Canada’s experiment in recruiting non-citizens to the military while lowering entrance standards has been wrought with problems, if a January internal report is anything to go by.
Recruits have been failing at greater rates since changes to recruitment practices were made in late 2024, according to the document, which was obtained by the Post last weekend. Instructors are also having to deal with cultural clashes, illiteracy problems, and a lack of respect for female officers, among other problems.
The document, first covered by Juno News, is under the letterhead of the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School (CFLRS), which is one of the country’s centres for basic military training. On Wednesday, Department of National Defence spokesperson Commodore Pascal Belhumeur did not confirm that the Post’s copy was the same as his own version, but the contents of his copy were consistent with what was before the Post, based on our discussion.
The report, authored by Lieutenant-Colonel Marc Kieley, describes the effects of new changes to the Canadian Armed Forces recruitment process: restrictions on candidates with certain health and mental health issues were lifted, more permanent residents were permitted to join, security screening was reduced, and the old aptitude test was dropped.
“As a result of these changes, CFLRS is experiencing significant changes in candidates’ basic capabilities and increasing pressures on staff and instructors,” it reads.
Permanent residents were permitted to join the armed forces in 2022, but with tight restrictions; these were loosened in 2024, yielding nearly 800 recruits in the months that followed the change. Belhumeur said that last year, 1,400 permanent residents were recruited.
The report states that among permanent resident candidates, instructors have observed poor English and French skills, and problems getting along with women: “For many candidates it is the first time that they have lived with members of a different sex, and for some it is also the first time they have been expected to treat women as their peers.”
“Older candidates from certain cultural backgrounds are also more likely to experience friction when responding to younger CFLRS instructors due to cultural hierarchies based on age.”
Surveys of people in basic training included complaints of “inter-candidate cultural frustrations,” with a lack of respect for women being the leading concern.
Belhumeur said that “that sort of behaviour is absolutely not tolerated in the Canadian Armed Forces” and that members who engage in such behaviour are removed “if it comes up.” He pointed to the higher attrition rate as a marker that these mechanisms are working properly. Language requirements have also been raised, he said.
The overall rate of completion for basic training dropped from around 85 per cent to 77 per cent in the first three quarters of 2025, said the report. More candidates are also being ordered to repeat a course: between the fiscal years of 2018 and 2024, this was always in the single digits, ranging between four and eight per cent. In 2025, it was 15 per cent, nearly double the year prior.
The dominant reason for re-taking courses also changed. In 2023, according to the report, 62 per cent of candidates re-taking a course did so for medical reasons; another 15 per cent had to re-take for failing practical evaluations (drills, weapons and fitness, for example), and another two per cent had to re-take for failing academic evaluations (on topics from sexual misconduct to navigation theory).
In the 2025 fiscal year, per the report, only 45 per cent of candidates retaking courses did so for medical reasons, with 27 per cent doing so for failing practical evaluations, and seven per cent re-taking courses for academic failures.
Some candidates “have been unable to learn basic practical skills such as drill and weapons, as well as several candidates who have been unable to read without assistance,” said the report.
These damning numbers aren’t solely due to the non-citizen recruitment policy — the report also mentions problems with a higher number of mentally unwell recruits who signed in light of the lowered bar to entry — but it’s clearly a contributor. According to the report, 15 per cent of permanent resident candidates failed the initial fitness test; among citizen candidates (which includes freshly naturalized citizens), that number was only eight per cent.
Among officer candidates, the report states that the basic training success rate for citizens is 85 per cent, while for permanent residents it’s 88 per cent. But other numbers should invite concern: the report stated that one early French officer platoon was 83 per cent comprised of permanent residents (Belhumeur noted that this figure actually referred to the proportion of foreign-born recruits, and that permanent residents accounted for 47 per cent).
The report also said that non-citizen enrolment in the average French officer course is 57 per cent; among English officer platoons, permanent residents typically make up about 30 per cent, and comprise about 25 per cent of course enrolment on average.
Another figure of concern? Some of these candidates had only been in Canada for three months, according to the report. This was corrected in February, said Belhumeur, with the imposition of a three-year residency requirement for all candidates.
These problems seem to be worse on the French side of the military: nearly half of French permanent resident officer candidates are over age 35 (compared to 33 per cent on the English side), the report notes. In addition, an early foreign-origin-heavy French platoon was “plagued by allegations of racism from candidates against staff but equally candidates against other candidates) and constant infighting between cultural blocks within the platoon (i.e. Cameroonian candidates against those from Côte D’Ivoire).” On the English side, platoons with heavy permanent resident membership “suffered from low fitness levels.”
It should be noted that in recent years, Canada has been bringing in French-speaking permanent residents with abysmally low scores, and that Francophone immigration initiatives have disproportionately benefited Cameroonians.
Belhumeur said that the military is currently working on an “onboarding tool” to explain the institution’s ethos and culture to candidates.
The report indicates that French instructors are struggling to come to terms with the changes: “On French (officer) platoons, where permanent residents have made up 50-80% of all candidates, there have been more emotional responses, with Francophone staff openly raising the question of whether it is appropriate for officer commissions to be granted to non-Canadian citizens.”
It’s not just the French basic training instructors who should be asking this — it’s all of Canada. Keep in mind that lawful civilian gun owners are currently experiencing the largest firearms confiscation the country’s ever seen; at the same time, we’re handing military authority over to people who aren’t even citizens of Canada. It’s as if the institution whose job is to carry out the primary duty of the state — the protection of the nation — has completely forgotten a core part of its being.
From the military’s perspective, increasing the share of foreign-born recruits is simply the right way to respond to years of sky-high immigration.
“I think the Canadian Armed Forces that we are recruiting is a representation of Canadian society now,” Belhumeur said.
“If you look at the number of Canadians that are foreign-born and the number of people who we’re bringing into the Canadian Armed Forces, I think we are representative of the Canadian demographic.”
Belhumeur added that this isn’t a numbers game, that recruitment is competitive — and that the military is “proud to reflect the diversity of Canadian society.”
Between the higher attrition rate among candidates, and the apparent increase in cultural and competency problems, the new recruitment standards have still had a net-positive impact in the eyes of the military, mainly because overall recruitment is up.
“It’s absolutely worth it,” Belhumeur said.
“We went from 63,000 to over 68,000 people in uniform because of the change that we’ve done, and we’ve done this in a way without dropping the training standard.”
We may have more bodies in the barracks, but the Canadian Armed, Forces are less Canadian than they were five years ago. There will be consequences.
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