Permanent Indian residents can now be part of Canadian military
Darpan News Desk IANS, 14 Nov, 2022 12:06 PM
Toronto, Nov 14 (IANS) The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has announced that permanent residents, which includes a large chunk of Indians, are now eligible to join the military.
The announcement came close to Remembrance Day, amidst reports that the Canadian military is struggling to recruit new members to fill thousands of vacant positions.
As of 2021, there were more than eight million immigrants with permanent residence living in Canada - roughly 21.5 per cent of the total Canadian population.
In the same year, nearly 100,000 Indians became permanent residents of Canada as the country admitted a record 405,000 new immigrants in its history.
As per data, Canada is likely to welcome more than a million new permanent residents between 2022 and 2024, which drastically widens the pool of candidates the military can choose from.
Permanent residents were previously only eligible under the Skilled Military Foreign Applicant (SMFA) entry programme, which was "open for individuals... that would reduce training costs or fill a special need... such as a trained pilot or a doctor," according to the Royal United Services Institute of Nova Scotia, a non-profit body.
The Department of National Defence (DND) is expected to make a formal announcement in the coming days regarding the change to the policy, the CIC News reported.
In March, Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said that the CAF needs to grow amid the changing global geopolitical landscape triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In September, the CAF sounded the alarm over a severe shortage of recruits to fill thousands of vacant positions
The Toronto Star reported that Canada is about 12,000 regular force troops short of it's "full strength" of 100,000 regular force members.
Women make up 16.3 per cent of the Canadian military demographic; Indigenous peoples come in at 2.7 per cent; and visible minorities make up less than 12 per cent of the Canadian military. Three-quarters of its ranks are white men.
Recently, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced that they're changing their "outdated recruitment process" to allow permanent residents, who have lived in Canada for 10 years, to apply.
Immigration targets have shot up in Canada with nearly a quarter of the population aging out of the workforce by 2030.
The shortage is made more acute by the gradual rise in the number of deaths and the relatively low fertility levels in Canada.
In such a scenario, immigrants become prime candidates for the military as they typically arrive in Canada during their younger working-age years where they are likely to be more physically active, according to immigration experts.
Eugene Lang was his chief of staff at the time and said he was well-liked by most everyone, including MPs of different political stripes. Lang said while Graham was only in the role of national defence minister for less than two years, he had many accomplishments, including the recommended appointment of Rick Hillier as chief of defence staff.
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A statement from Victoria police says 67-year-old Scott Graham was last seen in Madrid when he visited the Canadian Embassy in the Spanish capital on July 15. An active missing persons case is underway in Spain and Victoria police are matching those efforts by issuing their own appeal, in Spanish and English.
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The federal agency says it has approximately $1.4 billion worth of uncashed cheques in its coffers that have accumulated over the years, with some dating back to 1998. Each year, the CRA issues millions of payments in the form of benefits and refunds, but some cheques remain uncashed for various reasons, including misplacing a cheque or changing addresses.
Two seniors from Vancouver, a 71 year old man and 65 year old woman died on the spot. The driver of the pickup truck was taken to hospital with undetermined injuries. Impaired driving is suspected as a contributing cause to this collision.
