A Decade of Neglect: Canada's Military Fails Injured Reservists

OTTAWA, ON – February 10, 2026 – By Carol Moore

A scathing new report from the military's independent watchdog has revealed a decade of systemic failure and “stalled progress” in supporting Canada’s ill and injured Primary Reserve members, painting a grim picture of bureaucratic neglect that undermines military readiness and recruitment.

The report, titled Marking Time: A Decade of Stalled Progress for the Primary Reserve, was released today by the Office of the National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) Ombudsman. It confirms that critical recommendations made nearly ten years ago to fix a broken support system have been largely ignored, leaving part-time soldiers with full-time injuries to navigate a complex and often unforgiving administrative maze.

“Ill and injured Reservists stand ready to serve Canada. We must stand ready to support them,” stated Ombudsman Mario Baril in the report's release. He emphasized that as the military aims to expand its ranks, fixing these foundational issues is not a choice. “Building strong foundations to support these members is not optional – it is essential.”

A Legacy of Unheeded Warnings

The Marking Time report is not the first of its kind. It serves as a stark follow-up to two landmark investigations from 2016: Compensation Options for Ill and Injured Reservists and Part time Soldier with Full-Time Injuries. Those initial reports exposed a deeply flawed system characterized by inconsistent policies, a painfully slow paper-based application process for compensation, and a profound lack of awareness among both reservists and their leadership about available benefits.

Despite the DND/CAF accepting the recommendations at the time, subsequent progress reports from the Ombudsman's office in 2017 and 2022 sounded a familiar, frustrating alarm: little to no meaningful action had been taken. The 2026 report confirms this pattern of inaction, stating bluntly that “most of the recommendations made in those reports have not yet been implemented.”

Key barriers identified a decade ago persist today, including fragmented governance where no single entity has clear authority over Reserve Force compensation, leading to delays and inconsistent decisions. The report also points to an “enduring bias” against reservists, who are often treated as secondary to their regular force counterparts, and chronic resourcing issues that prevent the military from updating policies or processing claims efficiently.

The Human Cost of Bureaucracy

Behind the bureaucratic language of stalled progress and unimplemented recommendations are the real-life struggles of soldiers. The Ombudsman’s report highlights the devastating personal impact of these systemic failures. One anonymized account details a reservist injured during training who was incorrectly told they were no longer eligible for CAF health care and could be forced to repay treatment costs, adding immense stress to their recovery.

Another case cited involves a reservist who waited over a year for compensation paperwork that was never properly submitted by their unit. This delay plunged the member into significant debt and left them facing the risk of homelessness before the issue was finally resolved with a retroactive payment. These stories are not isolated incidents but symptoms of a system that has failed its people.

Veterans' advocacy groups like the Royal Canadian Legion have long called for improved care and benefits, providing financial assistance and support to serving members and veterans navigating the complex claims process with both the military and Veterans Affairs Canada. The existence of such support highlights the gaps the official system fails to fill, forcing soldiers to rely on charity to meet basic needs like food, heating, and medical expenses while waiting for the benefits they earned through their service.

Readiness at Risk

The failure to support ill and injured reservists has profound strategic implications that extend far beyond individual hardship. It directly threatens the Canadian Armed Forces' operational effectiveness, recruitment, and retention at a time when it can least afford it.

Internal DND documents from late 2025 reveal ambitious plans for a Defence Mobilization Plan (DMP) aimed at massively expanding the Reserve Force, potentially growing its ranks to over 100,000 members to meet heightened NATO commitments. The Ombudsman's report raises a critical question: how can the CAF expect to attract and retain new members when it has demonstrated a decade-long inability to care for its existing ones?

The report argues that a reputation for abandoning injured personnel is a powerful disincentive for recruitment. For a force that relies on citizen-soldiers balancing civilian careers and military duty, the promise of proper care in case of injury is a fundamental part of the contract. When that promise is broken, it erodes trust not only within the ranks but also among the employers and families who form the support network for every reservist.

A Familiar Cycle of Promises?

In response to the Ombudsman's latest findings, the Department of National Defence has once again agreed with the recommendations and promised action. In a formal response, the DND/CAF committed to a series of reforms to be completed by January 2027. These include strengthening the governance framework for compensation, modernizing and digitizing the application process, centralizing information online, and allocating dedicated resources to update health care policies.

However, for many observers and affected members, these promises may feel like déjà vu. The critical test will be in the execution and allocation of real resources. A November 2025 announcement of a comprehensive update to military pay and benefits was positioned as a major step forward, but the Ombudsman's report shows that the specific, complex needs of injured reservists remain a persistent blind spot.

Meanwhile, allied nations offer models of more integrated support. In Australia and the United Kingdom, reservists are generally covered by the same compensation schemes as their regular force counterparts, with clear legislation and established processes for handling claims. These systems, while not perfect, demonstrate a commitment to a “one force” concept of care that has yet to be fully realized in Canada. As the DND/CAF embarks on its ambitious mobilization plan, the decade-old question of whether it will finally stand ready to support its reservists remains unanswered.