A call to arms
The Asian Pacific Post ("recognised by The Georgia Straight as the best English language ethnic media in the 'Best of Vancouver 2003' awards"--scroll down at links for the text) makes some very good points:
Max Hastings, for his part, says the British Army is still up for the call to arms whilst he argues well the negative interpretation of the situation there.
Why are all the Canadian soldiers being killed in Afghanistan white?Via Peter Worthington--and I agree with his conclusion:
Where are our new Canadians from China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and the rest of Asia?..
...visible minorities are vastly under-represented in the Canadian Armed Forces. It is a entirely different world from that found on our home soil.
Of the 1.6 million new Canadians between 2001 and 2006, the vast majority — 1.2 million — were new immigrants, mostly from Asia...
But it is apparent that Canadian minority groups are shunning our military.
A random sampling of the ethnic communities in B.C., for the purpose of this opinion piece, drew some unfortunate responses.
“I don’t think Chinese families see careers for their children in the military,” said a Richmond-based political activist.
At a Vancouver Sikh temple, a group of devotees were in unison – “we did not come to Canada to fight”.
“No way.. I brought my sons here so they did not have to join the national draft,” said a South Korean businessman.
The prevailing attitude is that joining the Canadian military means fighting and going to war.
There was little recognition of duty, valor, peacekeeping, disaster aid and the right – no, the obligation of Canadian citizens to defend the values we all came to Canada for.
If we as new Canadians do not hesitate to fight for equal rights, we must also not hesitate to defend those rights.
Our strength as new Canadians must not only be measured in economic terms.
We must permeate and be present in all aspects of Canada.
That includes the Canadian Forces.
Bravo, Asian Pacific Post! It's an attitude the rest of Canada's (North America's) mainstream media might emulate, had they the courage.Meanwhile back at Afghanistan, the circle is squared:
Liberal MP and defence critic Denis Coderre rejected the view that the Afghan mission is a bust.Got that folks?
"The Conservative approach regarding Afghanistan is a failure, but the mission itself is not a failure. It is noble," he said...
Max Hastings, for his part, says the British Army is still up for the call to arms whilst he argues well the negative interpretation of the situation there.
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 4:01 p.m.
3 Comments:
I don't know what to make of it. It's an interesting criticism, but kind of a so-what at the same time.
Even if 1/5th of Canada (and 3%) of the CF are visible minorities, there's no guarantee that they are all going to select the riskier combat trades in equal proportions. They may well be over-represented in other specialties, like medicine, law or logistics. According to this DND study, women are heavily represented in medical/dental trades but barely present in combat arms.
Is this because the CF makes it difficult for women to join that trade? Or that there aren't enough women who find that trade particularly appealing? Or that women are more apt to select trades with the best post-mil-career options?
Who knows--the data that gets released really doesn't tell us. But I'm thinking there's more to it than simple "the hell if I die for this country" lack of patriotism.
This likely means nothing but my paternal family (from Poland) took a pass on WW1, only to have 4 brothers fight the good fight in WW2. Like the folks in the article, my family left Poland because of oppresion and forced military service (with the Germans!). My point - maybe it will take a generation of two before they come around. Come to think of it, a Sikh\Gurka Regiment based in Surrey come about 2030 would be kind of cool.
Max Hastings is smart as they come but I've never been able to get into his writing.
Did you notice any non-white people paying tribute to our fallen soldiers on the Hwy 401 overpasses?
Look at the people next time.
Draw your own conclusions.
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