In a world of change, the CAF’s Seamless Canada initiative remains a constant

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Over the past five years, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has navigated a rapidly shifting global landscape marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, rising geopolitical instability, and domestic labour shortages. These challenges tested operational readiness and recruitment, but the CAF responded with resilience and reform. Today, equipment and maintenance issues are being actively addressed, and recruitment has rebounded—so much so that Regular Force enlistments for the 2024–25 fiscal year surpassed annual targets and reached a ten-year high.

Seamless Canada was launched by the Defence Team in June 2018 when a group of representatives from Canada’s provinces and territories came together at a conference hosted by the DND/CAF at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. Their mission: to collaborate as federal, provincial, and private sector partners to improve service coordination across jurisdictions, easing relocation burdens for CAF members and their families. A link was also formed with the Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (CFMWS), which provides programs and services for CAF members, Veterans, and their families across Canada.

Since then, the initiative has steadily progressed and a formal Seamless Canada Steering Committee (SCSC) was established in 2021 and ratified in 2022. This further strengthened the joint commitment to help make relocation easier for CAF members and their families.

Sherry Romanado, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence is the incoming federal co-chair of the SCSC. She brings both professional dedication and personal insight:

“I am honoured to take on the role of co-chair of the Seamless Canada Steering Committee. My family’s military connection is a story I proudly share, and I recognize the sacrifices made daily by Canadian Armed Forces families. With both my children and my daughter-in-law serving in the CAF, I understand the reality and the challenges military families face while serving our country. I look forward to working with my provincial and territorial partners as we join forces to deliver results for military families.”

Barbara Adams, Deputy Premier of Nova Scotia and Minister responsible for Military Relations, continues her role as provincial co-chair:

“It is a great honour to be the current co-chair of the Seamless Canada Steering Committee. CAF members and their families dedicate so much of themselves for us all, and it is critical that we make the relocation process more seamless for them. Nova Scotia remains eager to work with our federal, provincial, and territorial counterparts on removing issues and barriers that members face in areas like childcare, youth education, spousal and partner employment, housing, and accessing healthcare.”

Military families are the experts on their own relocation experiences and are encouraged to complete feedback forms on subjects relevant to their posting and move such as child care, child and youth education, healthcare, and spousal employment.

The next biannual Seamless Canada steering committee virtual conference and roundtable is scheduled to take place on December 1, 2025. Committee members from across Canada will come together to find ways to improve services to CAF members and their families when they move to a different province or territory.