How Embarrassing

Getting to this stage took decades:

The Canadian Armed Forces are asking military personnel in the National Capital Region to return some field gear, including vests to hold body armour, to address what the Forces describe as “critical equipment shortages” for deployed operations.

A May 13 e-mail from National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, obtained by The Globe and Mail, cites this inventory shortfall.

It directs all Canadian Armed Forces members in the region, if they are not assigned to a “deployable unit,” to hand in several pieces of personal kit, including backpacks and fragmentation vests, which are used to hold armour plates to protect the wearer from shrapnel and shell fragments.

“Your co-operation is essential to the success of this effort,” the e-mail says, including photos of the requested gear, which members of the Forces would have acquired over the course of their duties.

The message says it was sent on behalf of Colonel Jeff Toope, commander of Canadian Forces Support Group Ottawa-Gatineau and commander of an area Forces base.

Department of National Defence spokesperson Daniel Blouin confirmed the e-mail in response to questions from The Globe. He estimated the message was sent to roughly 10,000 people.

Collection dates for the gear have been set for later this month and in early June at the department’s Carling Campus in Ottawa’s west end.

Experts have said for years that the Canadian military was chronically underfunded. It is now absorbing an infusion of new cash after Prime Minister Mark Carney in 2025 committed to boost spending by more than $84-billion over five years, in order for Canada to meet NATO targets and take more responsibility for its own defence.

National Defence said the military has been running low on some items.

“There are currently challenges with stock levels of rucksacks, patrol packs, tactical vests and fragmentation vests in some sizes due to higher consumption,” departmental spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin said in an e-mailed statement.

“Several procurements are currently ongoing to replenish stock levels for these items.”

She said members of the Forces in non-deployable units do not require this equipment for day-to-day duties and the returned goods will be used to equip troops as required for deployed operations.

Canada is in the midst of significantly expanding its military presence in Latvia, where it leads a multinational NATO brigade and has committed to expanding its presence to 2,200 troops by 2026, up from 2,000 in August, 2025.

The new gear may go to Latvia, but could also be destined for new recruits and training exercises, Mr. Blouin said. As the Canadian government announced in April, more than 7,300 people signed up to join the military’s regular force over the past year – the highest number of enrolments in more than three decades.

Mr. Blouin said the military has issued a return equipment request before, such as in the later years of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan.

Christian Leuprecht, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen’s University, said a shortage of basic gear indicates there is still a “mismatch” with National Defence and the Forces as they grapple with buying enough equipment to supply a growing organization.

(Sidebar: it's not a mismatch. It's a deliberate policy of crippling a vital organ of the nation.) 

He said there’s still a disconnect between the “requirements of the Armed Forces, the procurement system to be able to deliver on those requirements, and the ability to deliver the type of equipment that the Canadian Armed Forces need in a timely fashion.”

Prof. Leuprecht said the Forces and National Defence are clearly trying to meet the expectations of Mr. Carney, but for decades have had to follow constraining policies that ensure these organizations don’t “spend too much money and ideally returns money at the end of the year” to federal coffers.