About the Last Post Fund

The Last Post Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that no veteran is denied a dignified funeral and burial due to insufficient funds.

The Last Post Fund delivers the Veterans Affairs Canada Funeral and Burial Program which provides funeral, burial and grave marking benefits for eligible Canadian and Allied veterans.

In addition to delivering the Funeral and Burial Program, the Last Post Fund supports several other initiatives to commemorate Canadian veterans, including its own military cemetery, the National Field of Honour, and the provision of military markers for unmarked veterans’ graves.

The Last Post Fund is supported financially by Veterans Affairs Canada and by private donations. Its National Office is in Montreal, Québec with representation in every province and the United Kingdom.

"To honour and protect in death seems
but a small return to those
who have protected their country in life."

Our History

The Last Post Fund is a non-profit registered charity that has been serving Canada’s veterans since 1909. Dedicated to the belief that no veteran should be denied a dignified funeral and burial, the Fund had its humble beginnings in Montreal when Arthur Hair discovered that a soldier had died without the financial means for his own burial. Mr. Hair intervened to provide proper funeral and burial arrangements.

As a result of this incident, Mr. Hair approached a small group of Montreal associates and organized the Last Post Imperial Navy and Military Contingency Fund. The early work of the Contingency Fund was exclusively supported by private donations.

In 1921, the organization was federally incorporated as the Last Post Fund. With federal funding, it began to offer services from coast to coast providing assistance to eligible veterans throughout Canada. In 1995, changes were made to existing funeral, burial and grave marking programs. The Last Post Fund was mandated to solely administer the Funeral and Burial Program on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada.

Through the course of its history, the Last Post Fund has arranged funerals and, where necessary, burial and a grave marker for more than 145,000 veterans.

Dr. Serge M. Durflinger has written a history of the first 90 years of the Last Post Fund. Entitled "Lest We Forget" in English and "Je me souviens" in French, his book has been described as a “readable and profusely-illustrated account which sensitively places the Last Post Fund within the context of Canada’s unfolding social and military history.” Copies are available for purchase through our website.