An ex-chief of the defence staff is warning that the situation may be worse than the top brass are letting on as the Canadian Armed Forces struggles to increase recruiting in the face of rising international threats.
Current Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre has warned in recent weeks that, due to recruitment issues, Canada does not have the military “that we need” to tackle future threats — and that readiness within the CAF is “going down.
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In an interview with The West Block’s Mercedes Stephenson, retired Gen. Rick Hillier stated, “In truth, I feel the matter is considerably more serious than what Wayne has expressed.”
The Canadian Armed Forces is supposed to be adding about 5,000 troops to regular and reserve forces, to meet a growing list of demands, but are instead short more than 10,000 trained members – meaning about one in 10 positions are currently vacant.
Hillier claims that the figures he is receiving, however, indicate that the military is down “much larger than 10%.”
“Instead of operating at 70,000 personnel, the Canadian Forces are probably operating at approximately 45,000 people, and out of that, there are a considerable percentage of them who are not operationally deployable or capable,” said Hillier.
The ability of the Canadian Forces, which we rely on to protect us in Canada, represent us, safeguard our interests abroad, and carry our ideals with them, is therefore negligible at the moment, and we must alter that.
The Canadian Services have been jolted in recent years by a sexual misconduct scandal that has reached the highest ranks of the armed forces, as well as increased awareness of systematic racism. However, military leaders are not blaming any particular issue for the recruitment issues.
Reputational issues have been made worse by worries that right-wing extremists may be among the ranks.
The fact that most CAF bases and wings are in rural areas but most Canadians live in cities is proving to be another problem.
After years of rapid deployments and operations, the defence commander issued an order earlier this month directing the military in a new direction with the recruitment and retention of soldiers as its main priority.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Eyre stated that “we need to rebuild the Armed Forces, we need to bring the numbers back up.”
And because it is harming our ability to respond globally, we must do it immediately and with priority.
In addition to increased high-profile backing, Hillier added that the move away from deployments and toward stepping up recruitment efforts may be contributing to the issue when it comes to drawing in new recruits.
“Anyone who believes that Wayne Eyre will solve this issue is incorrect, despite his talent. They are mistaken.
He cannot resolve this on his own, Hillier added.
“You require that sort of obvious assistance. You need dollars (going) into the continuing forces, and you need a full up, active, number-one-priority mission to recruit young Canadians to come and serve our nation in uniform. ”
He cautioned that the Canadian Forces will be “in a great deal of trouble” until the recruitment problem is resolved.
Hillier claimed that the CAF is lacking in all areas, including Canada’s capacity to respond to domestic crises like the recent hurricane that tore through the east coast and the nation’s capacity to respond to international crises via NATO or the UN.
For a country that is a member of the G7, he said, “our ability to do that drops down to nearly zero.”
— With files from The Canadian Press.
Issues with military recruiting may be “more serious” than senior ranks are indicating: Hillier
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