Nearly 1 lakh Indians became permanent residents of Canada in 2021
Toronto: A large chunk of Indians, are now eligible to join the military following a recent announcement by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has announced that that applies to permanent residents, an IANS report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says.
The Canadian military is struggling to recruit new members to fill thousands of vacant positions.
The Department of National Defence (DND) may make a formal announcement shortly regarding the change in policy, the CIC News reported.
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.
Statistical data shows that Canada will probably welcome over a million new permanent residents between 2022 and 2024, which substantially widens the pool of candidates the military can choose from.
According to the Royal United Services Institute of Nova Scotia, a non-profit body, 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,”.
Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand had said in March 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 force; 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 would 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.
Gradual rise in the number of deaths and the relatively low fertility levels in Canada, compounds the problem further.
In such a scenario, immigrants become prime candidates for the military as they typically arrive in Canada during their younger working-age years, according to immigration experts.
*********************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com