Military service of person

Status: This standard was approved as a departmental standard on July 31, 2026.

Definition

Military service refers to whether the person is currently serving, has previously served in the Canadian military or has never served. Military service can be in the Regular Force or the Reserve Force.

Person refers to an individual and is the unit of analysis for most social statistics programs.

Usage

What constitutes 'military service' may vary depending on the program. As such, the definition of military service for each program should be specified.

This standard does not apply to programs seeking information regarding foreign military service.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

There are no relevant internationally recognized standards.

Relation to previous version

• Military service of person July 31, 2026 to current

  The name of the concept has been changed from "military service status" to "military service".

• Military service status of person April 01, 2021 to July 30, 2026

  This standard was replaced by the 'Military service of person' as of July 31, 2026.