More than half of recent applications to join the military came from permanent residents: DND | 24CA News

More than half of the purposes obtained this previous week from individuals trying to be a part of the Canadian navy — practically 700 — got here from everlasting residents, the Department of National Defence says.

Since the start of November, 2,670 newly arrived immigrants have volunteered to serve within the Canadian Armed Forces. It could also be an indication that a long-term development of newcomers shying away from the navy is lastly coming to an finish.

On Dec. 5, the federal authorities lifted the ban on everlasting residents becoming a member of the navy, following the instance set by allies who’ve lengthy held the door open for immigrants.

“That’s a great start,” the nation’s prime navy commander, Gen. Wayne Eyre, informed 24CA News in a year-end interview.

In the weeks main as much as the change, inquiries from everlasting residents about navy service made up barely lower than a 3rd of the overall. Since the announcement on Monday, that share has elevated to 50 per cent — or 680 purposes between Dec. 5 and eight.

The figures, though preliminary, possible come as a little bit of a reduction to Eyre, who has warned for a number of months that the navy is dealing with a important shortfall in personnel.

It’s estimated that the Armed Forces is down roughly 8,000 to 10,000 individuals from its assigned energy of 71,500 common forces personnel and 30,000 reserves.

The navy had a plan to spice up recruitment of troopers, sailors and aircrew earlier than COVID-19 hit in 2020, however attrition, the fallout from the sexual misconduct scandal and the pandemic lockdowns drove that plan off the rails.

The Armed Forces has obtained extra than 8,200 purposes since early November. Until the people are enrolled, nevertheless, they don’t seem to be thought of recruited — and that has Eyre involved.

In 2016, the auditor common criticized the Defence Department’s enrolment course of, saying it was so sluggish and tied so tightly to the navy’s timelines that many candidates merely dropped out. That criticism has been repeated over the intervening years and was heard most just lately by the House of Commons defence committee.

“The challenge we have — and I’ve challenged the team on this — saying, ‘OK, we’ve got all of these applicants, now rapidly process [and] rapidly get them through the system so that we can get to the enrolment phase,” Eyre stated, including {that a} recruitment modernization workforce is engaged on the issue.

The performing commander of the Military Personnel Command, Maj.-Gen. Lise Bourgon, underscored the problem in an interview on Friday on CBC’s Power & Politics. She stated that 2,800 new recruits have been enrolled to this point this yr — lower than half of the 5,900 individuals the navy meant to get by the door.

The Defence Department’s Director General Defence Security (DGDS) has indicated that everlasting residents will face a extra intensive safety screening course of, together with a pre-assessment to find out their eligibility.

The screening will decide whether or not an applicant has spent greater than 180 days outdoors of Canada within the final 10 years and whether or not they have visited particular international locations which may current a safety threat.

All that, says the division, will take time.

Immigrants’ views on navy might be altering

For greater than a decade, the division’s annual public opinion surveys and focus teams analyzing the general public’s notion of the Armed Forces have proven that current immigrants usually have been extra reluctant than Canadian-born residents to think about a profession within the navy.

Much of that hesitancy is linked to the truth that many newcomers come from international locations the place the navy is regarded with suspicion.

While Eyre acknowledged that reality, he stated recruiters are actually listening to one thing totally different from new Canadians as a rule — a need to serve their new nation in uniform.

“I have no doubt that there are certain — depending what country you come from — there are certain groups of recent immigrants who approach military service with some degree of trepidation,” Eyre stated.

“We have to do a better job of educating them, but we have to do a better job of educating all Canadians. Because far too many Canadians get their knowledge of the military from Hollywood, which isn’t always … correct.”