Veterans Affairs: Research Funding
I recently published an attempt to understand how the federal government cares for our veterans. If you haven’t yet, do take a few minutes to read about how hundreds of millions of dollars travel through dizzying layers of agencies and middlemen before they’re (presumably) spent on vets.
This post will focus specifically on how veteran-related research is funded and carried out in Canada.
It’s no secret that veterans face physical and mental challenges at rates far higher than the general population. A 2019 study found that male veterans overall faced a risk of dying by suicide that’s 1.4 times higher, and female veterans 1.9 times higher than the general Canadian population. Veterans are also estimated to be more than ten times as likely to be homeless than the general population. One calculation showed that 2.2 percent of the 42,000 homeless shelter beds in Canada were occupied by veterans. That would be around 20 times the rate in the general population.
Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) funds research that, in theory at least, is focused on the needs of veterans. As far as I can tell, research decisions are made within the Research Directorate that’s ultimately responsible to the Deputy Minister’s Office. The Directorate has around 21 employees.
Federal government spending estimates for 2024-25 report that VAC set aside $9.2 million for the Centre of Excellence on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other related mental health conditions (now known as The Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families). The spending estimates also identify $5.5 million in research grants and $5.1 million as a research contribution to recipients unnamed in the public data I saw. Much of that funding likely finds its way to two research funding agencies: the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) and the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans. Like The Atlas Institute, both of those organizations partner with academic institutions to execute their research projects.
Why third-party organizations need to exist for no other apparent purpose besides channeling government funds to researchers isn’t immediately clear. But if money isn’t being wasted in the process, then I guess no harm’s done.
To better understand how those organizations operate - and whether, in fact, money is being wasted - it’ll be worth taking a look at their financials.
Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans
According to their website, the Centre is “Fully funded by Veterans Affairs of Canada through a Contribution Agreement". Through fiscal 2022-2023, they spent 69 percent of the $4.5 million they received from the government on research. The remaining spending was divided between administration (18 percent) and operations (13 percent).
Their most recent CRA filing as a charitable organization shows that they employ eight full-time and four part-time staff. Their highest-paid employee earned more than $350,000 - although in the context of salaries for professionals with similar skills, that’s not necessarily out of the ordinary.
The Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families
Beyond their $9.2 Treasury Board allocation, I couldn’t find any useful financial information covering program spending for Atlas. I reached out for documentation but I haven’t heard back. I do know that they’re closely associated with the Royal Ottawa Hospital (ROH), but there’s no meaningful information on Atlas spending in ROH reporting.
One thing I can say is that Atlas publishes the full results of all the research funded through their programs. This is both refreshing and, unfortunately, highly unusual in the Canadian academic community.
Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR)
Update: As Paul Hook (of CIMVHR) himself notes in his comment below, I enjoyed a productive chat subsequent to initially publishing this post. Paul did a great job breaking out his organization’s spending and highlighting some of the great work they do. Please do read his comment. Some of the content in the next paragraphs has been updated.
Besides their VAC allocations, CIMVHR also gets significant funding from outside government. In 2022, for example, the War Amps provided grants worth a half a million dollars for work on prosthetics. And the True Patriot Love Foundation made its own $5 million commitment for research.
In fiscal 2023, CIMVHR reported a total of $6.4 million in revenue. Of that, just $2.6 million dollars was spent on research. Their largest expense item was $5.9 million for “operating”, although that number represents a wide range of activities.
CIMVHR also runs an annual Forum conference. The 2023 version of the conference that took place in Ottawa attracted 850 participants. Those who attended for all three days paid between $400 and $705 each to get through the door and accommodation costs were extra. Single-day attendance fees were between $200 and $350.
In the end, at least some genuine research is happening and progress is, no doubt, being made. At the same time, more program oversight is necessary at every level and it’s probably time to revisit the value added by the extra layers of the middleman model.
My name is Paul Hook, Managing Director of the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research. I wanted to begin by thanking Mr. Clinton for the work he is doing. Accountability is a hallmark of a successful country and government openness and transparency are paramount to its effectiveness. I recently had a chat with Mr. Clinton to discuss this post and thank you for highlighting some of what the public sees which could be different from what our organization knows. This furthered a useful chat on what we do, how we do it, and some ways in which we could better tell our story in regards to what the annual $2.5m funding goes toward. Suffice to say, CIMVHR is set up for research facilitation in that the organization receives funding from other sources: philanthopic, private sector, and government and operates as an arm's length institute to ensure that research for the military, Veterans, and families populations is rigorous, transparent, and has impact.
Approximately 80% of our annual operating funds cover pay and compensation as well as funds that go to Queen's for (HR, building, legal, research accounting, etc). The rest of the operating funds are for: the Journal of Military Veteran and Family Health (JMVFH), events that CIMVHR hosts (highlighting research), producing documents, videos, podcasts from the research so that the communities can access the information. For instance, our Journal articles were downloaded over 150,000 times in 2023/2024. Funds are also used to host a website - https://www.fiveeyesmhric.org/, to fund some travel for staff to meet with interested parties, to collaborate on work in the sector, and for professional development. We also host webinars, we have information sessions, and we support the next generation of researchers through a Student and Post-Doctoral Engagement Community (SPEC).
We financially report quarterly and annually to Veterans Affairs Canada and through Queen's University monthly. We report metrics (similar to the departmental results framework) quarterly and annually to VAC and we have an advisory Board of Directors that oversees some of the strategic guidance for our organization.
We collaborate with Atlas and the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence. We have a wide network of universities, global institutes and Canadian research centres to ensure that Canadian military members, Veterans and their families have the most up-to-date research on health and well-being.
We are more than happy to share our story and commit to finding a better way to ensuring that our financial information is more easily understood by the Canadian public.
(Maj ret'd) Paul Hook
Managing Director
CIMVHR
www.cimvhr.ca
paul.hook@queensu.ca
This Veteran thanks you for shining a light on VAC. It is refreshing to learn that, apparently, the money allocated to the department is being generally well used in the manner for which it is intended.