Permanent residents can now be part of Canadian military; Indians likely to benefit
Toronto (PTI): The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have announced that permanent residents, which includes a large number of Indians, will now be allowed to enlist, as the military struggles with low recruitment levels, according to a media report.
The move also comes five years after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced that they're changing their "outdated recruitment process" which will allow permanent residents who have lived in Canada for 10 years to apply, CTV News reported.
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 not-for-profit association of retired and serving members of the CAF.
Right now, candidates must be citizens of Canada, over 18 years old (or 16, providing they have parental consent), and have a grade 10 or grade 12 education depending on if they plan to enlist as an officer. This will also apply to permanent residents.
The CAF sounded an alarm in September over a severe shortage of recruits to fill thousands of vacant positions, meeting about half the number of applicants it needs per month to meet the goal of adding 5,900 members this year.
While the armed forces haven't said whether the recent move was made to boost recruitment, Christian Leuprecht, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada, says that it makes good sense.
"In the past, the CAF has had the luxury of being able to limit itself to citizens because it has had enough applicants. This is no longer the case," Leuprecht told CTVNews.ca in an email.
"The CAF had resisted opening up the ranks to permanent residents because it does create additional burdens and risks, in terms of security clearances, for instance."
But recruiting non-citizens isn't by any means something new, he points out, arguing many other countries have done this for years.
"Countries such as France use military service as either a pathway to citizenship or an accelerated pathway to citizenship; but since Canadian citizenship is relatively easy for permanent residents to obtain, it's not clear that would offer a major incentive in the Canadian case," he said.
In March, Defence Minister Anita Anand said that the CAF needs to grow if it is to meet global demands triggered by Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
"Time is of the essence in everything we do when so much is at stake for Canada and for the world. We are facing the greatest threat to international peace and stability since the end of the Second World War," she said in a press conference at the time.
"What can a country like ours, an incredible country like ours, bring to the table?"
The change comes as Canada has released the Immigration Levels Plan for 2023-2025. The plan is targeting about 500,000 new permanent residents in Canada per year by the end of 2025. This may drastically widen the pool of candidates the military has to choose from.
Nearly 1 lakh Indians became permanent residents of Canada in 2021. One in five people coming to Canada were born in India, the Statistics Canada data shows, making it the top country of birth for recent arrivals.
According to the census 2021, nearly a quarter of Canadians are or have been landed immigrants or permanent residents. Immigrants are also prime candidates for the military as they typically arrive in Canada during their younger working-age years when they are likely to be more physically active.
Opening recruitment to permanent residents will also change the demographic makeup of the military, which presently has less than 12 per cent visible minorities and 16 per cent women. The remaining three-quarters are white males.
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UDF leaders see local body poll trends as pointer to 2026 Assembly elections in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Buoyed by the strong performance of the Congress-led UDF in the local body polls, KPCC president Sunny Joseph said on Saturday that the front's results indicated the people had rejected the LDF government.
According to early trends, the UDF was leading in more grama panchayats, block panchayats, municipalities and corporations than the LDF.
The local body polls were held in two phases in the state earlier this week.
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Speaking to reporters here, Joseph said the people of Kerala had extended their support to the UDF.
"We could expose the LDF government’s anti-people stance and the people understood it. The LDF’s fake propaganda was rejected by the people. The UDF is moving towards a historic victory," he said.
He said a united effort, proper preparations, good candidate selection and hard work had resulted in the Congress and the UDF’s victory in the elections.
Asked about the prospects in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Joseph said the party was studying the matter and would comment later.
LDF convenor T P Ramakrishnan said the results would be closely examined.
According to him, the government had done everything possible for the people.
"Why such a verdict happened will be examined at the micro level. People’s opinion will be considered and further steps will be taken," he said.
He added that decisions would be taken after analysing the results. "If any corrective measures are required, we will initiate them and move forward," he said.
AICC leader K C Venugopal said the results showed that people had begun ousting those who, he alleged, were responsible for the loss of gold at Lord Ayyappa’s temple.
"This trend will continue in the Assembly elections as well. It is an indication that the people are ready to bring down the LDF government," he said.
Venugopal said the UDF had registered victories even in CPI(M) and LDF strongholds.
"I congratulate all UDF workers for their hard work. Congress workers and leaders worked unitedly," he said.
Referring to remarks made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the Congress on polling day, Venugopal said the voters had responded through the verdict.
"I do not know whether the chief minister understands that the people are against him. Otherwise, he does not know the sentiment of the people. The state government cannot move an inch further," he said.
He said the results indicated a strong comeback for the UDF in Kerala.
Asked whether the Sabarimala gold loss issue had affected the LDF in the local polls, Venugopal said the CM and the CPI(M) state secretary did not take the issue seriously.
"We took a strong stand on the matter. The BJP played a foul game in it," he alleged.
On the BJP's role in the local body elections, Venugopal alleged that the party operated with the CPI(M) 's tacit support.
"The CPI(M) supported the central government on issues such as PM-SHRI, labour codes and corruption in national highway construction. The CPI(M) is facing ideological decline, and the state government’s policies are against the party’s own decisions," he said.
Meanwhile, LDF ally Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K Mani said the party could not win all the wards it had expected in the elections.
He congratulated winners from all parties and said the party would closely examine the losses and identify shortcomings. "Later, we will take corrective measures," he added.
Senior Congress leader and MP Rajmohan Unnithan said the trends in the local body elections indicated that the UDF would return to power in the 2026 Assembly elections.
"We will win 111 seats as in 1977 and return to power in 2026. The anti-government sentiment of the people is reflected in the elections," he said.
Unnithan said the people were disturbed and unhappy with the present government.
"The trend indicates the end of the LDF government," he added.
CPI(M) MLA M M Mani said the people had shown ingratitude towards the LDF despite benefiting from welfare schemes.
"After receiving all welfare schemes and living comfortably, people voted against us due to some temporary sentiments. Is that not ingratitude," he asked.
Mani said no such welfare initiatives had taken place in Kerala earlier.
"People are receiving pensions and have enough to eat. Even after getting all this, they voted against us. This is what can be called ingratitude," he said.
Muslim League state president Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said the results were beyond expectations.
"The outcome points towards the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, indicating that a change of government is imminent. We are going to win the Assembly election," he said.
