Overview
- Karen Hogan’s audits report the Canadian Armed Forces recruited about 15,000 people from 2022–2025 against a plan for just over 19,700, with only one in 13 online applicants ultimately enrolled and 54% withdrawing within two months.
- Recruitment timelines are roughly double the 100–150 day target and security-screening backlogs grew to nearly 23,000 applicants, contributing to delays and attrition.
- The reports warn the Forces lack training capacity to absorb recruits at scale because of instructor shortages, equipment shortfalls and reliance on temporary instructors, posing risks to readiness.
- Housing inspections found unsafe and outdated conditions, including non‑working toilets, lack of safe drinking water and structural damage, with 227 high‑priority repairs identified but only 5% completed in the sampled sites.
- The housing supply severely lags demand with 3,706 members on waitlists and only 205 units available, while National Defence’s plan—despite $1.4 billion over 20 years, new builds and a 37‑unit Esquimalt acquisition—still leaves a shortfall estimated at several thousand units.