Thousands of veterans’ graves in disrepair, report finds

If Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino wants to mend fences with his angry constituency, perhaps he could start by repairing thousands of veterans' graves and memorials.

A report by Veterans Affairs auditors has found tens of thousands of graves need work – either maintenance or repair.

The same goes for a number of memorials in Canada and overseas for which the department has responsibility. They warn it needs to find efficiencies, or rising costs "may soon force the department to prioritize which monuments will continue to be maintained annually, and to what level," the Vancouver Sun reported.

The report was completed last February but the report's results were only made public recently. It generated little comment amid the furor over Fantino's handling of living veterans' protests over the closure of regional Veterans Affairs offices.

The report estimated more than 250,000 veterans are buried in Canada, though only about 193,000 have been identified and recorded in the department's electronic database. Most of the graves are scattered in more than 6,100 cemeteries, with only a fraction interred in two military cemeteries run by the department.

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The condition of the grave markers varies considerably, the report says, and many of the graves are not located in so-called "fields of honour" within public or private cemeteries.

As report said more than 51,000 grave markers needed repair, almost half of them in Ontario.

The graves of war dead overseas Europe and other countries, cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and local governments with some funding from Canada, are in good condition, the report said.

The government spends about $1.5 million annually to maintain and repair veterans' graves but with current funding is only able do "perform a small portion of the maintenance required," the report said. The department has set up a 12-year maintenance cycle for each grave but history suggests it will be hard to stick with, the report said.

It's also committed to maintaining graves no matter where they're located, making it harder to maintain them to a high standard. In other countries, such as the United States, Australia and Britain, only the graves of veterans buried in military cemeteries or fields of honour in other cemeteries are publicly maintained, the report said.

Postmedia News noted the report also pointed to the aging membership of Canadian veterans' organizations is complicating plans for future maintenance, since members traditionally did a lot of the upkeep.

[ Related: Julian Fantino apologizes for late arrival at meeting with vets ]

The auditors also suggested the department also explore increased use of cremation urns and fields of honour burials to improve efficiency.

The report also revealed Veterans Affairs staff also didn't have the expertise needed to develop maintenance plans and review the quality of repairs done.

A Veterans Affairs spokesman told Postmedia News the department takes its responsibility for veterans' graves very seriously and is working to address the issues raised by the auditors' report.

One thing it won't do, Simon Forsyth said, is abandon graves scattered outside fields of honour or official military cemeteries.

“The local interment of veterans by their families is a long-standing tradition that dates back to the First World War,” Forsyth said in an email to Postmedia News. “Veterans Affairs Canada respects the decisions of families regarding the burial sites chosen for their loved ones.”