Ottawa’s newly released defence plan crosses a dangerous line |
The new defence plan looks simple on paper. The risks are anything but
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Canadians have grown used to bad news about the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), but the newly revealed defence mobilization plan is in a category of its own.
After years of controversy over capability, morale and leadership challenges, the military’s senior ranks now appear willing to back a plan that misunderstands emergency law, sidelines provincial authority and proposes to place untrained civil servants in harm’s way. To many observers, that raises serious questions about leadership judgment.
The document is a Defence Mobilization Plan, normally an internal framework outlining how the military would expand or organize its forces in a major crisis. The fact that this version advanced with senior leadership support suggests a worrying interpretation of their legal responsibilities and the limits of their authority.
The nine-page plan was dated May 30, 2025, but only reached public view when media outlets published it. One article reports that the plan would create a supplementary force made up of volunteer public servants from federal and provincial governments. Those who join this civil defence corps would face less restrictive age limits, lower fitness requirements and only five days of training per year. In that time, volunteers would be expected to learn skills such as shooting, tactical movement, communicating, driving a truck and flying a drone. They would receive medical coverage during training but not pensionable benefits.
The new mobilization plan blurs legal boundaries, sidelines provinces and risks sending untrained civil servants into harm’s way.
Image by Albert Stoynov