Canada's military attempts to tighten up 'relaxed' dress and deportment policy

After years of declining dress and deportment standards in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), the military somewhat reversed itself on June 5, and said in a memo that the senior leadership had decided that eschewing hair cuts and allowing all manner of facial hair might compromise good order and discipline to some degree.

The "relaxed" dress and deportment became official in September 2022 when Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Wayne Eyre and then Canadian Forces CPO 1st Class Gilles Gregoire announced sweeping changes to how Canadian military personnel were allowed to look and wear the uniform.

"Many of us have grown up with an ingrained view of what a traditional sailor, soldier or aviator must look like. And over the ages, uniformity has been a method used to install discipline. But uniformity does not equal discipline or operational effectiveness any more than the colour or length of your hair define your commitment or professional competence," General Eyre stated at the time.

"So as our society evolves, our military standards also change and evolve. We will balance our traditions with societal expectations, and the needs of the service."

To achieve that goal, Eyre and Gregoire went on to explain that there would no longer be restrictions on hairstyle, hair colour, facial hair, tattoos, and piercings. From that point forward, service members would be free to wear the uniform items that are no longer gender specific.

In September 2022, the CAF announced that it had no more restrictions on how long military personnel could grow their hair and nails or where they could showcase their tattoos. A new gender-neutral uniform was also available.

This new directive says that "the deportment and appearance of all ranks, in uniform or when wearing civilian attire, shall on all occasions reflect credit on the CAF and the individual" yet will still allow for "hair extending below the lower portion of the shirt collar must be tied back away from the face. The volume of hair must not prevent the proper wearing of the headdress or protective equipment."

In a recent interview with CBC News, Eyre expressed little regret for the failed policy, suggesting older members of the military just need to get with the times. "This has made some profoundly uncomfortable. You know, based on the generation they come from," Eyre told Rosemary Barton.

"A newer generation is completely at ease with [this], and so we are treading a bit into the unknown here. And we have to be willing to experiment. If it doesn't work well, we adjust."

But Eyre may not have been listening to his soldiers, sailors or airmen because rank and file military personnel were not comfortable with the changes. That is clear in an internal Department of National Defence (DND) study released by CBC News. The study asked personnel how they viewed the relaxed standards of dress and deportment.

"A large proportion of the CAF population does not agree with the changes to the CAF dress policy, despite chain of command and peer support, and this lack of agreement is associated with lower confidence in leadership," said the survey, dated March 15, 2024.

Nor did many military commentators agree. Publisher Scott Taylor opined in espritdecorps magazine: "The irony of having these two particular veteran senior military leaders—both Eyre and Gregoire are bald, middle aged Caucasian males—talking about the inclusivity of relaxed dress standards, would have been hilarious were it not for the gravitas of what they were announcing.

"It was not just the hard core military traditionalists who were alarmed by these regulation changes—it was anyone who understands the definition of the word 'uniform'. Included in Eyre's statement was a strong argument against the removal of these standards. Yes, people have an ingrained view of what they want military members to look like. Just like police officers or first responders, we expect a certain level of professional appearance. Likewise with airline pilots or flight attendants."

Peoples Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier says the incoming CDS, Lieut.-Gen. Jenny Carignan, was a huge booster of the lowered dress and deportment codes. She will be the first woman to command the CAF.

"The new boss of the Canadian Armed Forces appointed by Trudeau yesterday is the woke apparatchik who brought DEI rules and diversity hiring quotas, turned the CAF into an organization promoting gender identity nonsense, and introduced an 'inclusive' dress code so ridiculous it just had to be made more restrictive again," Bernier posted.

Bernier confirmed that sentiment in an interview Wednesday with The Post Millennial when he said both the CAF and the RCMP have become "totally woke organizations" that have lost all sense of operational capability.