DM/CDS Message: Focusing on Our Priorities – Strengthening People Management to Deliver Readiness

March 4, 2025 - Defence Stories

As we recently communicated, the entire Defence Team plays a critical role in delivering readiness and ensuring operational effectiveness for Canada. With recent investments to advance our ambitious defence agenda, your leadership team is examining how we work and how we are organized to position ourselves for success.

Recognizing that our people are our key strategic capability, we established a Task Force on People Management in October 2024. Its mandate is to accelerate our efforts in strengthening our workforce, improving support systems, and fostering a resilient and agile Defence Team. Organizations responsible for human resources administration, professional conduct, and related services have been directly engaged in this work. We appreciate your insights and expertise in shaping the way forward.

While this analysis remains ongoing, we want to clarify the intent and scope of this initiative:

• This is about growing the Defence Team. We are positioning ourselves to deliver on planned growth in Canada’s national defence at a scale not seen in recent history.
• This builds on the essential work you lead every day. Having the right people, with the right skills, delivering the right functions, with the right supports remains our priority. This work must continue in a coordinated and integrated way.
• This is about performance. People management is a strategic enabler of operational readiness and our system must evolve to better sustain readiness and support our people.

Ambitious growth requires equally ambitious transformation and this effort is about building a more effective and sustainable system that supports our people and our mission.

We understand that organizational change introduces uncertainties and a range of emotions. As decisions are made, we commit to keeping you informed. While we may not have all the answers immediately, we will strive to be as clear and predictable as possible.

We need your support and commitment to navigating this transformation together. We know we can do this, and we know we can count on you.

More information will be shared in the coming weeks and months. Thank you for your dedication and leadership in delivering readiness for Canada.