Federal help to cover veterans’ funeral costs not reaching some families: audit

OTTAWA - The families of some recently deceased veterans may not be getting the help paying for funerals that they deserve, an internal government audit has found, prompting a renewed commitment to outreach by the federal government.

The Veterans Affairs audit was looking at a program that helps pay the costs of burying veterans who died because of their military service or whose survivors can’t afford a proper funeral. Since 2013, the government has helped pay for around 1,200 such funerals each year at a cost of around $7 million. But the audit said many more veterans may have been eligible, as the estates of only a fraction of the roughly 21,000 veterans who die each year were assessed to determine whether they qualified.