There is compulsory military service in Canada.

Canada has no compulsory military service — joining the Canadian Forces is a voluntary choice, not a legal duty imposed on Canadian citizens or permanent residents. The official study guide Discover Canada describes the responsibilities of citizenship in plain terms: "Canadian citizens enjoy many rights, but Canadians also have responsibilities. They must obey Canada's laws and respect the rights and freedoms of others." Military service is conspicuously absent from that statement of duty, and nothing in the Oath of Citizenship obliges a new Canadian to bear arms.

The guide does honour the country's defence tradition. It states that "Canadians take pride in their identity and have made sacrifices to defend their way of life," recognising that generations of Canadians have stepped forward to serve in uniform. The wording, however, is deliberate — those sacrifices are presented as freely chosen contributions to the country, not as obligations enforced on every young adult through a national draft. Canada relies on volunteers who decide for themselves to take on military service.

Discover Canada places this voluntary tradition in a wider civic frame. Canada, the guide explains, is "a constitutional monarchy, a parliamentary democracy and a federal state," and Canadians are bound together by a shared commitment to the rule of law and to the institutions of parliamentary government. For 400 years, settlers and immigrants have helped build a free, law-abiding and prosperous society. Becoming a citizen means joining that tradition by obeying Canada's laws and respecting the rights of others — but the choice of how, or whether, to serve in the armed forces is left to each individual.

This point matters on the citizenship test because Discover Canada requires new citizens to learn the actual rights and responsibilities of citizenship, not the rules of any other country. Many newcomers arrive from places where every young adult must spend months or years in the armed forces, and they sometimes assume Canada follows the same model. The official guide makes the Canadian position clear: the duties of a Canadian citizen are to obey the law and respect the rights and freedoms of others, alongside the broader civic life expressed in the Oath of Citizenship. Recognising that military service is voluntary helps you understand how Canada balances individual freedom with civic duty — the country is defended by people who freely choose to serve, in keeping with the same constitutional framework that protects everyone's rights and freedoms.