A retired lieutenant-general has suggested Canada solve its military attrition problem by compelling young people to sign up through conscription.
Canada had a mandatory military service policy twice in its entire history — during the First and Second World Wars. A total of nine other NATO countries have conscription: Greece, Türkiye, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Other countries like Israel, Singapore, Switzerland, Cambodia, Egypt and the United Emirates also have a conscription model.
“It’s good to serve your country. It’s good to wear the Maple Leaf on your shoulder. We’ve never pushed that to the extent that we should,” retired Lt.-Gen. Michel Maisonneuve told the National Post.
Maisonneuve was an exchange officer with a Sedan-based French regiment in the late ‘70s. At the time, France’s military was based on a one-year conscription.
“So, we used to pick up the young men and women … and look after them right from the beginning. And by the time we let them go after 12 months, I could have taken my troop to war, I was so sure that they were well trained,” he told the Post.
As of the end of 2024, the Canadian Armed Forces had a shortfall of 13,862 people. The military’s attrition rate is simultaneous with its focus on DEI initiatives — which amped up even further under the direction of Chief of Defence Staff Lt.-Gen. Jennie Carignan.
Under Carignan, the CAF has rolled out looser recruitment requirements, including removing the aptitude test, lessening medical criteria, allowing immigrants to enlist, expediting background and security checks and digitizing the process for swifter approval.
Canada’s 1917 Military Service Act allows for conscription when the nation is in a state of emergency, something senior Liberals have continuously hinted at.
Newly selected Prime Minister Mark Carney has expressly confirmed he would not hesitate to invoke emergency powers to deal with a tariff war with the United States.
Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland during a Liberal leadership debate earlier in March said Canada should build stronger alliances with countries that have nuclear weapons, such as the UK and France, to face off against President Donald Trump.
Maisonneuve told the Post he believes Canadians would warm up to the idea of mandatory military service.
“[It would make] good, ethical warriors — men and women who are prepared to defend our country and to fight for our values,” he said.
Under Canada’s gender equality laws under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, any future conscription must apply to both men and women, as a male-only system would contradict the foundation of “equality.”
Tyler Wentzell, a military historian, army reservist and University of Toronto doctor of juridical science, told the National Magazine in June the idea of conscription would be widely opposed in Canada.
"Any number of groups would oppose conscription, either because they were against one conflict in particular or the concept of conscription in general,” he said, pointing out a move like that would end up in multiple court cases over Section 7 of the Charter, which protects “the right to life, liberty and security of the person.”
“It would totally depend on what people were asked to put their lives on the line for,” Wentzell said.
Wentzel added if the CAF went the may of mandatory service, it must include women.
“It would have to,” he said.
“The Canadian Armed Forces has no gender-based restrictions on employment whatsoever; therefore, any attempts to conscript men only would neither legally nor rationally hold water.”
Michael Williams, international affairs professor at Syracuse University and member of the Washington DC-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the outlet “the US and Canada will do anything possible to avoid a draft.”
Yet, there has been buzzing in Western countries on both sides of the Atlantic that conscription might be out on the table. British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said last spring — prior to Trump’s election win and the tariff drama — that we are “moving from a post-war to a pre-war world.”
NATO military committee chair Adm. Rob Bauer said member countries must be prepared and "expect the unexpected.”
The public must be ready for a mindset shift "when anything can happen at any time,” he said, according to the New York Times.
“The tectonic plates of power are shifting. And as a result, we face the most dangerous world in decades.”
The National Magazine further pointed to remarks made by former NATO commander, Gen. Sir Richard Sherriff, who has said it’s time to “think the unthinkable” and look at conscription in the UK.
Carleton University military expert Philippe Lagassé, also confirmed conscription would apply to both men and women, reported the magazine.
“It might be because male-only conscription would be challenged under s15(1) [of the Charter],” he said, which states every individual is equal before the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
Public polling from July 2024 suggests Canadians are strongly opposed (35%) or moderately opposed (22%) to mandatory military service if only men are to serve, according to the Conversation.
Based on the poll by Research Co., only 18% of Canadians would support a gender-neutral conscription.
