The Canadian Armed Forces says it is on track to reach its recruitment goal for this financial year, helped along by an increased interest in enrolment since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 20.

Commodore Pascal Belhumeur, commander of the military personnel generation group, told reporters at a press conference that “we had about 1,000 more applicants than we did this time last year” over the past month, but stressed that “it’s not attributable to to any specific incident that we can track so far.”

Belhumeur made the comments during the Feb. 19 announcement of changes to CAF’s recruitment process, which is aimed at helping the Forces rebuild to 71,500 regular force and 30,000 reserve force members by March 2032, as part of the “Our North Strong and Free” policy plan. The military currently has a goal of reaching that authorized capacity by 2029.

According to a chart released during the press conference, as of Jan. 31 the Forces were short 6,848 regular personnel and 6,764 reservists of the authorized strength in 2024-25. Personnel shortages have been a problem since at least the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the chart, as recruitment efforts struggled to keep up with retirements and others returning to civilian life. In March 2024, Defence Minister Bill Blair (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.) referred to the recruiment problem as a potential “death spiral.”

The situation had improved so far in 2024-25, Belhumeur said, with 5,198 applicants recruited, a 42 per cent increase over the same period last year. “With an additional 800 selected that are pending enrollment, we are at 90 per cent of our recruiting goal for this year, and we’re trending towards 100 per cent goal achievement,” he said.

Many of the questions at the press conference focused on what, if any, affect Trump’s threats against Canada since his November 2024 election victory and January 2025 inauguration. Trump has repeatedly—and as recently as Feb. 20—stated that he wants Canada to become the “51st state” of his country, though has said he would use economic coercion rather than military action to achieve his goals.

At the same time, Trump administration officials’ comments about NATO and security in Europe have raised concerns about the United States’ commitment to the defence pact. U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hesgeth told allies in Brussels, Belgium, earlier this month that he was “here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.”

Back in Canada, Belhumeur said “we're not tracking anyone who's coming in saying that that's the reason that they're joining.”

“But we do have surveys, prospect surveys, so in time, we will have better statistics, because it's still early days on whether or not there's been a shift of people wanting to join and the reasons why,” he said.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan then added that “whatever your reason to want to serve, please go to the recruiting centre and put your application in.”

“I think it is our job and responsibility to ensure that Canadians understand what the military offers in terms of occupation, lifestyle, and mission to which they can contribute,” she said. “This is really what the focus of our effort is about. 

“Of course, the level of attraction is always affected by the economic environment. If there's a lot of people looking for jobs at that moment, we usually get more interest in that way. But again, we understand that we are working in a very competitive environment, and we need to set ourselves forward to ensure that Canadians are aware of the 108 different occupations that the military has to offer, along with a very honourable mission for Canadians.”

The number of people eligible to serve will be expanded as part of the CAF recruitment plan. The medical assessment for prospective recruits will change from two options—fit or unfit—to include a third, called “fit to the task.” That would permit those with current employment limitations—for example, daily access to medications—to join the Forces, provided other requirements were met and they did not present an obstacle to attending basic training.

“All medical conditions are being considered,” said Maj. Gen. Scott Malcolm, CAF surgeon general. “The applicant's medical file will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine medical eligibility.”

Malcolm used the example of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Anyone who received an ADHD diagnosis prior to recruitment was automatically disqualified in the past, but “we have productive Canadian Armed Forces members who are diagnosed with ADHD after enrolment. The modernized common enrolment medical standard allows us to select these folks up front.”

A pilot project on the medical front started on Jan. 15. Malcolm said all medical conditions were “on the table” for consideration, but that consideration operated on a spectrum. 

“Those that are on the lower end to medium spectrum are unlikely to have any challenges getting in,” he said. “If you're on the far spectrum—if, for example, I’ll use an asthmatic, if you've required to be intubated, have had hospitalizations—your condition is likely going to still be too severe in order to be enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces at this time.”

Also announced on Feb. 19 were changes to the security clearance process for permanent resident applicants. Non-citizen permanent residents have been eligible to apply for CAF positions since December 2022, but recruitment was stymied by the long security clearance process required for those with ties to other countries.

Under the changes, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will share relevant information with CAF, which Belhumeur said would reduce administrative delays and duplication of data gathering between the departments. Since October, CAF has also changed the sequence of security screening, meaning that permanent residents without “high risk foreign implications” now complete the same initial reliability status check as Canadian citizens.

“In nearly two years, between November 2022 and October 2024 despite numerous applications, we only enrolled 128 permanent residents,” Belhumeur said. “By contrast, we've enrolled 357 permanent residents over the last three months, and based on current application and conversion rates, we are forecasting 100 permanent enrolments per month would be a steady state, which represents about 1,200 additional enrolments per year.”

The senior military officials were also asked about pay rates for serving members, which Liberal leadership candidates Chrystia Freeland (University—Rosedale, Ont.) and Karina Gould (Burlington, Ont.) have promised to raise if they become prime minister. Both candidates made the promise as part of a larger plan to increase military spending to two per cent of GDP by 2027, five years ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s (Papineau, Que.) current plan.

Carignan said CAF wanted to ensure a competitive salary was offered, especially in specialist trades which faced heavy competition from the private sector. As to how the military would respond to increased spending by 2027, Carignan said “we can certainly accelerate and then make sure that we can gain more momentum in terms of onboarding capabilities … my job is to ensure that I convert those investments into actual military capabilities.”

sjeffery@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times