March 18, 2010

Canadian soldiers on the streets of Vancouver during the Winter Olympics gave a positive impression of the military and encouragement for youths who are looking for a career in Canada's armed forces.

Being conspicuous was just part of the job of securing the Olympics venues. Not only were they visible on the streets but they also seen  in the mountains and forests around the Olympic venues.

It was the largest peacetime military operation in Canadian history. Our armed forces comprising 4,500 soldiers, sailors and aircrew were part of the total of 15,000 Olympic security forces.

Lack of visibility is just one difficulty in recruiting for our military says Douglas Bland, chairman of Queen's University's defence studies program: Out of sight, out of the thoughts of possible recruits.

"In downtown Toronto, where you don't see anybody in uniform, there is no connection" laments Bland, a retired army lieutenant colonel. Soldiers in uniform are walking reminders of a career in Canada's armed forces.

There are historic reasons why Canada's military bases are not very visible. Many are located in rural locations because before World War I, most Canadians lived on farms. It was logical to place recruiting bases near to potential recruits where teenaged-boys from farms and villages could sign up.

While 80 per cent of Canadians now live in cities the military bases remain rural. Soldiers in uniform are seldom seen.

The urban/rural split is illustrated in the demographics of Canada's armed forces. The six metropolitan areas with populations of over one million people -- Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary and Edmonton -- account for 45 per cent of the total population but only 20 per cent of the military.

It's not just visibility that contributes to the disproportionately low participation of urban dwellers. Jobs are relatively plentiful in cities but areas of high unemployment attract more recruits because the military pays comparatively well. Whether it's the decline of the family farm or the collapse of resource bases such forestry or fishing, a military career is desirable job. It's a way out of economically depressed regions, "an institution for social mobility within a society," explains one military professor.

That factor, too, is reflected in the demographics. The four Atlantic Provinces have only seven per cent of the national population but more than three times that percentage of recruits. Saskatchewan's participation represents double its share of the population although that province's recent boom may reverse that trend.
 

Another thing that Olympic visitors would have noticed is that most of our soldiers are white.

"Who fights for Canada? Young white men, that's who fights," Professor Bland puts it bluntly. While 16 per cent of the general population is from visible minorities, only three per cent of the Forces are. Aboriginals are a closer match with four per cent in the general population and three per cent in the Forces.

Unless corrected, that contrast will increase as visible minorities increase. In only two decades, the visible minority will be white on the streets of Vancouver and Toronto according to projections by Statistics Canada.

Recruiting from current visible minorities represents multiple challenges. Not only are soldiers invisible on the streets where most immigrants live but even where they are visible there are few non-white soldiers to serve as role models.

As well, immigrants belong to close-knit families who are trying to get their feet on the ground in their adopted country. Parents are not likely to encourage sons and daughters to choose a career which takes them away to some remote base.

And soldiers on the street may be negative reminders of the war-torn countries that immigrants escaped from; an unlikely career for their children.

These barriers to recruitment can be overcome. Second and third generation visible minorities are more likely to express an interest in a military career as families become more established and integrated into society.

But one persistent barrier to recruitment is the lack of public connection to Canada's current military objectives. Many Canadians still see themselves as global peacekeepers and that we are only in Afghanistan because we feel obliged by U.S. to be there.

While the government has made a commitment to Afghanistan, Canadians would be hard pressed to explain what we are doing in that desolate country.

Canadians don't feel engaged by the mission. "The army's at war," says Bland, "and Canada's at peace."



 

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca