Follow Canada Immigration and Canada Life: To attract Chinese-Canadian and ethnic minority immigrants to join the army, the Canadian military launched a 3-year research project, interviewing more than 1,600 Chinese-Canadians, and found that only 1% of youth aged 16 to 34 chose the military as a career, while nearly 80% of Chinese-Canadian parents do not encourage their children to join the military.
The report also points out that Chinese-Canadians prefer traditional high-income professions like doctors and lawyers, and associate military service with high danger, low income, and being far from home. The military urges Chinese-Canadian parents to support their children joining the military.
A report published in June 2011 showed that Chinese-Canadians lack sufficient understanding and interest in the Canadian military, especially the parents. Nearly 80% of parents said they would not recommend the military as a career to their children, and some Chinese-Canadians even consider joining the military as a fallback option if they fail to get into university.
The report suggests that if the Canadian military hopes to recruit more Chinese-Canadians, it needs to improve the Chinese-Canadian community's understanding of military service, while emphasizing that soldiers enjoy respected social status and high education levels, and that joining the military is also an expression of patriotism.
Canadian military spokesperson Lindsay Hughes told Sing Tao Daily that the military welcomes men and women from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, promotes a fair and equal environment, and opposes all forms of racial discrimination. She said: "Through different measures, we hope that different ethnic groups will increase their knowledge of the Canadian military and be able to choose military service as a career."
The Canadian military, under the Department of National Defence, includes the Army, Navy, and Air Force. As of November 2013, the total number of personnel in the Canadian military was 95,800, but there were only 700+ Chinese-Canadian soldiers.
