Serving
Understand your compensation · Explore career development
The page on joining ends at trade-qualified. Everything on this one starts there. How long you are actually signed up for, what a paid degree costs in years afterwards, which courses stand between one rank and the next, what you are paid on top of salary, when a pension begins, and what is written on your record when you leave.
All of it is published by the Government of Canada, across six different places that never reference each other. This is those six in one, and every section names the source it came from.
A summary of policy, not the policy. Terms of service, obligatory service, leave, pension and release are all governed by instruments that change; each section links the one it summarises. Where a figure is set annually — contribution rates, housing differential, leave — the year is stated, and it is worth checking the current one before relying on it.
Check the rule that applies to you
The September 2026 follow-up checked selected eligibility and career-stage claims. Your circumstances determine how these rules apply.
Getting in
The nine stages from application to trade-qualified, and the four things that surprise people.
How joining worksWhat each rank pays
Every rank across all three elements, with the incentive pay levels inside each range.
Ranks & Pay