Open for signatureElectronice-7657 · Parliament 45

Index Memorial Grant Program

Sign on the House of Commons website

Petitioners ask the Government to raise the Memorial Grant Program's $300,000 benefit to reflect cumulative CPI growth since 2018 and to make the benefit automatically indexed annually to the Consumer Price Index.

Why we would sign this petition

  • Restores real value: adjusting the $300,000 benefit for cumulative CPI returns the grant's purchasing power to its original intent for surviving families.
  • Provides predictable support: automatic annual indexing ensures the benefit keeps pace with inflation and offers long-term financial stability.
  • Aligns with precedent: indexing this grant like many federal benefits creates consistency and equitable treatment for families of first responders.

Why we wouldn’t sign this petition

  • Budgetary cost: increasing and indexing the grant would raise program costs and could strain federal budgets or require reallocations from other priorities.
  • Priority trade-offs: resources might be better directed to pension improvements or sustained supports rather than enlarging a one-time lump sum.
  • Administrative complexity: adding automatic annual indexing requires legislative change and ongoing administration, creating additional bureaucracy.

The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.

Official petition

Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled In 2018, the Government of Canada established the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders to provide a tax-free benefit to the surviving families of fire fighters, paramedics, police officers, and other eligible public safety personnel who lose their lives in the line of duty; The Memorial Grant Program provides a one-time benefit of $300,000, which has remained unchanged since the program was established in 2018; Since 2018, inflation has increased by approximately 25%, significantly reducing the real value of the benefit and the financial support available to surviving families; Numerous federal benefits and pension programs are automatically indexed to inflation to preserve their intended value, but not the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders; and Families of first responders who make the ultimate sacrifice in service to Canadians deserve a benefit that ensures the long-term support originally intended by Parliament. We, the undersigned, Citizens and Residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to: 1. Increase the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders to reflect the cumulative increase in the Consumer Price Index since the program was established in 2018; and 2. Amend the Memorial Grant Program so that the benefit is automatically indexed annually to the Consumer Price Index, as published by Statistics Canada.

Government response

No government response is available yet.