Canadian military’s new recruitment tool faces rollout problems

One applicant trying to reenlist describes the system as slow and cumbersome, saying: 'Any enthusiasm I had for re-enlisting has completely evaporated.'

The Canadian military has launched a new online recruitment portal to try to modernize the application process and address a personnel crisis.

But technical glitches emerged during the launch, prompting concerns that frustrated applicants may be discouraged from joining at a time when the ranks are short more than 14,000 troops and U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Canadian sovereignty.

“Issues were discovered in early March, shortly after the new portal’s initial rollout,” Department of National Defence spokesperson Derek Abma said in a statement to Global News.

DND acknowledged that initially, the new system was not able to handle the volume of traffic.

One applicant who spoke to Global News described the portal as “very slow and not remotely state of the art.” He asked not to be identified because of concerns it could jeopardize his application, and says it took dozens of attempts over multiple days to set up a profile.

Given the military’s “recruitment challenges,” he thought the process would have been quicker.

“I applied two months ago and haven’t heard a thing. I was hoping to be in uniform by summer, and it’s clear that’s optimistic,” he said.

Abma said the problems have since been “rectified” and that “growing pains” are expected.