Leaked Canadian military report shows many new recruits are quickly leaving


The Canadian army insists that he is taking over his recruitment crisis, but a new filtering internal report obtained by CBC News suggests that many of those who arrive through the door are quickly frustrated by the inability to train and the work they want.

In addition, the effort to retain soldiers, sailors and experienced crew received an important blow recently when an office of the National Defense Department, created to find ways to keep people, was disbursed.

The struggle to recruit new members for regular and reserve force has been a great concern since the forces face a shortage of up to 14,000 qualified personnel.

But the other face of the equation, which has received less attention, is the effort to hold on to people, especially in critical technical offices.

According to the evaluation obtained by CBC News, the biggest retention problem of the military seems to be among those who just joined.

Problems to adapt and train

“The highest drop -out rates within the [Canadian Armed Forces] CAF is observed between its lowest ranges and the newest members, “said the report, which indicated fiscal year 2023-24, where 9.4 percent of newly registered members renounce, instead of an average of 4.3 percent in all forces.

The reason why new members renounce: training delays and difficulty adapting to military life.

In some cases, recruits wait for more than 206 days to train, especially in specialized trades.

“There are no trainers, equipment, training facilities and other insufficient supports to meet the training objectives effectively,” said the report, written in April 2025.

“This leads to delays that are frustrated significantly [new] Members, who often face months of underemployment. “

A Document filtered to CBC News shows that recruits waiting for the armed forces last year ended up leaving a higher rate than the general forces. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Defense researcher Charlotte Duval-Lantoine said that the Department of Defense seems to be approaching the crisis in a linear way, one step, sets the recruitment and then fixes the training system.

“When you are sitting like a lame duck, waiting for your training, your morale can decrease very quickly,” said Duval-Lantoine, vice president of Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

“We really need to change the way we talk about the current state of the staff. We cannot speak only in pure numbers. We really need to talk about it in terms of how many people are doing their work today.”

During an availability of media last winter to announce the plan of the military to boost recruitment, the country’s main military commander, General Jeanie Carignan, acknowledged that training was a problem. She said that efforts were being made to improve basic training, passing in front of trades training, which is in the heart of the retention problem.

“It makes no sense to recruit if they are not retaining people,” said Carignan.

Similarly, the Commander of Military Personnel, Lieutenant-Gender. Lise Bourgon said they are trying to avoid training bottleneck with external associations.

“A great association is being made with Community College and other academic institutions in Canada so that we can use the civil capacity,” Bourgon said, and said that some prequalification can be made in the civil system.

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Three years ago, the military stabbed when addressing the problem of keeping people in uniform with a 90 -page strategy document.

As part of that plan, the chief of the defense personnel, the now retired general Wayne Eryre, established a programs office to collect data and analysis and provide guidance to the superior leaders about the best way to prevent the members from leaving.

The evaluation report, obtained by CBC News, said that the retention efforts of the main army commanders had made little progress, partly due to the “limited consciousness” of the strategy introduced by Eyre and the former Minister of Defense, Anita Anand.

“This problem was exacerbated by the defundation of the retention program office, which was responsible for administering the [senior leaders’] Tasks described in the strategy, “said the evaluation.

The Department of Defense was asked why the Office, which was also responsible for conducting investigations on the reasons why the members choose to resign, was defended and if it was related to the exercise of reallocation of the internal budget of the liberal government.

The department said he could not answer questions from CBC News by deadline.

Questioned monitoring

Last year, the government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the National Defense to find $ 810 million in savings, money that could return to equipment purchases. Federal estimates said the DND was expected to find $ 851 million in savings in the 2025-26 budget and $ 907 million from then on.

Duval-Lantoine said that a typical pattern follows. The Defense Department presents all these plans and never follows them or does not support them.

“It is frightening to see staff [policy] The pieces are defended in what the military called the era of reconstitution, “said Duval-Lantoine.

“Since 2022, we have heard that personnel problems are a priority for the Canadian Armed Forces. But then, when we look down, the army is not putting its money where its mouth is.”

In the output interviews, the members who leave talk about the “challenges related to the high operational tempo, the lack of equipment, training and leadership management.”

One of the biggest complaints of the new members that leave is that they believe that the superior commanders have the incorrect priorities.

“The evidence of the interview shows that there is a perception that leadership is to prioritize the change of culture over critical operational needs such as ammunition and team,” said the evaluation.

Similarly, the report found that highly experienced members who are close to retirement, but could be attracted to stay.

“Many have had multiple geographical publications and feel ‘tired and broken,” said the evaluation.

“It was observed that the eligible members for the pension have made their part to serve the country and, therefore, there are no strong attempts to retain them.”

A brilliant point, according to the evaluation, is the Naval Experience (NEP) program, which allows recruits to join for a year by trial. According to the report, it has reduced initial dissatisfaction.

“Early data show that this initiative has had positive effects, allowing some recruits to transfer to another element after initially joining the Royal Canadian Navy.”



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