By Scott Taylor
We have entered the year 2025 and that means for the Canadian Army the clock has begun ticking in earnest. Back in July 2023, the Trudeau Liberal government made a promise to the NATO alliance that in 2025 Canada would bolster our forward-based military commitment in Latvia.
Since June 2017 Canada has commanded the multi-national NATO Brigade group in Latvia along with a Canadian contingent of approximately 800 personnel. The promise Trudeau made is that commitment will grow to a full brigade sized contingent of approximately 2300 troops, later this year. Anyone familiar with the Canadian military's current crippling shortfall of trained personnel will realize this will be one hell of a steep challenge to sustain.
The current tour length for troops based in Latvia is six months to one year. These postings are considered operational, so no spouses or dependants accompany Canadian Forces personnel.
That length of separation is a challenge for most couples and families and given the size of the army and the scale of the commitment, this beefed up mission will negatively impact the Army's morale over time. As the Canadian Army consists of just three regular force Combat Arms brigades, our soldiers will soon be in a constant cycle of preparing for Latvia, deploying to Latvia and returning from Latvia.
There is an answer to this problem which might be considered extreme, but extreme circumstances call for creative solutions.
What I propose is the rapid establishment of a Canadian Foreign Legion.
Based on the successful formula for the French and Spanish Foreign Legions, recruits would sign contracts for a five-year tour of duty. At the successful completion of that contract they would be granted full citizenship.
This Legion could be patterned after the Spanish Legion, in that recruits would need to be 18 years of age and not be older than 29 on the day they enlist. All recruits would be single and enrolled on a priority basis, based upon physical fitness, mental aptitude, with previous military service being a bonus. This would also be true for trade skills such as medical practitioners, mechanics and engineers.
Should a member of this Canadian Legion become injured or wounded prior to the five- year commitment they would follow in the French example and automatically be granted full citizenship. The French call it “Francais par le sang verse’ or ‘French through spilled blood.”
These Canadian Legion recruits would be trained by Canadian officers and NCO’s at bases across Canada, but they would know in advance that the majority of their five years of service would be spent on overseas missions such as the brigade in Latvia or future UN peacekeeping operations. Domestic Canadian deployments could be tailored to provide assistance to civilians in the wake of natural disasters. To this end the Canadian Foreign Legion could be heavy on the combat engineer component.
The question of retention for these Legionnaires is a simple matter of withholding the bulk of their pay package. For instance, if the base pay rate was $60,000 then $40,000 would be held in trust until the contract is complete.
At the end of the five-year contract the legionnaire would be released as a full citizen with a starting nest egg of $200,000.
Both the French and Spanish foreign Legions have evolved into highly respected military formations which have earned their respective countries glory on global battlefields.
The original rationale for France and Spain to create such Legions was to avoid conscripting their own citizens to police the remnants of their far flung empires.
In Canada’s case, it would be a means of bringing in a high level of immigrant to solve a manpower shortage within our military that has reached a critical tipping point. With the Canadian Foreign Legion deployed, the regular Canadian Combat Arms units could begin the healing process off bringing themselves back to full operational readiness here in Canada.
It would be a win-win for Canada.
