While the overall number of Armed Forces personnel is declining, Canada’s special forces last year got more personnel as part of a planned expansion.

Newly released figures from DND show that the size of Canadian special forces increased to 1,745 last year. When civilians, military police and legal staff are included, the current size of the Ottawa-based Canadian Special Operations Forces Command and related units is now around 2,200.

The DND performance report noted that funding increased from a planned $267.7 million to $295.2 million in 2014-15.

Canadian special forces consist of a headquarters as well as Joint Task Force 2, the country’s main counterterrorism and special operations unit. Both are in Ottawa.

Also included is the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit, which deals with weapons of mass destruction and is located in Trenton, the Canadian Special Operations Regiment in Petawawa, an aviation squadron in Petawawa, and a training unit.

For security reasons, the government does not provide the size of particular units.

The increase is part of an already planned expansion of special forces, including continued recruitment for the Canadian Special Operations Regiment and equipment purchases.

Canadian special forces are providing training and assistance to Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State in northern Iraq and the Liberal government is looking at how to expand the training portion of that mission.

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