing and reporting them.
