2023 Academic Symposium : Challenges for Canada's Reserve Forces

Chief of Reserves and Employer Support (CRES) held the first Reserve Force Academic Symposium on Challenges for Canada’s Reserve Forces in Ottawa on May 16, 2023.

Reserve Force Infographic [PDF]

Aim of the Reserve Force Academic Symposium 2023:

• better understand what type of research exists in Canada and to identify areas of opportunity for future research;
• facilitate discussions, across a wide range of disciplines, to promote and enable learning and knowledge sharing amongst participants; and
• look at ways evidence -based research can inform policy and practices.

Topic areas to achieve a stronger Reserve Force:

• recruitment and employment issues regarding Reservists’ civilian capacities and limitations;
• Reserve Force retention challenges associated with the lack of meaningful training and gaps in equitable administration; and
• prejudicial policies and cultural biases in the Reserve Force.

Integration between Regular Force and Reserve Force is not a long-term vision; it is the only way to succeed in the modern operating environment. The following recommendations were made:

1. The proceedings highlighted that the Reserve Force may be a separate identity and culture, but it is not a homogenous population. Improved emphasis on local branding, connection with local community and tailoring recruitment efforts to the specific needs of individual communities would be beneficial.
2. There are challenges related to CAF policies that predominantly see its members as full-time and these have direct impacts on not just recruitment and retention, but also operational effectiveness.
3. The research papers look at how flexibility in policies for both employers and reserve members, integrated training opportunities, and societal education of the value of service impacts recruitment and retention.
4. The CAF is both its Regular Force and Reserve Force components. The Reserve Force is more than an augmentation force for the Regular Force. The symposium deliberations emphasized that the different Reserve Force factors must be considered at the onset of discussions for CAF policies, administration, training, capability development, and operations.

The following research was presented at the Reserve Force Academic Symposium 2023:

• Vincent Connelly and Zoe Morrison: The UK Future Reserves Research Programme (FRRP) 2014-2018: Results impact and reflections.
• Gregory Kennedy: Army Reserve Integration in Historical Perspective: Insights from New France
• Chris Madsen: Reserves in Aid to the Civil Power: Past Practice and Current Requirements
• Donna Pickering, Jerzy Jarmasz, and Timothy Lam: Infantry Primary Army Reserve – Regular Force Integration Via Mission Tasks: Approach and A Way Ahead
• Cynthia Wan: The Role of Civilian Employment in Predicting Organizational Outcomes among Primary Reservists
• Joel Watson: The Challenges of Reservist Employment Programs – SITREP from the Trenches
• Bibi Imre-Millei and Stéfanie von Hlatky: 'It makes me want to get out': attitudes on gender and sexual violence in the Army Reserve

The Canadian Military Journal published a special edition about Canada’s Reserve Forces which included research presented at the Reserve Force Academic Symposium 2023 in Volume 24, Issue Number 4.