The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is losing 19% more recruits than it gains, data obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter indicates. The military is hemorrhaging thousands in attrition — those who have quit substantially outnumber those who are signing up for service. The CAF has even recently expanded intake eligibility to include new immigrants or permanent residents in exchange for an expedited citizenship process, but only 77 foreigners enrolled as of December 11. Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government wrote in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons that between 2015 to 2024, “47,728 members joined the regular force and 51,667 were released.”In the past three years attrition has been 19%, with 12,793 Canadians joining the CAF while 15,176 were released. The high attrition rate was attributed to bureaucratic delays in signing up new members, which the inquiry said can take up to 196 days, about six months. “In 2018, the CAF recruiting group implemented an analytics system that captures median processing time,” it said. “The timeline begins when an applicant completes the Canadian Forces aptitude test and ends when the applicant is enrolled.” The figures were delivered after a request from Conservative MP Pat Kelly, who inquired, “with regard to recruitment and retention in the CAF how many personnel were recruited to the CAF and how many personnel were released?”Defence Minister Bill Blair earlier told the Senate he has requested the military “to look very carefully at some of the impediments to recruitment and how long things have taken.” “That may be the greatest challenge I face as the new defence minister, to do everything I can to support the Armed Forces in their efforts to recruit the talent we need and just as importantly to retain the excellent people they already have,” Blair said during question period November 1. “There is a real challenge in the CAF. Over the last three years we’ve actually seen greater attrition, more people leaving the Forces than the CAF has been able to recruit.”.The CAF has vacancies up to 40% in some of its departments, the National Post reported last month. The commander of the Royal Canadian Navy said in November his fleet was in a “critical state” due to lack of personnel, and had not seen such a low intake in ten years. In December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau garnered international ridicule for mandating tampons must be available in all men’s bathrooms in public service sectors, including the military. Last week, after the men’s tampon dispensers were ripped out, the Department of National Defence said it “will not tolerate” this kind of vandalism, per True North. Canada has a total of three days of ammunition and supplies if war were to break out, CAF Chief of Defence Gen. Wayne Eyre said in October. Eyre, a staunch supporter of the need for “cultural change” in the military, has announced he will retire this upcoming summer. So far no replacement has been announced. During his 2023 year-end interview Trudeau confirmed funding the war in Ukraine has depleted CAF of its resources. “Everyone is in big trouble because all of us, as NATO allies, have been shipping massive amounts of ammunition to Ukraine right now, because Ukraine is on the front line of defending, not just their own territory, but the international rules-based order.” “As we’re fixing those procurement challenges to make sure we are getting enough ammunition for Canada, continuing to be there for Ukraine is the best way to protect our future as a country.”
