EXCLUSIVE: Military Officers Decry Base Living Conditions, Say Retention and Mental Health at Risk: Leaked Memo

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces march during the Calgary Stampede parade in Calgary on July 8, 2016. (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh)

In a recently leaked Canadian Armed Forces memo, military officers decried poor on-base living conditions for students at the Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics (CFSCE) in Kingston, Ont., saying it’s threatening student mental health and retention.

“The corner of a four-person room cannot be made your home,“ reads a briefing note titled ”Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics Accommodations,“ saying that live-in students at the CFSCE are ”inadequately housed.”

The Oct. 11 briefing note, which was leaked to The Epoch Times, was authored by a captain and reviewed by a lieutenant-colonel. It said the military school is entitled to “category II” living standards, which consists of “single rooms with access to internet, telephone and cable” and enough storage space for “personal effects and bulk items.”

“In CFSCE’s reality, quarters currently comprise of four-person rooms with poor HVAC, insufficient personal storage, frequently broken shared facilities, and no privacy. There are no kitchenettes, cable connections, private bathrooms or access to bulk storage,” said the note. 

The memo said that improving student living accommodations needs to be done as quickly as possible, as the current conditions are causing students to drop out at a much higher rate than other military trades.

“The key aggravating factor is time,” the memo said, adding that a large number of CFSCE students leave the school after just a year or 18 months, negatively impacting the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). 

“What’s at stake is the mental health and retention of CAF members.”

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre said on Oct. 15 that the Canadian military needs “a whole-of-society effort” to get CAF recruitment numbers back to a sustainable level.

CAF reportedly has about 10,000 empty positions right now.

“We need to rebuild the Armed Forces, we need to get the numbers back up,” Eyre told The Canadian Press.

“We’ve got to do it with a sense of urgency and priority because it is affecting our ability to respond around the world.”

The Epoch Times contacted the Department of National Defence for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

‘Public Yet Restrictive’

Referring to the CFSCE’s current four-person rooms, the briefing note said, “It is not a place where you trust you and your things are safe,“ adding that members lack privacy. 

“Members must live public yet restrictive lives where everything is on hold. They cannot disconnect from work and their mental health deteriorates. These living conditions have contributed to broken relationships, divorce, depression, voluntary releases and substance abuse to name a few.”

The memo said about 150 single rooms will be needed to adequately house CFSCE students who will be on base for six or more months. The memo added that achieving these standards “would require major capital construction projects and lengthy timelines.”

“This reality does not divest L1s from their responsibility to ‘develop plans, project initiatives or agreements to ensure the provision of the appropriate accommodation,’” it continued, stressing that the CFSCE is an important “first impression of the CAF for the students that arrive for DP1 training.”

“This briefing note presents an opportunity to take steps in the right direction.”

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.