Seamless Canada meets in Halifax to focus on childcare, spousal employment, housing, education, and healthcare

June 6, 2025 - Halifax, Nova Scotia

Estimated read time - 3:00

For the first time, the Seamless Canada Steering Committee held its annual conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Halifax Regional Municipality is home to the Navy’s Maritime Forces Atlantic and East Coast Fleet, the Army’s 5th Canadian Division Headquarters, and the Air Force’s12 Wing Shearwater. Nova Scotia has one of the largest presences of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Regular members outside of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

The annual conference began with opening remarks from the provincial and military co-chairs, the Honourable Barbara Adams, Deputy Premier, Deputy President of the Executive Council, Minister of Seniors and Long-Term Care, and Minister responsible for Military Relations for Nova Scotia and Major-General Joshua Major, the Canadian Armed Forces representative. They were followed by video remarks from the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jennie Carignan, and the CAF Chief Warrant Officer, Bob McCann. They highlighted the significance of the delegates’ commitment to Seamless Canada and emphasized the importance of supporting CAF families, especially during relocations.

“Service to this country is an incredible privilege. It also has its challenges. We ask a lot of our members, and we know their service is never an individual pursuit.  It takes the support of entire families. Of entire communities. And as your work here shows it takes the support of an entire country.” said General Carignan.

Discussions at this year’s conference were led by the co-chairs. Delegates focused their discussions on the core areas of Seamless - access to healthcare, education, specifically the transferability of Individualized Education Programs, spousal employment, and childcare.

This conference marked the launch of subcommittees on each of these areas, after their establishment was proposed at the semi-annual conference in January. Provincial representatives further discussed and shared their approaches to address the relocation barriers that CAF members and their families face.

The following day, delegates had the opportunity to visit HMCS Harry DeWolf, an Arctic and Offshore patrol vessel, as well as the naval training facility at Canadian Forces Base Halifax. The Navy Fleet School (Atlantic) uses this facility to train its next generation of sailors. Delegates were able to observe and participate in various training exercises.

In addition to the valuable discussions that happened during the conference, and their participation in a military experience day, delegates also had several opportunities over the two days to personally interact with CAF members and their families. They were able to hear firsthand from them about relocation experiences.

The entire experience helped delegates better understand some of the experiences that military members go through - including some of the challenges of training and supporting CAF operations.

In 2018, Seamless Canada was created to provide greater opportunity for collaboration between representatives from provinces, territories, and leadership from the Department of National Defence and  the CAF to improve the relocation experience of CAF members, specifically between provinces and territories.

CAF members and their families can guide discussions at future conferences by sharing their relocation experiences through feedback forms. Feedback forms on  childcare, child and youth education, spousal employment and healthcare can be found on the Seamless Canada webpage. CAF members and their families are encouraged to visit the Seamless Canada webpage to access more than 150 relocation resources.