No shit they lost interest... 18-24 months is ridiculous.
The Minister of Defense's suggestion to accept them on a probationary basis makes a lot of sense; do a quick scan for international crime/terror lists and a Canadian criminal records check, then maybe a phone call with a Canadian citizen who can confirm their identity? idk, but that ought to be quick and should catch most, then don't give them access to classified data or unsupervised postings until they pass a full security clearance.