Canadian military prepares a C-17 Globemaster for departure at Canadian Forces Base Trenton.Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press
The success rate for basic training in the Canadian military has dropped to 77 per cent over the past fiscal year as the Canadian Armed Forces grapple with the impact of recruiting changes designed to boost enrolment, according to a leaked internal report.
That compares with a historical average of 85 per cent, according to an internal January, 2026, report by Lieutenant-Colonel Marc Kieley, commandant of the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School (CFLRS) in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
His report covers the first three quarters of the 2025-26 fiscal year, which began on April 1 last year.
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The number of candidates requiring multiple attempts to graduate rose to 14.89 per cent, far higher than 8.44 per cent in the previous year and significantly above other recent annual rates.
The school conducts basic military qualification (BMQ) training and basic military officer qualification (BMOQ) training for the Forces.
In recent years, the federal government, in an effort boost the size of the military, has opened recruiting to foreign nationals who are permanent residents, begun accepting recruits with certain pre-existing medical conditions and dropped aptitude test requirements, among other changes.
In his report, Lt.-Col. Kieley said instructors “genuinely want to see their candidates succeed” but feel constrained given the pace of the courses and the lack of free time to retrain those needing more attention.
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“A deliberate decision should be made to balance changes in the recruiting process and changes to the Canadian Armed Forces training system to ensure that desired outcomes are achieved,” he wrote.
Juno News first published the senior officer’s memo, which is dated Jan. 27, 2026.
A source familiar with the report confirmed to The Globe and Mail that the document was authentic. The Globe is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Lt.-Col. Kieley cited mental-health challenges among basic training recruits in 2025. Since the Canadian Forces have made a “public announcement that applicants who [suffer] from anxiety can join the CAF,” he said, “there has been a dramatic increase in the number of candidates presenting significant mental-health concerns” at the CFLRS. None of these, however, were enrolled under the program for medical conditions.
Throughout 2025, he said, 92 recruit candidates were transported to external health care providers on a total of 191 occasions, “and the local suicide crisis centre is typically filled to full capacity with CFLRS candidates.”
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Lt.-Col. Kieley said it appears “a significant number of candidates are deliberately not disclosing their history of mental-health issues during the recruitment process.”
He recommended the Forces maintain strong control “over enrolment of candidates with pre-existing mental-health concerns” and “minimize language in recruiting and selection communications stating that those suffering from mental-health issues can freely join the CAF.”
Last year saw a big influx of foreign nationals into basic training after late 2024 changes to security clearance procedures for permanent residents were enacted and unlocked a backlog of candidates. This meant training platoons in 2025 had a historically large share of foreign nationals.
“These initial platoons were also made up of candidates with as little as three months residency in Canada, leading to a significant culture shock as candidates had not yet acclimatized to Canadian society, let alone Canadian military culture.”
Lt.-Col. Kieley said this group has “been a challenging demographic to train,” adding results varied by the language of instruction – English or French – and whether the recruits were non-commissioned members or officers.
He cited an example of one French-speaking platoon with permanent residents that had a graduation rate of 48 per cent. Lt.-Col. Kieley said it was plagued by allegations of racism and infighting between cultural groups within the unit, such as people from Cameroon “against those from Côte d’Ivoire.”
Lt.-Col. Kieley said a significant number of permanent resident recruits had unrealistic expectation of life in the Canadian Armed Forces, including the likelihood they might be posted outside their hometown. A “surprising number believed they would simply go home after basic training.”
He cited other cultural issues, particularly among officer training. “For some, it is also the first time they have been expected to treat women as their peers.”
Asked about the report, Commodore Pascal Belhumeur, commander of the Military Personnel Generation Group, said the Forces had expected basic training attrition rates to increase after Ottawa lowered some barriers to recruiting but kept performance standards the same.
Last fiscal year, more than 7,300 people signed up to join the Canadian military’s regular force, the highest number of enrolments in more than three decades. For the first time, nearly 20 per cent of these were foreign nationals.
Cmdre. Belhumeur defended the new recruiting approach, noting it’s adding more members to the Forces. “The 7,310 that we brought in this year is over 2,000 more people than what we would have had under the old system.”
He said the 48-per-cent graduation rate for that one platoon is an anomaly. “Basic training – it is an individual endeavour, but it also a bit of a team score. So sometimes that happens in some platoons when they don’t cohere.”
Cmdre. Belhumeur noted the success rate figures only cover three-quarters of the past fiscal year but could not provide a final number for 2025-26.
The report recommended capping the number of permanent residents in any platoon at between 20 to 25 per cent “to allow for more successful adaptation to the CAF culture and lifestyle.”
Cmdre. Belhumeur said the military is now targeting between a maximum of 25 to 30 per cent permanent residents in any platoon.
The report also said military career counsellors could be doing a better job of guiding recruits.
“Most recently an ordained Anglican minister was enrolled as an artillery officer, leading to questions about what career counselling was provided” to this person. They were “ultimately unsuccessful” at officer training ”due to their discomfort with handling the service rifle," it said.