Canada’s military stops some automatic disqualification in applicant crunch

Canada's defence chief says the four medical conditions that will now be evaluated when people apply are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, asthma and allergies.

The Canadian Armed Forces is no longer automatically disqualifying applicants with certain medical conditions such as allergies and ADHD, as it works to improve its numbers and grow the size of Canada’s military.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan said the four medical conditions that will now be evaluated when people apply are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, asthma and allergies.

Carignan said previously any applicants that arrived with an allergy were immediately disqualified.

“Nowadays, with the technology available to us, that might not be the case unless you have a very, very severe case of allergy that within the trade or, you know, operational fields that you are choosing, you may not have access to the medical support to allow you to, you know, to proceed,” she said.

Carignan said the changes to the military’s entry medical standards came into effect this January.

“We need to understand that things that are diagnosed now were not diagnosed many years ago,” Carignan said, adding that diagnostic tools are “a lot more sophisticated” than they were 30 or 40 years ago. “It’s adapting to the environment of today while also exercising risk management.”

Given how recently the changes were made, Carignan said “it will take a little while” to see their impact.

However, several other changes have already made “a big difference” in terms of offers and intake of future members of the CAF, she said.