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The Canadian Forces is counting on public servants to volunteer for military service as it tries to ramp up an army of 300,000 as part of a mobilization plan, according to a defence department directive.
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Federal and provincial employees would be given a one-week training course in how to handle firearms, drive trucks and fly drones, according to the directive, signed by Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan and defence deputy minister Stefanie Beck on May 30, 2025.
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The public servants would be inducted into the Supplementary Reserve, which is currently made up of inactive or retired members of the Canadian Forces who are willing to return to duty if called. At this point, there are 4,384 personnel in the Supplementary Reserves, but in the case of an emergency, that would be boosted to 300,000, according to the directive from Beck and Carignan.
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While the supplementary recruiting push will “prioritize volunteer public servants at the federal and provincial/territorial level” the entry standards wouldn’t be strict, according to the nine-page unclassified directive.
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“The entry criteria for the Supplementary or other Reserve should be less restrictive than the Reserve Force for age limits as well as physical and fitness requirements,” the document noted.
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After the initial entry into the ranks, the public servants would be required to do one week’s worth of military training each year but would not be issued uniforms. Medical coverage would be provided for their annual military service, but that time would not count towards their pensions, the directive pointed out.
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The training focus would be on “basic skills (e.g. shoot, move, and communicate; drive a truck; fly a drone: etc.)”, Beck and Carignan wrote.
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Their directive approved the creation of a “tiger team” which will work on setting the stage for a Defence Mobilization Plan or DMP. That team will examine what changes are needed to government legislation as well as examine other factors required to allow for such a massive influx of Canadians into the military.
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Department of National Defence spokeswoman Andrée-Anne Poulin confirmed in an email that participation in the expanded reserve force would be voluntary. “Initial planning has begun to explore how the CAF (Canadian Armed Forces) could contribute to greater national resilience, including leveraging increased readiness from an expanded Reserve Force for defence purposes, in times of crisis, or for natural disasters for example,” she added.
