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Canada maintains a separate justice system for the Canadian Forces.

During the Cold War, Canada stationed army and air force units abroad for the first time during peacetime. Soldiers and airmen began to arrive in the early 1950s, shortly after the Cold War began, and remained until 1993, after it ended. In total, more than 100,000 Canadian military personnel served in France and West Germany in that period.

​HMCS Kootenay was a destroyer in the Canadian Navy. In 1969, an accident at sea killed 9 sailors and injured 53 others. It was the worst peacetime disaster in the history of the navy.

The Last Post Fund is a nonprofit organization established in 1909. The organization’s mission is to ensure a dignified funeral and burial, as well as a military-style gravestone, to all eligible veterans. The fund is closely linked to Veterans Affairs Canada.

The North Shore (NB) Regiment (NS(NB)R) is a bilingual, primary reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. It is part of the 5th Canadian Division, 37th Canadian Brigade Group. The regimental headquarters is located in Bathurst, New Brunswick. Regimental battle honours include Passchendaele, Ypres 1917 and Hill 70 (First World War); the Normandy Landing and the Battle of the Scheldt (Second World War).

In 1992–93, Canada contributed military forces to UNITAF, a United Nations–backed humanitarian mission in the African nation of Somalia. In 1993, Canadian soldiers from the now-defunct Airborne Regiment tortured and killed a Somali teenager named Shidane Arone. These and other violent abuses during the mission shocked Canadians and damaged the country’s international reputation. They also led to a public inquiry that revealed serious failures of leadership at the highest levels of the Canadian Armed Forces, kick-starting reforms aimed a professionalizing the officer corps.

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The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is the military arm of the federal government. Its role is to defend Canada’s security, interests and values and to contribute to international peace and security. There are 68,000 Regular Force and 27,000 Reserve Force members in the CAF, which includes the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Members of these three services can also be assigned to different commands, including Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC), Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The CAF is supported by 24,000 DND civilians, who are not part of the CAF.

During the Cold War, the Canadian Navy played a crucial role in antisubmarine warfare (ASW), working closely with its allies to patrol and monitor the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for Soviet submarine activity. Canada invested in new technology and continually modernized its fleet of ships and aircraft to better detect and counter Soviet submarines. It also operated strategic warning systems with its allies, particularly the United States. By the end of the Cold War, Canada had developed a very high reputation in the field.

HMCS ​Chicoutimi is one of four used submarines Canada purchased from Britain in the late 1990s.

Militia Acts provided manpower for defence. Until the 1850s, such Acts in Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick usually imposed compulsory service on males between 16 and 50 or 60, with annual or more frequent enrolment musters.

The red poppy is a symbol of Remembrance Day that was inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” written by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. Canada officially adopted the poppy as a symbol of remembrance in 1921. Red poppy pins are sold by the Royal Canadian Legion and worn by millions of Canadians in the weeks leading up to and on 11 November.

When the Second World War ended, more than a million Canadian men and women, serving in uniform, were set to return to their homes. A driving question for the country was: What was owed to the veterans?

Known as the “Queen of Battle,” the infantry is the branch of the army that provides its primary fighters. The main responsibility of infantry soldiers is to “close with and destroy the enemy.” Although they are trained, armed and equipped to fight on foot, infantry soldiers are usually transported to the battlefield by other means. Infantry soldiers can also specialize as light, mechanized, airmobile, airborne and other types. The characteristics of infantry are mobility, firepower, flexibility, communications and vulnerability (to enemy action). Infantry soldiers are trained in a wide range of individual and crew-served weapons and work with the all-arms team of reconnaissance, armour, artillery, air defence, engineers, tactical aviation and other combat specialists. Except for a brief time during the feudal period (when cavalry dominated), the infantry has been the largest single component of armies since ancient times. In Canada, the infantry has always been the army’s largest element.

The armed forces are the land, naval and air forces commanded by the federal government for the purpose of defending Canada's security, protecting its citizens, and promoting its strategic interests at home or abroad. The armed forces have evolved since colonial times from small, local militia units to the modern professional military forces of today.

RMC opened 1 June 1876 at Kingston, Ontario. It stands on the site of significant historic events. Kingston had been established as a refugee settlement for United Empire Loyalists in 1783-84.

For much of its history, the Canadian military had a policy of punishing or purging LGBTQ members among their ranks. During the Cold War, the military increased its efforts to identify and remove suspected LGBTQ servicemen and women due to expressed concerns about blackmail and national security. In 1992, a court challenge led to the reversal of these discriminatory practices. The federal government officially apologized in 2017.

On 1 February 1968, the Canadian Forces Reorganization Act (Bill C-243) came into effect, and the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force ceased to exist as separate entities. The three previously separate armed services were combined into a unified Canadian Armed Forces. Liberal Minister of Defence Paul Hellyer drove the change. Its merits were widely debated before and after the Act came into effect. By 2014, many of the changes introduced by unification had been reversed.