More than half of the applications received last week from people wishing to join the Canadian military – nearly 700 – were from permanent residents, according to the Department of National Defence.
Since the beginning of November, 2,670 newly arrived immigrants have volunteered to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces. This may be a sign that a long-term trend of newcomers fleeing the military is finally coming to an end.
On December 5, the federal government lifted the ban on permanent residents joining the military, following the example set by allies who have long held the door open to immigrants.
“It’s a great start,” the nation’s top military commander, General Wayne Eyre, told CBC News in a year-end interview.
In the weeks leading up to the change, permanent resident applications for military service accounted for just under a third of the total. Since Monday’s announcement, this share has increased to 50%, or 680 applications between December 5 and 8.
The numbers, though preliminary, probably provide some relief to Eyre, who has been warning for several months that the military is facing critical personnel shortages.
The armed forces are estimated to be down about 8,000 to 10,000 personnel from their assigned strength of 71,500 regular forces and 30,000 reservists.
The Army had a plan to boost recruitment of soldiers, sailors and aircrew before COVID-19 hit in 2020, but attrition, the fallout from the sexual misconduct scandal and pandemic shutdowns have made derail this plan.
The Armed Forces have received more than 8,200 applications since early November. Until individuals are registered, however, they are not considered recruited – and that worries Eyre.
In 2016, the Auditor General criticized the Department of Defense’s registration process, saying it was so slow and tied to military deadlines that many applicants simply gave up. This complaint has been repeated over the years and was heard most recently by the House of Commons Defense Committee.
“The challenge we have – and I challenged the team on this – saying, ‘OK, we’ve got all these candidates, now deal with it quickly. [and] get them through the system quickly so we can move into the enrollment phase,” Eyre said, adding that a recruiting modernization team is working on the issue.
The acting commander of the Military Personnel Command, Maj. Gen. Lise Bourgon, highlighted the challenge in an interview Friday with CBC Political power. She said 2,800 new recruits have been drafted so far this year – less than half of the 5,900 people the army wanted to get through the door.
The Director General of Defense Security (DGDS) at the Ministry of Defense has indicated that permanent residents will undergo a more intensive security screening process, including a pre-assessment to determine their admissibility.
Screening will determine if an applicant has spent more than 180 days outside of Canada in the last 10 years and if they have visited specific countries that may pose a security risk.
All of this, the ministry says, will take time.
Immigrants’ view of the military may change
For more than a decade, the Department’s annual opinion polls and focus groups examining public perception of the Armed Forces have shown that recent immigrants are generally more reluctant than Canadian-born citizens to consider a career in the military.
Much of this hesitation has to do with the fact that many newcomers come from countries where the military is viewed with suspicion.
While Eyre acknowledged that fact, he said recruiters now hear something different from new Canadians more often than not – a desire to serve their new country in uniform.
“I have no doubt that there are certain — depending on what country you’re from — certain groups of recent immigrants who approach military service with some trepidation,” Eyre said.
“We need to do a better job of educating them, but we need to do a better job of educating all Canadians. Because far too many Canadians get their military knowledge from Hollywood, which isn’t always… correct.”
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