Canadian military to broaden its horizons
Armed Forces seek to recruit more women, new citizens, members of LGBTQ community
OTTAWA— Canada’s military is going all out to erase its reputation for intolerance and misogyny, aiming to recast itself instead as welcoming to Canadians of all races, religions and sexual orientations.
The effort — driven by several factors, including a need to bolster its dwindling numbers — includes a comprehensive effort to connect with and recruit women, new citizens and members of the LGBTQ community.
The Trudeau government’s plan to invest an extra $62 billion in the military over the next 20 years includes hiring 3,500 more full-time personnel and1,500 part-time reservists, numbers that would bring the ranks of the armed forces to their highest level since the end of the Cold War.
First, though, comes a significant and persistent challenge: getting more Canadians to join.
The Forces have struggled for years to hit recruiting numbers, resulting in thousands of unfilled positions such as pilots and technicians.
That’s why fixing the recruiting system is a top priority, said Lt.-Gen. Charles Lamarre, the chief of military personnel.
Central to that goal is making the military more inclusive, diverse and attractive to all Canadians, regardless of their backgrounds.
“Our population doesn’t look like all white guys,” Lamarre said.
A Toronto LGBTQ program for transgender youth is breaking down barriers and bringing communities together through free noncompetitive sports programming.
Spark: Trans Youth Sports, a program designed to give transgender youth aged 16 to 29 “the chance to explore sport in a safe environment,” is offered by The 519, a city of Toronto agency that provides support to the LGBTQ community.
“It has been a very rich experience and I get to meet different people,” Eli Carmona, 27, said.
“It’s not just doing sports. We’ve done cooking, we went to a winter retreat together to explore different types of activities and it was an amazing experience.”
Spark recently wrapped up working with Charlie’s FreeWheels builda-bike program. Beginning July 6, they’ll launch a six-week sailing program on Lake Ontario in partnership with the Broad Reach Foundation for Youth Leaders.
Broad Reach works to help youth defined as at-risk or disadvantaged through “the sport, science and mastery of sailing,” according to its executive director, Marguerite Pyron.
“(Sailing) bridges the gap between people who have a lot and people who don’t to create an environment where there is closer engagement with the diverse population in the community to help the youth believe in themselves,” she said.
Luke Fox, Spark’s co-ordinator, says the program helps the transgender community engage people across the city.
“It has been a really unique and incredible opportunity to watch folks grow,” Fox said. “To be able to offer programs that I wanted to access when I was a youth is really meaningful.”
When Spark uses spaces outside of The 519, they offer transgender inclusion workshops with the host organization’s staff.
“Maybe the organization doesn’t feel as confident in certain areas. We like to go in ahead of time and work with them to build up their confidence around trans inclusion so that we know when we access that space, everyone feels comfortable and they’re entering this space with a shared understanding,” Fox said.
Pyron is excited for the trans-inclusive training her staff will receive.
“A lot of volunteers in our program have not so much exposure to the LGBTQ community because sailing is still very much a traditional discipline,” she said. “We’re breaking some ceilings and barriers and that’s a good thing.”
Fox hopes the spaces Spark uses remain accessible to the transgender community long after their six-week experiences.
He wants to expand Spark’s inclusion-based sports programming across the province and beyond, too.
“It builds a lot of confidence among participants in being able to build relationships with people,” Fox said.