Pre "Unification" Canadian Military

The CF of today draws on the traditions and heritage of colonial militias dating back to the earliest French and British settlements in North America. The oldest CF units are in the army Reserve, and the army uses two criteria to determine the age of a unit: the date of its formation as a regiment, and the length of its unbroken service from that date.

The Regular Force (originally called the Permanent Active Militia) began on October 20, 1871 with the formation of two independent garrison batteries of artillery designated A Battery and B Battery. These units were formed in response to the British government's decision to withdraw most of its forces from Canada after Confederation, which left the Dominion government in need of professional soldiers to maintain the armament of Canada's two great fortresses: Fort Henry in Kingston, Ontario and the Citadel in Québec City. Regular infantry and cavalry regiments soon followed, formed in the 1880s as schools of instruction for the "Non-Permanent Active Militia", or Reserve.

Canada's navy originated with the Naval Service Act of 1910. The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) acquired its first warships, the cruisers HMCS Niobe and HMCS Rainbow, in the same year. The Canadian air force was formed in 1920 as the Canadian Air Force (a Reserve organization), and received Permanent Force status and Royal designation (RCAF) on April 1, 1924.