The Decibel - What’s behind the surge in military enlistment in Canada

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

Canada has been pushing to increase its defence efforts. Earlier this year, Canada reached their NATO defence spending target of two per cent of GDP. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced plans to obtain new early warning aircraft technology. And, the Canadian military is seeing an increase in enlistment rates. Janice Dickson is The Globe’s international affairs reporter. Earlier this month, she visited a military recruitment booth at a job fair. She’s on the show to talk about what is drawing potential recruits to enlist and what is behind this surge in enlistment.  Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Canada is stepping up its defense efforts, and that means many, many government announcements, including one on Wednesday, where Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke at a defense trade show. We're beginning to move ahead with ambitious major investments for our defense and security. And today is part of our steadfast commitment to defend Canada and to protect our allies. I'm pleased to announce that Canada has entered into negotiations to procure SAB's airborne, early warning, and control aircraft. Over the past year, Canada's new government has worked at an unprecedented pace and scale. We've enacted the largest increase in defense investment in Canadian history. That increase in defense investment Carney is talking about is Canada reaching its NATO defense spending target.

That's 2% of the country's gross domestic product, or over $60 billion. Part of that also translates to jobs in the United States. Canadian military. A recruitment effort is underway on that front, and Canadian enlistment rates are way up to. This year, the Canadian Armed Forces saw the highest enlistment rates in 30 years. Janice Dixon recently attended a job recruitment fair, where she heard from recruitment officers and some of the people who are looking to enlist. She's the Globe's International Affairs Reporter. So today, we're going to talk about the push to recruit more military service members and why people seem so interested in joining.

I'm Cheryl Sutherland, and this is the decibel from the Globe and Mail. Hi, Janice, thanks so much for coming back in the show. Thanks so much for having me. So you attended a job fair in Montreal, and you spoke with people at a military recruitment booth. Can you just kind of set the scene for us? Like, who was visiting the booth? What was the atmosphere like?

Yeah, sure. So this was a general job fair. So there were booths set up for McDonald's and a number of, of other businesses, a lot of Quebec public services, and then you had two Canadian military booths. So there was the Navy present, and then as well as the Army beside the reserves. And so these were by far the most popular booths at this job fair. They were often swarmed with people. People were lining up waiting to talk to the recruitment officers. And people of all ages, men, women, families, a lot of people at least keen to hear what the opportunities might be.

That's so interesting to think about like this fair and then there's these two booths and then that's where all the action is at, right, where all of these people are basically interested in the military. That's right. And so I spoke with a number of people after they were finished speaking with recruitment officers or while they were waiting about what they're interested in, why they were interested in joining the Canadian military. And it was really a range of responses. Some people thought that it was a great opportunity. It provides stability, good compensation, and they would also feel proud to do this work. And then I spoke with one young woman who said, you know, she's heard rhetoric from Donald Trump. She's worried about wars around the world and wants to be able to

defend her family. And interestingly, she's in school and that would also mean possibly dropping out of school, picking up a different trade, moving. And so, yeah, it was. really a range of responses of why they're interested. Yeah, so a wide array of responses. And were you surprised to kind of hear from people that seems so eager to at least get more information about the military? Yeah, well, I suppose I knew from speaking with a couple of defense experts in advance that enlistment rates are up because the military is pushing applicants along and in sort of easing the process for officially joining. that there's always been a wide pool and interest in joining in general.

But with all these significant numbers and with such a push from the federal government in defense spending, I was interested in hearing from people directly about why they wanted to join. Let's talk about the bigger picture here. What do enlistment rates for the Canadian Armed Forces look like right now? Yeah. So according to the Department of National Defense, the Canadian Armed Forces enlisted more than 7,000 new members, which exceeds its target of just under 7,600, 957, and that this is the highest number of recruits in more than 30 years.

That's a big deal. Yeah. So I think that speaks to both the mood of people being interested in the military, but also the changes that they're making that we spoke of briefly, that they are trying to up these numbers. So the military is at this job fair in Montreal because I'm assuming. assuming that they need people. How many service members does the military need? Defense Minister David McGinty said recently that Canada is only about 3,600 people short of the authorized strength goal of 71,500 regular forces members. And the military is also trying to bolster its reserve force and seeking a reserve force of 400,000 people.

Okay, so that gives us a sense of the numbers and what they're trying to get in terms of recruit. What do we know about what the military actually offers its service members in terms of compensation? Okay. As a new recruit in the regular force, someone could earn between 4,300 and 5,400 per month while they're completing basic training. And then once they're fully trained, their salary could go up based on time and experience and rank and so on. And then the military also offers paid education for a number of trades. in particular specialties where they're looking for people, someone could receive a salary and their education paid for. And some of the people I spoke to, you know, I asked them, what do the recruiting officer tell you about joining the army? And they said, well, actually, they talked a lot about the benefits.

So the military offers their members and their families health and dental coverage. If they're a part-time member, they may also receive some of these same benefits through their time. Okay. On this point of stability, the military can offer financial stability, I'm assuming, but maybe not so much in terms of stability of where someone will live, right? Because members can't control where they're posted or if they're deployed. That's right. And I spoke with one of the recruitment officers who said he makes clear to applicants that if you're in the regular forces, you will be moved around. And that's a fact of life in the Army. Did you speak to anyone at the recruitment fair that was worried about potentially being deployed if they were enlisted?

The young woman who I spoke with who was really keen on defending the country and on these sort of external threats that we're facing right now. Her name was Joyce and she was a 17-year-old applicant interested in joining the forces. She had held off for a while because she was worried about that aspect and, you know, had expressed interest in the Navy, but was worried about moving all the way to Vancouver. So I think that moving in particular is something that people are obviously considering. Yeah, I mean, 17 is young to be thinking about this, but very interesting to hear her perspective as to why she feels motivated to learn more. Yeah, and honestly, this was something I thought would have been articulated more widely,

because I think in reading so many stories about defense recently, it's always in the context naturally of where the state of the world and the fact that there are wars going around all around us. And so it was interesting that she mentioned that right off the top while others, you know, it might have been, you know, not a factor at all or something they thought of. You know, one guy, for instance, said that when he saw the soldiers in camouflage, it kind of came rushing into his mind like, oh, like this is a big deal and thinking about defending Canada and so on.

but for many others it's a necessary employment. We'll be right back. So you also got to talk to military recruitment officers at this fair. What do they have to say about the current recruitment efforts? Yeah, I mean, one man who I spoke with was recruiting for the reserves. And he's had, I mean, all of the officers actually had pretty extensive experience in recruitment over the years. But Patrick Gero-Martin, who I talked to for quite a while, said he's been. been to a few of these fairs, but he's noticed recently that there seems to be more of them,

more events, that they're getting out, they're talking to people more. He said naturally, you know, a recruitment fair that's outside of Montreal, he's getting a lot of people who are interested in a position doing communications and not like military or naval communications, but communications officer or HR or finance and that, you know, the military needs people, but not in those roles. So he's... What roles do they need people in? They need mechanics, technicians.

They need a range of different positions, but it seems like what they don't need is people who are going to work in an office somewhere. And, you know, he also said that he tries hard to sort of give the military a positive face. So even if someone's not interested, he still tries to make conversation with people and make them feel welcomed and comfortable

because people can also be intimidated by soldiers in uniform. While you were there, did they mention anything about trying to recruit women specifically? So they didn't talk about any specific recruitment efforts for women, but I asked if they were getting interest in women at the fair. And one officer said it was about 50%. And I think that tracks with what I saw as well. There were quite a few women. And like all of the potential applicants, the women I spoke to, you know, some said they just saw the table and walked up and took a couple pamphlets and said hello.

And one woman, she was 42. She said she would go home and apply, but she still wasn't really sure, but thought it could be a good opportunity. So, yeah. Okay. Generally speaking, how is the military perceived these days? Like, do we have a sense of public opinion around Canadians' views? Yeah, so I guess a point I'd like to raise is that while the military has made a number of changes to help sort of push applicants along through the process, at the same time, there is a growing interest among Canadians. And according to the Nanos poll that was commissioned for the globe recently, 58% of people surveyed had a positive view of the forces.

24% of those surveyed in March were willing to serve. full time in the military if Canada were involved in a major conflict. And that number is up from 12% when Nanos asked the same question in November. So Janice, what seems to be behind this surge enlistment? Is it that more people are interested or is it that the military changed who can join? So I think that there are a few things happening at the same time. But I spoke with defense experts who said that the issue has always been administrative. It was that there were a lot of barriers and the military has made a number of changes to ease this process. So in 2022, they allowed permanent residents to apply. Later, the military got rid of an aptitude test and instead brought in

a new, more efficient test. And it also relaxed some medical limitations. So before, someone might have been disqualified or automatically disqualified if they had ADHD or asthma or anxiety. And now people who say they have those are being considered on a case-by-case basis. So obviously they're making a number of changes to widen the pool and allow for more people to enlist. Interesting. Okay. So they've now allowed permanent residents to be able to apply. Also, they've relaxed rules around medical limitations. and then also they've changed this aptitude test. These are kind of the big things. Yeah, that's right.

What about the application process? Has anything changed there? Like, have they, I don't know, revamped their system? They have made a lot of, they have made a few changes by creating a new online portal. So this is meant to allow applicants to upload their documents, complete tests online, book their appointments, track their application progress. The other thing that D&D told me is that there's a new, probationary period. So applicants can train while their administrative application is being processed.

And then if the person does not meet the required security clearance or, you know, if they're deemed not medically suitable, or if they're lacking in other reasons why the Canadian forces might not want them, they'll be released. Do we have a sense as to why the military has relaxed some of these rules to allow more people to apply? Well, my understanding is that people were just getting so frustrated by how long this process took that they were dropping out before they'd even reach certain stages. So I think that they're trying to, you know, they're trying to make it easier for applicants to actually see their application all the way through. So how many people are actually becoming service members in the Canadian military? Because you can apply, of course, but in order to become a service member,

you do have to go through some training. Are people getting through that step? So our colleague Steve Chase reported recently that the success rate for basic training has dropped to 77% this year compared with 85% previously. So that's according to a leaked internal report that he was reporting on.

And so, of course, this comes when the military has relaxed all these restrictions as we've talked about. So the pool is getting wider, but obviously the success is going down, and that's something that they will have to grapple with. But, you know, I spoke with some experts about this before, sort of just more generally. And they were pointing out that at least we're seeing the military try to adapt and try to make changes and that maybe it won't be successful in, you know, in everything, every step of the way, but that this, obviously this has been a consequence of that. Do we have a sense as to why we've seen a drop in successful completions of basic training for military recruits?

Okay. So based on Steve's reporting, some of the issues highlighted include mental health. And the report said that there's been a dramatic increase in the number of candidates with significant mental health concerns. And throughout 2025, 92 recruit candidates were transported to health care providers. on 191 occasions and in quotes, and the local suicide crisis center is typically filled to full capacity with CFLRS candidates. And those are Canadian

and recruitment school candidates. They also highlighted that there was culture shock among some of the permanent residents. Okay, so it does sound like there are some issues that the Canadian military do have to deal with here.

And just to end, Janice, like big picture here with what you've witnessed at this career fair and your conversation with potential recruits and what we've laid out here with some of the growing pains. What does this all say about the state of Canada's military? Well, I think it shows us that there's interest in joining the Canadian Armed Forces among Canadians, as there has been in the past, but there is a, you know, increasing interest in particularly if Canada gets dragged into some kind of war. And then at the same time, the military is trying to push applicants through.

And they're seeing that people are struggling with the application process. And at the same time, there's a federal government that's talking a lot about defense, has made major investments in defense. And so this is, you know, some of the recruitment officers said that this is a very exciting time to join the forces because of that funding and because of new equipment. And so I think we're seeing a real surge in energy. Janice, thanks so much. Thank you for having me. That was Janice Dixon, the Globe's International Affairs Reporter.

That's it for today. I'm Cheryl Sutherland. This episode was produced by our associate producer and academic intern, Cynthia Jimenez. Ali Graham mixed this episode. Our producers are Madeline White, Rachel Levy McLaughlin and Michal Stom. Our editor is David Crosby. Adrian Chung is our senior producer, and Angela Pichenza is our executive editor.

Thanks so much for listening.