On Cue
Non-white military might needs boost
Despite Canadian Forces ad campaigns targeting women, aboriginals and visible minorities, recruitment numbers remain stubbornly lowAnthony Salloum, program director for the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute, said it's "problematic" to have low representation of aboriginals and visible minorities in any key public sector. He believes many aren't signing up because they don't support the war in Afghanistan or are turned off by the "Fight" campaign ads.
"That might be appealing to some sectors of our society, but you're not speaking the language of many of our ethnic minorities, including those who come from war-torn regions," he said. "Many of them are coming to Canada for peace, so the idea of joining up to 'Fight' may not be an appealing message. It's a very aggressive word and that might be really muting the enthusiasm of our visible minority communities to join the armed forces."
posted by WE Speak at 7:42 a.m.
5 Comments:
The whole premise is stupid. This is an all volunteer force, you recruit who will join. Who cares what colour, gender, etc... that they are willing to join is a big plus. Now if you can prove to me that they are turning away healthy white males and then saying that they are not meeting the recruiting numbers,then we have a problem.
Dwayne, while I'd agree that you recruit those who are qualified, first and foremost, there are valid secondary considerations if more qualified applicants turn up at your doors than you can bring into the CF.
One in five Canadian adults was born somewhere other than Canada. We are a nation of immigrants to a large degree. If we want the CF to have a connection with the population of Canada - and that's a very strong theme at this blog - then the Cdn population needs to feel like our soldiers, sailors, and airmen/women are representative of them.
It should never be the first consideration, but it's important nevertheless.
Having said that, Salloum is, predictably, right off his rocker about the "Fight" campaign. The latest commercial shows our navy taking on drug and weapons smugglers under the "Fight Chaos" theme. And if "Fight" is too aggressive a word for 1st generation immigrants, then maybe we need to go after the Canadianized 2nd generation instead.
Because you can't have an effective CF without members who are willing, first and foremost, to FIGHT for their country.
BB, if they come knocking down the doors to join I say take them, but that one in five that were born elsewhere are not coming into the recruiting centre, and neither are their kids. You can send all the recruiters into the high schools and the reservations etc but in the end the person that walks through the door with the understanding that they may have to make the ultimate sacrifice, and not just "get a job" is who we want regardless of colour, race or creed.
but that one in five that were born elsewhere are not coming into the recruiting centre, and neither are their kids.
I'm going to wait until tomorrow afternoon to address that in more detail.
Dwayne, I can tell you without question that immigrants are flocking to CFRC Toronto to join up. It's not likely going to happen, but if we could recruit landed immigrants into the CF with citizenship at the end of a fixed term, we'd hit whatever recruiting targets you care to suggest, and we'd be a lot further down the road to diversifying the CF to reflect the ever-changing face of the Canadian population at large, which as I indicated earlier, is a valid secondary recruiting goal.
And I can tell you that that advice has been passed along to the Chief of Military Personnel, MGen Walter Semianiw.
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