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Recently, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced that they're changing their "outdated recruitment process" to allow permanent residents, who have lived in Canada for 10 years, to apply.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.
Daylight time, which sees people enjoy an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day starting March 13, ends on Sunday. Experts say the tradition of springing forward and falling back in time every year is taxing on individuals' health.
The Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association and HealthCareCAN, an association representing health organizations and hospitals, have issued a list of steps governments should take to fix the country’s health-care system.
A police statement says the 24-year-old was shot late Thursday night and was rushed to hospital but is not expected to survive. A second shooting was reported about four kilometres away in the neighbouring municipality of Delta, roughly an hour after the Surrey attack.
Via release, police say that this is a targeted shooting and appears to be related to the Lower Mainland Gang Conflict and the victim was the target. The victim has been transported to the hospital for treatment.
A bill introduced by the Liberal government to temporarily double the rebate became law last month with unanimous support from opposition parties. The NDP has long advocated for the measure to help low- and modest-income Canadians cope with the rising cost of living.
RCMP were called to the 92nd Avenue and King George Boulevard area in the neighbourhood of Whalley just after 10 p.m. Thursday for a report of a shooting. When officers arrived, they found the injured victim.
