While those findings are not new and have been previously voiced by various stakeholders and observers, they summarize a strategic view held by the Assistant Deputy Minister (Review Services), the department’s branch in charge of providing independent reviews of the military’s policies and activities.
In the report, which was produced in March but only made available in government publications at the end of June, Assistant Deputy Minister (Review Services) Julie Charron paints a bleak picture of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
“Current deficiencies in key readiness areas related to Personnel, Equipment, Training and Sustainment pose a threat to both current and future readiness,” says the report, titled “Ready Forces Integrated Strategic Analysis.”
The SSE is Canada’s defence policy, which the Liberal government presented in May 2019. It aims to provide “unprecedented support” to CAF members from recruitment to retirement, and to make important investments in equipment.
The issue of personnel recruitment and retention and the impact this has on serving members is addressed in Ms. Charron’s report.
It notes that in fiscal year 2020/2021, 51 percent of occupations had “critical shortfalls,” and the Regular Force and Reserve Force were respectively short 7 and 20 percent overall.
“People are at the centre of military readiness. If DND/CAF is unable to recruit, train and retain required skilled personnel, readiness is diminished, which could ultimately impact the success of operations,” says the report.
This is also having a negative impact on the health and wellness of the troops, it says, with domestic deployments leading to employee burnout and delays on training.
International Commitments
Canada’s international commitments have also put pressure on the CAF, with the provision of weapons to Ukraine leading at one point to a depletion of stocks.While CAF is being overstretched domestically, Ms. Charron’s report says Canada’s standing globally could be diminished if it doesn’t meet its international commitments.
“As DND/CAF continues to fall short on personnel, equipment and its ability to completely fulfil partner requests, there is an increasing risk that Canada may become less relevant to its allies,” it says.
Recommendations
The Assistant Deputy Minister’s report provided a number of recommendations. Ms. Anand’s office has not returned a request for comment on the review.The report says that DND/CAF recognizes “many of these challenges and is taking steps through various Departmental initiatives to address some of them.”
Chief of Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre raised similar concerns outlined in a report last fall.