Leaked Canadian military report shows many new recruits are quickly leaving

The Canadian military insists it's getting a handle on its recruiting crisis, but a new leaked internal report obtained by CBC News suggests many of those who come through the door quickly leave in frustration over the inability to get trained and into the job they want.

In addition, the effort to retain experienced soldiers, sailors and aircrew was dealt an important blow recently when a Department of National Defence office — set up to find ways to keep people — was defunded.

The struggle to recruit new members to both the regular and the reserve force has been a major preoccupation as the Forces face a shortage of up to 14,000 qualified personnel.

But the flip side of the equation — that has gotten less attention — is the effort to hold on to people, especially in critical technical trades.

According to the evaluation obtained by CBC News, the military's biggest retention problem appears to be among those who've just joined.

"The highest attrition rates within the [Canadian Armed Forces] CAF are observed among its lowest ranks and newest members," said the report, which pointed to the 2023-24 fiscal year where 9.4 per cent of newly enrolled members quit, as opposed to 4.3 per cent average across all of the Forces.

The reason new members are quitting: Training delays and difficulty adjusting to military life.

In some cases, recruits are waiting over 206 days for training — notably in specialized trades.

"There are insufficient trainers, equipment, training facilities and other supports to meet training targets effectively," said the report, written in April 2025.

"This leads to delays which significantly frustrate [new] members, who often face months of underemployment."

Defence researcher Charlotte Duval-Lantoine said the Defence Department seems to be approaching the crisis in a linear, one-step-at-a-time fashion — fix recruiting, then fix the training system.

"When you're sitting like a lame duck, waiting for your training, your morale can wane very quickly," said Duval-Lantoine, vice-president at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

"We really need to change the way that we talk about the current state of personnel. We cannot talk just in pure numbers. We really need to talk about it in terms of how many people are actively doing their job today."

During a media availability last winter to trumpet the military's plan to boost recruiting, the country's top military commander, Gen. Jeanie Carignan, acknowledged training was an issue. She said efforts were being made to improve basic training, the step ahead of trades training, which is at the heart of the retention issue.

"There's no point in recruiting if you're not retaining people," Carignan said.

Similarly, the commander of military personnel, Lt.-Gen. Lise Bourgon, said they're trying to get around the training bottleneck with outside partnerships.

"There's a great partnership being done with community college and other academic institutions in Canada so that we can use the civilian capacity," Bourgon said, noting that some pre-qualification can be done in the civilian system.

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Three years ago, the military took a stab at addressing the issue of keeping people in uniform with a 90-page strategy document.

As part of that plan, the chief of the defence staff, now-retired general Wayne Eryre, set up a program office to collect data and analysis and provide guidance for senior leaders on how best to keep members from leaving.

The evaluation report, obtained by CBC News, said retention efforts of the military's top commanders had made little progress, partly because of the "limited awareness" of the strategy introduced by Eyre and former defence minister Anita Anand.

"This issue was exacerbated by the defunding of the Retention Program Office, which was responsible for managing the [senior leaders'] tasks outlined in the strategy," said the evaluation.

The Defence Department was asked why the office, which was also tasked to conduct research on the reasons members choose to quit, was defunded and whether it related to the Liberal government's internal budget reallocation exercise.

The department said it was unable to answer questions from CBC News by deadline.

Last year, the government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau ordered National Defence to find $810 million in savings — money that could be pumped back into equipment purchases. Federal estimates said the DND was then expected to find $851 million in savings in the 2025-26 budget year and $907 million thereafter.

Duval-Lantoine said that follows a typical pattern. The Defence Department comes up with all of these plans and either never follows through, or doesn't support them.

"It's appalling to see personnel [policy] pieces being defended in what the military called the reconstitution era," said Duval-Lantoine.

"Since 2022, we've been hearing that personnel issues are a priority for the Canadian Armed Forces. But then when we look down the line, the military is not putting its money where its mouth is."

In exit interviews, the departing members talk about the "challenges related to high operational tempo, lack of equipment, training and leadership direction."

One of the biggest complaints of new members who are leaving is that they believe senior commanders have the wrong priorities.

"Interview evidence shows that there is a perception leadership is prioritizing culture change over critical operational needs like ammunition and equipment," said the evaluation.

Similarly, the report found that little effort is made to hold on to highly experienced members who are close to retirement, but might be enticed to stay.

"Many have had multiple geographic postings, and feel 'tired and broken,'" the evaluation said.

"It was noted that pension-eligible members have done their part to serve the country and therefore there are no strong attempts made to retain them."

One bright spot, according to evaluation, is the Naval Experience Program (NEP), which allows recruits to join for a year on a trial basis. It has, according to the report, reduced initial dissatisfaction.

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