Canada's Reserve Force - DPR 2015-16

The Reserve Force is a component of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) whose members are enrolled for other than continuous full-time military service.

The Reserve Force plays three key roles in the CAF:

• Augmentation and enhancement of the Canadian Armed Forces capability;
• Canadian Armed Forces presence in communities across Canada; and
• Citizenship, leadership and commitment to country.

The Reserve Force is based on a long standing “citizen soldier” model and serves both as a strategic and operational resource for the CAF by providing depth and breadth to CAF capabilities, a vital link to communities and to Canadians. Regular Force members voluntarily enrol for continuous fulltime service, typically for periods of no less than three years. By contrast, members of the Reserve force voluntarily enrol for other than continuous fulltime service and are obliged to perform periodic duty and training in order to maintain skill sets and readiness, typically on evenings, weekends and/or during temporary periods of fulltime service. Although the level of readiness, the amount of time allotted to training and the scope of assigned duties may differ among sub-components, elements and individuals, all Reserve Force members are subject to unlimited liability should they consent to deploy or should the government choose to place them on Active Service.

The CAF Regular and Reserve Force are governed under the National Defence Act, and Constitution of the CAF contained in the Queens Regulations and Orders (QR&O). All members are obliged to serve until released and are liable to perform all lawful duties assigned to them by the Government of Canada. The Reserve Force is used to augment and sustain the Regular Force when required. Members of the Reserve Force are liable to be “called-up” or placed on “Active Service” under government order as required. Furthermore, Reservists may serve on continuous fulltime service provided there is an identified requirement.

The Reserve Force is comprised of four sub-components:

• Primary Reserve (P Res):
• Canadian Rangers;
• Cadet Organization, Administration and Training Service (COATS); and
• Supplementary Reserve (Supp Res).

The Reserve Force represents a rich heritage and tradition of service to Canada with its presence in local communities throughout the country. A sustainable Reserve Force, trained and equipped to meet the needs and operational challenges of the Department of National Defence (DND) and CAF, is a critical enabler to CAF strategic and operational success. It is important to note that only the Primary Reserve and Canadian Rangers have a role related to CAF operations while the COATS focuses on delivering the CAF youth program and the Supp Res provides a holding list of qualified personnel. The sub-components are discussed below in greater detail.

Primary Reservists and COATS members are recruited through CAF recruiting centres manned by both Regular and Reserve personnel. Attraction is accomplished through a combination of national advertising and local initiatives. Some testing is devolved to P Res units.

The P Res represents the largest number of Res F personnel in the CAF. In October 2015, the Chief of Defense Staff published an implementation directive, “Strengthening the Primary Reserve”, announcing that the P Res strength would grow from 27,000 to 28,500. In conjunction with the 68,000 Regular Force personnel, this will provide a balance across the four pillars upon which military capabilities are built—personnel, equipment, training and infrastructure. Ongoing efforts within DND and the CAF will optimize P Res resources and the force structures necessary to ensure that the critical link to communities across Canada is retained and continues to evolve based upon the full range of defence and security challenges facing Canada now and into the future.

Primary Reserve

The Primary Reserve is the sub-component of the Reserve Force that consists of professional, well-trained and predominantly part-time CAF members located throughout Canada and who contribute to the defence and security of Canada by maintaining directed levels of readiness, ready with reasonable notice, the Primary Reserve contributes to the overall CAF capability to deliver strategic effects in the defence of Canadian interests both at home and abroad. The P Res is fully integrated into the CAF Chain of Command and consists of the following elements:

• The Naval Reserve;
• The Canadian Army (CA) Reserve;
• The Air Reserve;
• Military Personnel Command (MILPERSCOM) which includes: the CAF Health Services Reserve and the National Defence Headquarters PRL;
• The Canadian Special Operations Forces Command Reserve (CANSOFCOM); and
• The Judge Advocate General Reserve.

The P Res is a diverse military community where the environmental Force Generators (Navy, Army and Air Force) and other Level 1 organizations (Health Services, Judge Advocate General and Special Operations Forces) are responsible for the command, control and administration of their specific P Res element. Specific tasks, roles and missions flow from the CDS to the Force Generator and other Level 1 Commanders to drive employment and training models, which vary across elements. Additionally the degree to which Regular Force and P Res personnel are integrated within each of the environments/Level 1 organizations may differ, common to all is a significant contribution to the Defence Mission and the delivery of Canadian Armed Forces capabilities.

Informed by experience gained in multiple domestic and expeditionary operations, the Primary Reserve has proven to be an integral part of the CAF. The ongoing review and refinement of the roles, missions, and operational tasks within each of the services has ensured that Primary Reservists are well prepared, trained, developed, and equipped to work seamlessly alongside the Regular Force in providing the capabilities necessary to achieve operational success at home and abroad. Primary Reservists are obliged to perform periodic duty and training up to a total of 60 days and to a period not exceeding 14 days of fulltime service annually. Individual training is normally conducted on a scheduled, part-time basis to meet trade or general specifications or to maintain skills (such as annual weapon qualification or first aid certification). An annual training period is often utilized as an opportunity for individual or collective training. Courses are structured, to the greatest degree possible, to accommodate the demands of a civilian career, educational period and/or family commitments. Innovative methods of training delivery have been developed to facilitate training and professional development, including modularizing courses into manageable blocks and providing distributed learning opportunities. As reservists serve periodically, they are not expected to be at the same level of proficiency and readiness as their Regular Force counterparts. This delta in readiness and training is either accepted during an emergency or reduced through mission specific training, which requires additional time. The Air Reserve is an exception, as they consistently maintain the same qualifications and readiness as the Regular Force, both training and operating as an integrated team. Where occupational specifications are the same for both Reg F and P Res personnel, members are trained to the same standard; however, due to time constraints associated with reservist availability the experiential component afforded to the Regular Force is not the same for Reservists and must be achieved through periodic training or during mission specific pre-deployment training. This integrated/common training has had a positive impact on employment for operations and component transfers, resulting in a more integrated CAF.

On international operations, the role of the P Res is to augment, sustain and support deployed forces. P Res personnel comprised up to 20% of deployed forces during recent international operations. With respect to domestic operations, the P Res provides the personnel for coastal, air, and arctic operations as well as the Territorial Battalion Groups. Reserve units are located in cities across Canada, and as residents of those communities, P Res members work with local first responders in the event of an emergency. P Res domestic operations response has included Disaster Relief Assistance, Search and Rescue, Security and Sovereignty Operations, support to law-enforcement and support to major events (e.g. G7 Summit, 2010 Winter Olympics). There will continue to be significant opportunities for P Res members to serve in current and future operations.

The Primary Reserve is now established at an average paid strength of 28,500. The average paid strength over the past year was 21,636, including approximately 4,000 established full-time reserve positions which have been aligned to support the priorities of Reserve Force Generation, Support to operations, Reserve Professional Development and Support to the Institution. The balance of the P Res establishment is comprised of positions that are designated for other than continuing fulltime service; this provides the CAF with the flexibility to surge when, where and for as long as required without the added overhead of maintaining large numbers on fulltime service. The amount of time a P Res member is employed beyond their obligation to train is in large part based on matching a member’s availability with service requirements and additional training opportunities. The CAF intends to replace the Average Paid Strength reporting measure with a Trained Effective Strength (TES) reporting metric in the future.

Progress has been steady to improve care of Reserve ill and injured members and their families, including access to a wide range of DND/CAF and Veterans Affairs Canada programs and services. Work continues on the integration of Reserve Force considerations to harmonize policies and programs across the CAF in order to improve and update internal management policies and directives pertaining primarily to the P Res, but will include the Reserve at large.

Reserve contributions to operations and connections with Canadians are critical to the nation and the communities in which they serve. We must ensure that we attract, develop, support and retain a ready, capable, motivated and relevant P Res force as both a strategic and operational resource for Canada and the CAF well into the future. The Primary Reserve continues to demonstrate leadership and professionalism by supporting deployed operations and by responding when called upon to emergencies and exercises both at home and around the world.

Primary Reserve elements

The Naval Reserve

The Naval Reserve generates trained individuals for employment at sea and ashore in a wide range of roles. Implementation of a new Command and Control construct is now in place. Additionally, a study is underway to determine and implement the optimum occupation and organizational structures that will enable the Naval Reserve to evolve from supporting specific operational capabilities to becoming a general purpose force. This will facilitate the generation of personnel to augment Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) operational capabilities and supplement the Regular Force component of the RCN, thereby improving support to maritime readiness sustainment and force element production. As part of this process, emphasis will remain on a traditional model of part-time reserve service, thereby fostering close alignment with Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) direction on employment of the Primary Reserve.

The Naval Reserve, through its 24 nationally distributed Naval Reserve Divisions, provided RCN representation at numerous CAF appreciation events and conducted multiple attractions and local leadership engagement activities, supporting the CAF and RCN’ s strategic communications, recruitment and outreach efforts. The current strength of the Naval Reserve as of 31 March 2016 is 3,191.

The Canadian Army Reserve

Canada's Army Reserve is organized into 123 units, located in 117 cities and communities across the country. The Army Reserve, an integral component of the Canadian Army (CA), is a professional part-time force that provides local engagement and a responsive integrated capability, at home and abroad in support of the Army mission.

The Army Reserve released in 2016 a Directive to support the Chief of Defence Staff “Strengthening the Primary Reserve” initiative. The intent is to reinforce those units that have a demonstrated leadership, a demographic-rich recruiting base and are placed in key locations across the Country. The future of the Canadian Army Reserve is to build an organization that is more reflective of Canadian society. The Army will focus on building capacity and increasing retention by assigning ‘mission tasks’ to key units and formations to deliver formed capability on operations through better integration with the Regular Force. The current strength of the Army Reserve is 18,430 part and full-time Reservists.

Domestically, the Army Reserve contributes to CAF mission sets through Territorial Battalion Groups and Arctic Response Company Groups. These capabilities represent the force employment framework through which the Army Reserve will leverage existing unit structures and capacities to conduct domestic operations as directed.

Internationally, the role of the Army Reserve has expanded to provide up to 20 % of required land force personnel to expeditionary operations through individual and formed capability augmentation on sustained operations.

The Air Reserve

The Air Reserve is an operational reserve that is an integral part of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Total Force construct. Air reservists are employed at RCAF establishments across Canada, working alongside Regular Force and other departmental employees to achieve the RCAF mission. Air Reservists receive the same training as their Regular Force counterparts and Air Reservists maintain their occupational skills through a combination of specialized training opportunities and routine support of daily Air Force operations. The Air Reserve operational employment model provides daily effects that increase the capacity of the RCAF to conduct operations. This close, and ongoing, integration also provides an immediate surge capacity to ensure that the RCAF is able to deliver strategic effects for the CAF, particularly during periods of high operational tempo.

The Air Reserve faces high attrition due to existing demographics and the predominant hiring practices over the past years. The Air Reserve has implemented a new strategy to arrest the decline through a focus on retention, an increased recruiting effort and an expansion of the employment construct to increase opportunities for new recruits. While the ideal Air Reserve strength is approximately 2,400 personnel, the current strength of the Air Reserve is 1,948. The ongoing efforts to reduce attrition and increase attraction should see the Air Reserve return to ideal strength before the year 2025.

The CF Health Services Reserve

The CF Health Services Reserve (H Svcs Res), with a strength of 1,371 is organized into two functional groups – 14 Reserve Field Ambulances (Res Fd Ambs), and the 1 Canadian Field Hospital Detachment Ottawa (1 Cdn Fd Hosp Det Ott). Res Fd Ambs force generate trained personnel to support, augment and sustain the CF Health Services Group (H Svcs Gp); provide health services support to the P Res; and conduct community outreach activities. 1 Cdn Fd Hosp Det Ott specialist clinicians provide depth and breadth to the H Svcs Gp clinical capability on international operations and in military clinics within Canada. Within the CF H Svcs Gp HQ, the Directorate of H Svcs Res remains focused on recruiting, training and retention, resolving Primary Reserve care issues, and performance measurement in support of the H Svcs Res.

The clinical capability of the Res Fd Ambs and 1 Cdn Fd Hosp Det Ott continues to be enhanced through targeted recruiting and a harmonized recruiting and training plan. Participation in the H Svcs Annual Military Occupation Review (AMOR) ensures synchronization with the overall recruiting strategy of CF H Svcs Gp.

Total Force healthcare-focused international collective training opportunities continue to build preparedness, interoperability, and the domestic and international operational response capability to meet Defence imperatives. Domestically, the CF H Svcs Res Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) training initiative continues, as well as partnerships with affiliated Canadian Brigade Groups (CBGs) to prepare for Arctic Response Company Group (ARCG) and Territorial Battalion Group (TBG) tasks. A robust study of the resource bill to assess the overall health status of Class A Primary Reservists, undertaken in partnership the Ombudsman’s office, was completed and published. The H Svcs Gp is now working on the expansion of a previous trial of a P Res Medical Readiness Assessment Tool as a means of indicating the medical readiness status for domestic deployment/training and short term employment of PRes members to the chain of command. The trial of this tool will involve select units and is expected to occur in the September 2016 through April 2017 timeframe.

The H Svcs Res continues to focus on quantifying Reserve activities, for integration into the broader CF H Svcs Gp Performance Measurement Framework. Data collection and assessment seeks to convert H Svcs Res potential and capacity into operational capabilities and providing a comprehensive review of all aspects of the H Svcs Res.

The Judge Advocate General Reserve

In Fiscal Year 2015-16, the Office of the Judge Advocate General (OJAG) achieved a Primary Reserve List fill rate of 80%. Legal officers filled 47 out of 62 established part-time legal officer positions. There were also two established full-time Clerk positions at the Corporal rank which were filled (although one member is also parading as a part-time reservist outside the OJAG PRL). Active hiring efforts have been undertaken to fill a number of full and part-time vacancies. OJAG PRL officers also undertook a number of temporary class B service periods to backfill operational deployments and parental leave vacancies in the Regular Force.

Supplementary Reserve

The Supplementary Reserve (Supp Res) is a sub-component of the Reserve Force comprised of CAF members who have previously served in the Regular Force or a sub-component of the Reserve Force. The Supp Res provides a cadre of personnel who are not required for annual training, but who may choose to return to service voluntarily or, under specific conditions, may be placed on active service to augment the Regular or Reserve Force. This sub-component provides the CAF with additional capacity where and when needed.

The Supplementary Reserve consisted of 9,512 members. The Supplementary Reserve now limits the period of service to 5 years.

Canadian Rangers

The Canadian Rangers (CR) are Reservists, who provide a military presence in remote, isolated, and coastal communities of Canada, report unusual activities or sightings, and conduct surveillance or sovereignty patrols as required. Canadian Rangers contribute to the Government's sovereignty and security objectives in the North by providing a military presence in those sparsely settled northern, coastal and isolated areas of Canada which cannot conveniently or economically be covered by other elements of the Canadian Armed Forces. Canadian Rangers also support the Junior Canadian Ranger (JCR) youth program, sponsored by the CAF for youths 12 to 18 in remote and isolated communities. The CR has grown to 180 Patrols and their current strength is 5,016 nationwide. A review of the Canadian Ranger program is ongoing to determine the right size and capability to ensure the Canadian Rangers continue to deliver in the future.

Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service

The Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service (COATS) is composed of Cadet Instructors Cadre (CIC) officers, General Service Officers and Non Commissioned Members whose primary duty is the supervision, administration and training of cadets 12 to 18 years of age.

The COATS mandate is to ensure the safety and welfare of cadets while developing in them the attributes of leadership and citizenship, promoting physical fitness and stimulating their interest in the sea, land and air activities of the CAF. COATS personnel are not subject to Universality of Service and have a unique training and career progression structure. A COATS member may not perform other duties unrelated to their primary duty without approval of the Deputy Commander of the National Cadet and Junior Canadian Rangers Support Group (DComd Natl CJCR Sp Gp). The compulsory retirement age for a COATS member is age 65 and the current strength of the COATS Res F Sub-Component is approximately 7,625 personnel.

Canadian Forces Liaison Council

The Canadian Armed Forces Liaison Council (CFLC) is a Canada-wide network of more than 120 senior civilian business executives and educational leaders who volunteer their time and effort to highlight the benefits of Reserve Force training and experience to the civilian workplace. Supported by a full-time secretariat and a national network of Reserve officers, CFLC assists individual Reservists as well as Reserve units in matters related to employer support. CFLC is not a sub-component of the Primary Reserve, nor is it a component of the CAF.

The mandate of the CFLC is to enhance the availability of Reservists for their military duties by obtaining the support and co-operation of organization leaders in Canada. With supportive employers, Reservists are enabled to balance both civilian employment and military service. By retaining the pool of trained and available Reservists for operations, CFLC’s programs directly contribute to the operational readiness of the CAF, while fostering a culture of national support for the CAF as a whole. The CFLC National Council comprises 15 national, provincial and territorial chairs that coordinate and guide strategic programming of the organization in accordance with departmental objectives and initiatives.

The Council has encouraged civilian employers and educational institutions to grant Reservists military leave on a voluntary basis, without penalty, to participate in their military activities, duties and training. To achieve its mandate, CFLC facilitates visits of civilian employers and educators to bases and training establishments, in addition to organising targeted outreach with civic, business and industrial leaders across Canada. These longstanding programs have been refined over time, and are designed to provide participants a clear understanding of the requirements of Reservists, while also highlighting the many tangible benefits employers receive from their Reservist-employees. The CFLC also serves the entirety of the Reserve Force through a national network of liaison officers who directly support the Environmental Commands. This is done through reserve unit visits, providing employer support training to key unit personnel, and directly supporting individual Reservists on a case-by-case basis, through advice and guidance on employer support issues.

There are currently five core employer support and engagement programs. The ExecuTrek and the Outreach programs generate awareness and education of employers, academic leaders and other organizations of the value of Reserve service. The Reserve Assistance Program and Reserve Unit Support Program that support Reservists in engaging employers when there may be challenges regarding a Reservists request for military leave for operations or training. Finally, the Awards and Recognition Program recognizes Canadian businesses and academic institutions who demonstrate outstanding support to their Reservist-employees.

Employer Support for the Reserve Force

Members of the Reserve Force must balance the demands of military service, family, and their civilian careers or studies. In concert with a network of volunteers from across Canadian businesses, academic institutions and industries, the CAF has developed a comprehensive set of employer support programs, information packages, policies and recognition for employers to ensure that Reserve personnel are available for military service without penalty to their civilian career or educational pursuits. Employer support is an important force enabler for the CAF and has proven critically important in the last two decades where there has been a high proportion of Reservists serving on domestic and international operations.

As the number of Reservists on domestic and international operations increases, employer support and engagement programs evolve to meet the new challenges. Employer Support Programs have expanded to include Canadian Rangers and COATS and our partners include academic institutions, small and large businesses and corporations, industry and organizations across Canada.

In the past ten years we have enhanced our employer support tools beyond programs and information to include federal and provincial job protection legislation for Reservists, employment programs and an employer compensation program.

In 2016, a new program entitled the Compensation for Employers of Reservists Program (CERP) will be introduced. This program provides compensation in the form of grants to eligible civilian employers and self-employed Reservists, in order to offset costs incurred to their businesses while a Reservist employee is deployed on a named operation. The CERP program is designed to augment and strengthen the suite of existing employer support and engagement programs that contribute in sustaining and enhancing a robust and effective CAF.