Women have served in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) since 1885 but were initially restricted to nursing, but over time, they have taken on a variety of non-combat and combat roles. In 2020, women represented approximately 16% of Canadian Armed Forces personnel. The number of female Veterans is increasing annually, and according to the most recent data, approximately 12% of released regular force members in the CAF are women. If the CAF’s efforts to recruit women are successful, the proportion of female Veterans is likely to increase in the coming years.

Veteran support systems are constantly changing through Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) and hopefully we will soon see specific programing, treatments, and supports for our female Veterans. Sadly, much of these programs do not exists so the Canadian Legacy Project is working to advocate on our Female Veterans behalf. In 2024 we partnered with the ATLAS Institute https://atlasveterans.ca/ to commission a study on the difficulties our female Veterans are having when transition to civilian life. The goal of this research is to work with Veteran Affairs Canada and like-minded charitable organisations to build programing specific to our female Veterans needs and to advocate on their behalf.

• • As of 2020, women represented 16% of the Canadian Armed Forces.

• • 67% of Female Veterans experience financial difficulties during their transition to civilian life.

• • Female Veterans 4 times more likely to be unhoused than civilian women.

• • In 2019 the Veteran Mortality study noted the risk of dying by suicide is two time higher for female Veterans than for the Canadian general population.

• In 2019 a Statistics Canada survey found that 28% of Canadian Armed Forces females reported being victims of targeted sexualized or discriminatory behavior at least once during their military career.