SMOL: Time for a grown-up conversation about Mark and Jennie’s Canadian citizen-militia

It has taken me a while to absorb the recent proposal by the Chief of the Defence Staff,  General Jennie Carigan, clearly supported by Prime Minister Mark Carney, to raise a 300,000-strong “citizen militia” in peacetime.

The proposal suggests this would be built initially on a cadre of civil servants given a week’s military training to prepare for war.

As I am now assured this peacetime citizen-militia mobilization plan isn’t an attempt at comedic satire by some late-night talk show host, then the proposal deserves a serious logistical, political and cultural reality check by someone who actually served in and trained hundreds of  reservists.

First, I can’t help but assume this proposal for a negligently trained citizen militia has all the political essence of an overwhelmed, confused and confounded Canadian government and military over its head. One that is despondently grasping at straws to convince the United States and NATO that we are going to take our defence seriously.

Historically, such attempts at mass, unconventional citizen mobilization are normally the product of desperate, militarily overwhelmed nations on the brink of losing a war. Has Carney and our Chief of the Defence Staff already affirmed the war that hasn’t, as yet, begun has been lost?

And yet, the Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff recently asserted that Canada is ready for war. Could you clarify what kind of war is being considered here, Jennie?

For argument’s sake, let’s try to imagine that this proposed citizen militia, and associated tough talk from the woman in charge of our military, is not a fleeting patriotic anti-Trump cultural fad – one that will burn out like a defective military flare as soon as the next Democratic or non-MAGA Republican president is elected in the U.S.

So, before the militarily naïve among us might be led to think these proposed one-week militia warriors might stand as the vanguard of Canada’s readiness for war, consider the following musings of a proud and long-serving navy and army reserve veteran.

Just how much of a soldier, sailor or aviator can an individual – however fit, intelligent, and motivated – become after a week? It is a huge stretch to assume that even the core skill sets, like learning how to handle, load, unload and shoot all the basic weapons safely, rank and organization of the military, first aid, and CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) defence can be learned to any combat-capable level in that time frame.

Especially when we should be trying to inculcate what, at least most of us older veterans think, is the most important military attribute of all. That would be confidence, teamwork, leadership, unit cohesion and discipline.

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How much risk do these ad hoc, minimally trained militia members pose to themselves, the Canadian Armed Forces, and Canada before they present any risk to the enemy?

Or, getting back to an earlier point, maybe this is all just for show? It might be a coincidence, but there is some degree of similarity between this proposed citizen-militia and our Canadian Rangers. These Canadian Rangers, a non-combat militia auxiliary network of mostly indigenous staffed sovereignty patrols established in the northern regions of the country, have recently been basking in the role of public-affairs darling of a Canadian government and military desperate to make a cheap show of defence resolve in the Arctic.  

With a basic training regimen of about a week, the Rangers have no combat capacity and no wartime mandate beyond vague expectations to act in an auxiliary, assistive role to the actual Canadian Armed Forces – wherever and whenever such professional forces might faintly make an appearance in Canada’s north.

There is a notable distinction worth examining. While the vaunted public image of the Canadian Rangers in southern Canada is shaped by laudably stereotyped perceptions of Indigenous hunter-trapper cultural attributes, such respect and deference may not necessarily be extended to non-Indigenous civil servants, teachers, tax accountants or grocery clerks from suburban Toronto or Ottawa who may join the southern “citizen militia.”

Militia, by its very nature as an ad hoc, non-professional military force, can have vastly different meanings based on who is perceived to be a part of it.

Let’s just hope, for the sake of the whole Canadian Armed Forces, that the first cadre of southern citizen-militia soldier-types hold themselves to the highest standards whenever they might be called on to “serve” and possibly “fight” beyond their one-week worth of military training.

Carry on, Canada!

– Smol is a retired military intelligence officer who served in the Canadian Armed Forces for more than 20 years. He is currently completing a PhD in military history. Reach him at rmsmol@gmail.com