The Canadian Armed Forces has been dealing with a recruitment problem for some time, with a new report from the auditor general finding that “tens of thousands of applicants did not complete the recruitment process.”
Auditor General Karen Hogan published a report on Tuesday, which found that only one in 13 CAF applicants “were on track to start basic training.”
“The CAF did not always know why those candidates dropped out. Without knowing why applicants leave, it is difficult to determine what needs to be done differently to increase the number of applicants who successfully complete the recruitment process and move into basic training,” wrote Hogan.
“The audit also found that while the CAF had been able to recruit more Indigenous and visible minority members, the representation of women remained well below its goals.”
Additionally, the organizational target of increasing women recruits to 25 per cent failed. While it only reached 18 per cent as of this year, it has increased from approximately 14 per cent in 2016.
The military had also committed to recruiting more permanent residents, which saw a marginal increase.
However, only 2 per cent of permanent resident applicants were recruited, compared to roughly 10 per cent of Canadian citizens.
The CAF received about 192,000 applications between 2022 and 2025, but more than half of those either stopped responding to recruiters or voluntarily withdrew their applications within 60 days.
The recruitment target for that period was to acquire 20,000 new recruits; however, the CAF ultimately only retained about 15,000.
Conservative Shadow Minister for National Defence James Bezan blamed the Liberal government for “the erosion of operational readiness, which led to a recruitment and retention death spiral at a time when the world has become a more dangerous place.”
Meanwhile, the AG investigation cited inefficiency and poor governance with the CAF’s recruitment and training systems.
“We found ineffective decision-making for recruitment and training,” reads the report. “Committees and groups managing recruitment and training activities lacked authority and clear accountability, leading to disjointed ownership of the recruiting process.”
The report noted that CAF staff were still required to manually input data during the recruitment process, which stalled application processing.
While there has been some improvement in recruitment compared with previous years, the CAF also faces major issues with retention, with many of those with higher training and instructors opting to leave.
“While recruitment improved over the audit period, the Canadian Armed Forces did not bring in enough new recruits to replace the people who left,” reads the report.
The AG recommends that action is taken to “ensure sufficient investments in instructors, training infrastructure, and equipment to increase the number of recruits who can be trained; create a more stable, long‑term training system; and better align the Strategic Intake Plan with long‑term personnel needs.”
According to the report, the CAF’s training system is failing to keep pace with the demand of applicants who do complete the military’s selection screening.
It noted that as of March 2024, “the CAF did not have enough equipment to carry out training operations.”
The CAF was facing a shortage of up to 14,000 qualified personnel in both the regular and reserve forces as of May.
“The Canadian Armed Forces continued to have challenges in recruiting and training enough highly skilled recruits to fully staff many occupations such as pilots and ammunition technicians,” said Hogan on Tuesday.
“This could affect the army, navy and air force’s ability to respond to threats, emergencies or conflicts and accomplish their missions.”