We are committed to evolving our culture, growing the Canadian Armed Forces, and ensuring that our Forces reflect Canada’s diversity.
That is why we are prioritizing efforts that strengthen how we recruit, retain, and take care of our people, to make us a stronger, more effective, and inclusive organization.
To attract all eligible Canadians and permanent residents, we are prioritizing the recognition of past experience during the recruiting process, which will accelerate military career paths.
If pressed on specific initiatives
We are also improving the recruiting experience by digitizing, streamlining, and redesigning the recruitment process to ensure each application is processed efficiently.
Specifically, we have moved forward to deliver a digital applicant portal – Recruitment Digital Modernization Initiative – to provide an agile, modern, human-centric recruiting system.
The first iteration of this program is in design now and rollout is expected by the end of February 2024.
In addition, we have implemented screening measures during the pre- and post-recruitment phases, such as new and refined screening and interview questions, tattoo screening, and the use of enrolment release processes.
Further, we are improving our talent management efforts to better place members in occupations that match their interests, skills, abilities, and experience.
To increase our outreach and education to eligible individuals, including to under-represented groups, we are also conducting focused engagements with communities across Canada.
In March 2023, the Canadian Armed Forces launched its new general awareness campaign, entitled ‘This is For You’.
The Royal Canadian Navy has also launched a new recruitment initiative, the Naval Experience Program, which will provide individuals the opportunity to experience the Navy as a sailor for a one-year contract.
This unique initiative will reduce the amount of time it takes to train civilians as sailors and allows recruits to try various trades before committing to a long-term military career.
In October 2022, National Defence launched a new retention strategy to better support our members by responding to their emerging and changing needs.
In addition, we are reviewing the training programs at every level, including basic training, to ensure we remain prepared to excel in operations at home and abroad while building a more inclusive team.
Through these efforts, the Canadian Armed Forces will become a first-rate career choice that will attract talented Canadians for years to come, thereby ensuring that the Forces is optimized to meet current and future security needs at home and abroad.
Key Facts
Ongoing Recruitment Initiatives:
Targeted engagement with communities across Canada to increase representation of under-represented groups.
Programs to increase Indigenous representation.
Prioritizing women applicants within all Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) enrolment programs, including at military colleges.
December 5, 2022 – The Minister announced that permanent residents are welcome to apply to enrol in the CAF.
As of October 27, 2023, the CAF has received 41,473 applicants. Canadian citizens represent approximately 70% of the total applicant pool, and Permanent Residents approximately 30%.
In 2023-2024 (as of 31 October 2023) 4,533 individuals joined the Regular Force and Primary Reserve, 16.7% of whom were women.
2022-2023 intake: 7,172 individuals.
2021-2022 intake: 8,070 individuals.
So far this fiscal year (as of August 17, 2023), the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group has selected 3,074 candidates and fully enrolled 1,267.
As of September 27, 2023, the Pilot occupation has a trained effective strength of 1,374 personnel out of a total 1,559 available positions in the Regular Force, meaning this occupation is staffed at a level of 88.13%.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) stood up an attraction team in Fall 2022 with the aim of reaching more Canadians and generating interest in a career in the RCAF.
The attraction team participated in 40+ events over Summer 2023, ranging from air shows, exhibitions, career fairs, and sport meets.
The RCAF Strategy, released in February 2023, builds upon wider CAF efforts to showcase and leverage existing recruiting allowances, pay incentives, and subsidized education programs to help with recruitment.
Indigenous Representation: 2.9% (as of May 2023); goal is 3.5% by 2026.
As of July 2023, the CAF is offering 5 Indigenous training programs nationwide, which combine military skills training and Indigenous cultural teachings.
CAF Employment Equity Plan 2021-2026 recognizes the 2SLGBTQI+ community as a designated group.
New Promotion and Selection Process: National General Officer and Flag Officer Selection Boards now feature procedural improvements, including mandating that one voting member be from a Designated Employment Equity Group.
CAF Reconstitution Directive:
Released October 6, 2022, the CAF Reconstitution Directive will help ensure the long-term viability of the CAF through an in-depth analysis and prioritization of all tasks, operations, plans, and activities.
The directive focuses on two priority areas: people and operations.
Details
Current Programs and Initiatives
National Defence implements a broad range of proactive and targeted recruitment programs aimed at increasing the representation of women, visible minorities, and Indigenous Peoples in the CAF. These programs and initiatives include:
Operation GENERATION, an ongoing mission to meet employment equity goals, reduce enrolment times, and modernize recruiting activities;
The CAF Indigenous Entry Program, a three-week hands-on experience program for Indigenous Peoples who are considering a career in the CAF;
The Indigenous Leadership Opportunity Year (ILOY) provides Indigenous participants with exposure to the CAF military and academic disciplines. Enrolled and paid as Officer Cadets, participants experience university-level educational and leadership opportunities at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario;
It is the only Indigenous program focused on developing potential officers. Participants are enrolled into the Regular Force as Officer Cadets;
Multiple six-week paid Primary Reserve Indigenous Summer Programs, which integrate cultural teachings with military training.
Participants who successfully complete a program are granted the CAF Army Reserve Basic Military Qualification.
Work is also underway to improve the CAF’s employment model and provide flexible career options, such as:
component transfers (Regular Force to Primary Reserve and Primary Reserve to Regular Force);
flexible or interim work policies; and
modernizing the nature of full-time and part-time employment within the CAF.
Seamless Canada Initiative: Aims to enable cooperation between National Defence and provinces and territories to help military families relocate more seamlessly between the provinces and territories.
Permanent Residents: The Canadian Forces Recruiting Group accepts trained applicants from foreign militaries. These applicants include pilots, logistics officers, infantry officers and other skilled professionals, who may become enrolled in the CAF if they have permanent resident status in Canada.
This enables other permanent residents, who meet the same criteria as Canadian citizens to enroll in the CAF as new recruits or officer cadets.
The Chief of the Defence Staff signed a document on October 18, 2022, that reinforces existing policy and designates authority to the Commander Military Personnel Command and the Commander Canadian Forces Recruiting Group for the enrolment of a citizen of another country who has permanent resident status under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
Naval Experience Program: The Naval Experience Program (NEP) is a recruiting program offered by the Royal Canadian Navy, open to Canadian citizens and permanent residents between the age of 16-57.
NEP offers Canadians the opportunity to experience Navy as a sailor for a one-year contract and provide them with exposure to a variety of naval trades before deciding if a career in the Navy is the right fit for them.
Participants receive the same pay and benefits as any other CAF recruits.
After the one-year contract, participants can choose to continue to serve with the RCN, either full-time or part-time, transfer to another element, or leave the RCN.
As of 24 October 2023, there have been 70 enrolments into the NEP. There are currently 468 applicants still within the applicant process, with 68 of these applicants in the final stages of processing for enrolment.
There are 327 applicants that are within the applicant process waiting to complete their Canadian Forces Aptitude Test (CFAT), medical and Military Career Counsellor interview. 215 of these applicants are required to write the CFAT.
Other Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives
Other diversity and inclusion initiatives include, but are not limited to:
Dress Instructions Update – CAF personnel can choose the uniform that makes them most comfortable.
Inclusive Ranks in French – French versions of all designations of ranks now have official Gender Inclusive equivalents.
Women’s Health Framework – this aims to enhance women’s health care and increase knowledge of women’s health issues and topics within the military.
Post-natal Care – the CAF has released its first Nursing and Pumping Policy, which requires all Commanding Officers to establish a lactation plan to support their members.
Compassionate Leave Policy – this allows members to request new types of leave to account for pregnancy loss, family violence, and parents of young victims of crime, for example.
Training Needs Assessment – the most recent Training Needs Assessment addressing professional conduct was conducted in 2020. Results are being reviewed to develop an implementation plan.
CAF Retention Strategy
On October 6, 2022, National Defence released the CAF Retention Strategy, which is composed of three elements:
Better understanding the drivers that impact/hinder retention rates;
Outlining key considerations from leadership responsibilities, to flexible policies to effective communication; and
Identifying concrete levels of effort to guide a deliberate approach to this problem-set, including strengthening governance.
CAF Reconstitution Directive
The CAF Reconstitution Directive focuses on two priority areas:
People:
Canadians needs to see the CAF as a first-rate career choice, where they will feel welcome, valued, and safe to bring their talents to bear in service to our country.
To attract and retain talent from across Canadian society, the Military Personnel Management System needs to be modernized to support CAF members so that they can achieve their goals and have fulfilling and successful careers.
Similarly, policies that directly address the stressors of military service will see further refinement to enhance retention and demonstrate a commitment to our people.
Reconstitution efforts directly support recruitment and retention; National Defence is taking steps to ensure that current and prospective Canadian Armed Forces members have financial security for themselves and their families, modern infrastructure, modern equipment, and meaningful work at home and abroad.
National Defence is embarking upon a modernization of the Military Personnel Management System, built in a digitalization framework.
Operations:
Limited staff capacity means bold steps must be taken to rationalize activities, reduce process limitations, and cease activities that do not directly contribute to the growth of the CAF, operations, or modernization.
Readiness will be further reinforced by developing operational capacity in the burgeoning domains of cyber and space.
Canadian Forces Housing Differential (CFHD)
The CFHD replaces the PLD and took effect on July 1, 2023.
The CFHD is TBS-mandated, and the result of significant deliberation by the DND, CAF and TBS to establish a policy that respects the allotted annual budget for this differential, while focusing on assisting those CAF members who require housing assistance most.
The CFHD is focused on lower-salaried members in exceptionally expensive locations, such as Victoria and Toronto.
Provisional Post Living Differential (PPLD)
PPLD will reduce the shock of the transition to the CFHD. The 15-year rate freeze of PLD/TPLD created an environment where members became accustom to the allowance when the cost of living stressors in their location were eased through pay increases and local economic factors.
The PPLD will gradually transition members from PLD to the CFHD, is effective July 1, 2023 and will cease on June 30, 2026.
PPLD was developed and implemented after securing internal funding and negotiating the terms with TBS. Recruitment Digital Modernization Initiative (ReMit)
In response to recruiting challenges DND/CAF embarked on a program to create an Agile, Modern, Human-Centric Recruiting System of Systems.
This program is called Recruitment Digital Modernization Initiative (ReMIT).
The mission of the program is to: Provide a modern, agile, human-centric experience that attracts, enrolls, and retains Canadians of all backgrounds. Be a driving force in CAF cultural change by emphasizing inclusivity, equality, and diversity, attracting and employing those who aspire to something greater than themselves. This is the initial program in CMP’s quest for digital transformation.
The first iteration of the program is in design now with prototype testing due to be completed by end November 2023 with full rollout of the program by the end of February 2024.
The second iteration is being developed in parallel with the first and aims to achieve a decision how to proceed by March 2024.
First iteration upgrades will provide:
Online Personality Inventory Tests to enable the conduct of many steps without having to visit a recruiting centre
Automated Test Message Reminders to notify applicants of their file status, next steps and any items they need to complete
Multi-Select Tool will enable recruiters to process multiple similar files at the same time reducing the time it takes to complete repetitive tasks/li>
As the program is rolled out it will be evaluated using 4 categories of KPIs: Recruiting, Processing, Customer Service and Employment Equity.
