The CAF recruitment system is failing everyone: J.L. Granatstein for Inside Policy

2026/05/11 Leave a comment

Not the principle but the details need to be fixed:

…Very simply, the problems with the CAF’s recruiting system have not yet been remedied. Yes, permanent residents and naturalized citizens should be encouraged to join the military, but not until they can speak, read, and understand French and/or English and are adapted to Canadian life and the military’s expectations. Yes, those with medical problems should be enlisted, but only if they have been properly screened in the recruitment process. And certainly, the CAF should not accept candidates who cannot read, write, or comprehend instruction at an acceptable standard.

To judge by his long memorandum with its substantiated recommendations, Kieley is a very able officer doing his best to deal with the difficulties he and his understrength staff face. The generals in Ottawa had changed the rules to speed up recruiting with good intentions but had failed to consider the possible consequences. The recruiting officers across the country too often pushed the unqualified to Saint-Jean, and Kieley had to clean up the mess. It’s almost as if NHL scouts sent those who cannot skate to training camp. This cannot work.

This matters because such applicants at the CAF’s Leadership and Training School cost DND money and take spots from better-qualified candidates. It also matters because General Carignan is studying options to expand the CAF to as many as 85,500 regular force members. “In the next month or so,” the CDS told the CBC in April, “we will be able to present various options, and the discussion is going very well,” Carignan said. “There is a lot of interest in doing this.”

Canada needs a bigger and better Canadian Armed Forces, and the Carney government is putting much money (and much of its credibility) into getting this program right. But if the recruitment process does not speed up and function properly, that investment will achieve little. The generals at National Defence Headquarters and officers in recruiting centres across Canada must fix these problems now.

Source: The CAF recruitment system is failing everyone: J.L. Granatstein for Inside Policy

Filed under Immigration, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

Success rate for basic training in Canadian military drops

2026/05/01 Leave a comment

Good intentions but problematic selection and integration processes. Some of the details are indeed disturbing…:

The success rate for basic training in the Canadian military has dropped to 77 per cent over the past fiscal year as the Canadian Armed Forces grapple with the impact of recruiting changes designed to boost enrolment, according to a leaked internal report.

That compares with a historical average of 85 per cent, according to an internal January, 2026, report by Lieutenant-Colonel Marc Kieley, commandant of the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School (CFLRS) in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. 

His report covers the first three quarters of the 2025-26 fiscal year, which began on April 1 last year.

The number of candidates requiring multiple attempts to graduate rose to 14.89 per cent, far higher than 8.44 per cent in the previous year and significantly above other recent annual rates.

The school conducts basic military qualification (BMQ) training and basic military officer qualification (BMOQ) training for the Forces.

In recent years, the federal government, in an effort boost the size of the military, has opened recruiting to foreign nationals who are permanent residents, begun accepting recruits with certain pre-existing medical conditions and dropped aptitude test requirements, among other changes….

Source: Success rate for basic training in Canadian military drops, Juno, who uncovered the memo, more sensationalist take: EXCLUSIVE: CAF training platoon with 83% non-citizens devolved into ethnic infighting

Filed under Multiculturalism, Immigration Tagged with , , ,

Nécessaires ou trop chères, les missions de recrutement à l’étranger ?

2025/07/17 Leave a comment

Wonder whether any comparable analysis in other provinces:

Alors que Québec instaurait déjà des resserrements à l’immigration temporaire, le même gouvernement a continué à dépenser des millions pour embaucher à l’étranger lors des Journées Québec. Des mesures de recrutement existent toujours dans d’autres ministères, pendant que l’avenir de ces missions du ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) fait encore l’objet d’une étude.

Québec et Ottawa ont tour à tour gelé les embauches de travailleurs temporaires à bas salaire il y a près d’un an. Le ministre québécois de l’Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, a annoncé en novembre que les missions de recrutement seraient mises sur pause aux fins de « cohéren[ce] avec [les] objectifs de réduction des résidents non permanents », indique aujourd’hui son cabinet.

Encore essentielles pour certains, « du gaspillage » pour d’autres, les missions gouvernementales à l’étranger n’ont finalement été suspendues qu’en janvier 2025. L’an dernier, elles auront coûté plus de 5 millions de dollars pour recruter 762 travailleurs, dont près de 1 million au sein du MIFI.

De toutes les embauches, le MIFI ne sait dire combien de personnes ont réellement atterri au Québec et occupent les emplois visés.

« Ce qu’on faisait et qu’on continue à faire, c’est du travail chirurgical pour répondre à des besoins précis pour des travailleurs qualifiés », explique Stéphane Paquet, président-directeur général de Montréal International, « pas pour aller chercher du cheap labor ». La région de Montréal et de Laval a beau être soumise à un gel de l’embauche à bas salaire, ces besoins « n’ont pas disparu, au contraire » : de tous les postes vacants au Québec, trois sur cinq se trouvent dans l’agglomération montréalaise, rappelle-t-il.

La situation de la Capitale-Nationale et de Chaudière-Appalaches « reste particulière », avec des taux de chômage plus bas que la moyenne provinciale, ce qui crée des « tensions sur l’emploi », ajoute Carl Viel, président-directeur général de Québec International.

Les deux organisations et Drummond économique ont vu leur financement gouvernemental, d’un total d’environ 4,3 millions de dollars, prendre fin le 31 mars dernier. Ils ont alors dû remercier plus d’une dizaine de personnes.

« Le besoin existe malgré les restrictions de nature parfois politique », soutient aussi Anthony Chiasson-Leblanc, consultant réglementé en immigration et cofondateur d’Equinox World. Il dénonce toutefois que le MIFI « se soit improvisé recruteur » et « prenne la place du privé » dans un marché où l’expérience sur le terrain est cruciale.

Il croit que ce n’est pas aux « deniers publics » à payer pour le recrutement, ou du moins pas dans cette formule des Journées Québec, « où il y a beaucoup de pertes d’efficacité », dit-il. M. Chiasson-Leblanc mentionne à ce titre des publicités mal ciblées et des rencontres tenues dans des endroits éloignés des bassins réels de recrutement, par exemple.

Ce n’est pas la première fois que ce recrutement est perçu comme un « double discours », selon ses mots. Ou en tout cas comme un « paradoxe », comme mentionné par le Conseil du patronat en 2023 quand Le Devoir a révélé que Québec investissait des dizaines de millions de dollars pour trouver des travailleurs à l’étranger.

Fluctuations importantes

Le succès de telles journées semble aussi à géométrie variable. Au Mexique, en mai 2024, l’opération aura coûté 5359 $ par embauche ; d’autres missions, respectivement en Colombie et au Maroc, n’ont dépensé que 80 $ ou 225 $ en moyenne par travailleur recruté, apprend-on dans le Cahier explicatif des crédits 2024-2025.

Certains événements de recrutement se sont tenus exclusivement en ligne, notamment en Europe, où 139 435 $ ont été dépensés en frais de promotion pour quatre jours. Ces frais « comprennent les honoraires de l’agence de publicité et les dépenses liées aux achats médias », précise par courriel le MIFI.

Aux yeux de certains recruteurs privés, cette publicité est un coup d’épée dans l’eau. « La meilleure façon de trouver est à travers un réseau de contacts établis et avec des recruteurs locaux », poursuit M. Chiasson-Leblanc.

« Oui, c’est sûr que le chiffre d’embauches a de l’importance, mais les employeurs ne cherchent pas tous le même type de candidats ou de niveau d’expertise », souligne Stéphane Paquet, qui veut décourager toute comparaison des missions.

Les démarches étant parfois longues, certaines embauches pourraient ne pas être comptabilisées dans les statistiques « à la fermeture des livres », répond le MIFI.

Québec International parle aussi d’une « planification sur plusieurs années », qui permettait par exemple à des candidats à l’excellent profil professionnel d’améliorer leur français d’une année à l’autre.

Confiance

Les trois organisations assurent que les fonds publics étaient utilisés à bon escient. « Ce n’est pas le gouvernement qui recrute, ce sont les entreprises. On restait un service d’accompagnement », fait valoir le p.-d.g. de Montréal International. L’organisme recrute à l’étranger depuis 2010, et l’appui du MIFI lui permettait d’avoir « une meilleure vitesse de croisière » et de coûter moins cher aux entreprises elles-mêmes.

Ces trois agences de promotion économique ont par ailleurs prévu des missions du même genre que les Journées Québec, notamment à Paris en novembre prochain, mais, cette fois, sans appui financier du MIFI.

« C’est important pour nous de maintenir les liens avec les différentes autorités sur les territoires », note Carl Viel, comme le Pôle emploi en France.

Le sceau gouvernemental donnait aussi l’assurance de faire affaire avec « des tiers de confiance », poursuit-il.

Anthony Chiasson-Leblanc rejette l’argument, rappelant que des campagnes frauduleuses utilisant les noms « Journées Québec » ou « Recrutement Santé Québec » ont même été orchestrées. À ses yeux, la confiance se bâtit dans un processus à plusieurs au moyen d’entrevues préalables et, le cas échéant, d’un test de compétence effectué « directement sur la machinerie » une fois la personne sur place.

Le gouvernement de François Legault demande au fédéral de réduire de 50 % le plafond de certaines catégories de résidents non permanents. Le ministre Roberge a récemment demandé à son homologue fédérale d’appliquer une « clause de type grand-père » aux compagnies en région, une revendication de longue date des associations d’affaires.

La décision sur l’avenir des Journées Québec « sera prise en temps et lieu » après les consultations de l’automne prochain sur la planification pluriannuelle, nous signale le cabinet du ministre de l’Immigration.

Les changements successifs et rapides en matière d’immigration, dont les restrictions de l’immigration permanente, commencent à ternir la réputation du Québec à l’étranger, croit Stéphane Paquet. « Plusieurs grandes sociétés vont décider de faire venir les travailleurs ailleurs qu’ici, comme à Toronto ou dans une autre ville de l’Amérique du Nord. »…

Source: Nécessaires ou trop chères, les missions de recrutement à l’étranger ?

While Quebec was already introducing tightening of temporary immigration, the same government continued to spend millions to hire abroad during the Quebec Days. Recruitment measures still exist in other ministries, while the future of these missions of the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) is still under study.

Quebec City and Ottawa have in turn frozen the hiring of low-wage temporary workers almost a year ago. Quebec’s Minister of Immigration, Jean-François Roberge, announced in November that recruitment missions would be paused for the purpose of “coherence with [the] objectives of reducing non-permanent residents,” his office said today.

Still essential for some, “waste” for others, government missions abroad were finally suspended only in January 2025. Last year, they will have cost more than $5 million to recruit 762 workers, including nearly 1 million within the MIFI.

Of all the hirings, MIFI cannot say how many people have actually landed in Quebec and occupy the targeted jobs.

“What we did and continue to do is surgical work to meet specific needs for skilled workers,” explains Stéphane Paquet, President and CEO of Montreal International, “not to get cheap labor.” The Montreal and Laval region may be subject to a freeze of low-wage hiring, but these needs “have not disappeared, on the contrary”: of all the vacancies in Quebec, three out of five are in the Montreal agglomeration, he recalls.

The situation in the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches “remains particular”, with unemployment rates lower than the provincial average, which creates “tensions on employment,” adds Carl Viel, President and CEO of Quebec International.

The two organizations and Drummond économique saw their government funding, totalling about $4.3 million, ended on March 31. They then had to thank more than a dozen people.

“The need exists despite sometimes political restrictions,” also says Anthony Chiasson-Leblanc, regulated immigration consultant and co-founder of Equinox World. However, he denounces that MIFI “has improvised as a recruiter” and “takes the place of the private sector” in a market where field experience is crucial.

He believes that it is not up to “public money” to pay for recruitment, or at least not in this formula of Quebec Days, “where there are many losses in efficiency,” he says. Chiasson-Leblanc mentions poorly targeted advertisements and meetings held in places far from the actual recruitment pools, for example.

This is not the first time that this recruitment has been perceived as a “double speech”, in his words. Or at least as a “paradox”, as mentioned by the Employers’ Council in 2023 when Le Devoir revealed that Quebec was investing tens of millions of dollars to find workers abroad.

Significant fluctuations

The success of such days also seems to be of variable geometry. In Mexico, in May 2024, the operation will have cost $5359 per hiring; other missions, respectively in Colombia and Morocco, spent only $80 or $225 on average per recruited worker, we learn in the 2024-2025 Explanatory Book of Credits.

Some recruitment events were held exclusively online, especially in Europe, where $139,435 was spent on promotional fees for four days. These fees “include the fees of the advertising agency and expenses related to media purchases,” says the MIFI by email.

In the eyes of some private recruiters, this advertisement is a stroke of the sword in the water. “The best way to find is through a network of established contacts and with local recruiters,” continues Mr. Chiasson-Leblanc

“Yes, it is certain that the number of hirings is important, but employers are not all looking for the same type of candidates or level of expertise,” says Stéphane Paquet, who wants to discourage any comparison of missions.

As the procedures are sometimes long, some hirings may not be counted in the statistics “at the closing of the books”, answers the MIFI.

Québec International also speaks of “multi-year planning”, which allowed, for example, candidates with an excellent professional profile to improve their French from one year to the next.

Trust

The three organizations assure that the public funds were used wisely. “It’s not the government that recruits, it’s the companies. We remained a support service, “says the CO of Montreal International. The organization has been recruiting abroad since 2010, and the support of MIFI allowed it to have “a better cruising speed” and to cost less to the companies themselves.

These three economic promotion agencies have also planned missions of the same kind as the Quebec Days, especially in Paris next November, but this time without financial support from MIFI.

“It is important for us to maintain links with the various authorities in the territories,” notes Carl Viel, like the Pôle emploi in France.

The government seal also gave the assurance of doing business with “trusted third parties,” he continues.

Anthony Chiasson-Leblanc rejects the argument, recalling that fraudulent campaigns using the names “Journées Québec” or “Recruitment Santé Québec” have even been orchestrated. In his view, trust is built in a multi-personal process through prior interviews and, if necessary, a proficiency test carried out “directly on the machinery” once the person is on site.

François Legault’s government is asking the federal government to reduce the ceiling for certain categories of non-permanent residents by 50%. Minister Roberge recently asked his federal counterpart to apply a “grandfather-like clause” to companies in the region, a long-standing demand of business associations.

The decision on the future of the Quebec Days “will be taken in due course” after next fall’s consultations on multi-year planning, the Office of the Minister of Immigration tells us.

Successive and rapid changes in immigration, including restrictions on permanent immigration, are beginning to tarnish Quebec’s reputation abroad, believes Stéphane Paquet. “Several large companies will decide to bring workers elsewhere than here, such as in Toronto or another city in North America. “…

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Will the Trump era reverse Canada’s brain drain problem?

2025/04/07 Leave a comment

Opportunities:

…The imminent arrival of three eminent Ivy League professors and efforts by Canadian universities to attract American researchers, officials hope, herald the reversal of a perennial problem for Canadian universities: the brain drain to the United States.

“Canada has long wrestled with ways to retain our home-grown talent and attract international academics. Given the developments south of the border, there’s certainly an opportunity now for Canada to build on this. But we’re also competing with other countries,” said David Robinson, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

“The big obstacle we face is that we’re in a period of serious financial retrenchment in the sector. Inadequate public funding and a sharp drop in international student enrolments due to caps on study visas mean that universities and colleges are suspending enrolments, cutting programmes, freezing new hiring, and even announcing layoffs.

“How to attract new talent when you’re cutting back on people and programmes? We have a climate that is generally supportive of academic freedom, but it’s only one part of the picture of what would make Canada an attractive destination. We also need the federal and provincial governments to urgently address the public funding gap,” said Robinson.

Richard Gold, director of McGill University’s Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and a lawyer, made the same point in an interview with University World News, before adding that to fully benefit from American scientists who come to Canada, Canadian universities and industry will have to drastically step up their game in developing the financial and corporate infrastructure that brings scientific discoveries to market.

“We’ve done really poorly at translating research into companies that make money and stay here. We sell most of our AI intellectual property to Google and others,” he said by way of example. “And then [we] buy it back at a higher price. Now there’s a recognition that we can’t rely on the United States,” he noted.

In 2000, in an effort to fight the brain drain, the Canadian government established the Canada Research Chair programme, which provides funding from an annual budget of CA$311 million (US$217 million) to more than 2,000 university professors.

“Chairholders aim to achieve research excellence in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.

“They improve our depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthen Canada’s international competitiveness, and help train the next generation of highly skilled people through student supervision, teaching, and the coordination of other researchers’ work,” according to the programme’s website.

Keeping an eye out for Americans

Trump’s policies seem to be a genuine boost to Canada’s chances of attracting those “highly skilled people”.

A recent survey published by Nature showed that 75.3% of 1,608 US respondents said they were “considering leaving the country following the disruptions to science prompted by the Trump administration.

According to Nature, the day an early-career physician-scientist at a major university learnt his NIH grant had been terminated, “he e-mailed the department chair of colleagues at a Canadian university … He and his wife, who is also a scientist, are now interviewing for jobs in the country [Canada] and hope to move by the end of the year.”

As soon as the American administration announced cuts to the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and other agencies, Frédéric Bouchard, Doyen de la Faculté des arts et des sciences at Université de Montréal (U de M), told his 35 department chairs “to keep an eye out for Canadians who began their careers in the United States or non-US citizens who had contemplated offers from the United States that may want to revise their plans either for budgetary or for political reasons – and also for Americans who are reconsidering where they can best pursue their careers”.

Despite budgetary restrictions at U de M, Bouchard told University World News that he expects to hire at least 25 professors this year and that there will be an increase “either of American candidates or international candidates who were considering the US market”.

Though he was unable to provide details, Bouchard said that following the announcement of the NIH grant cuts and US cuts to climate research, several long-time donors to U de M’s science programme approached him “to say that if we needed [financial] help to do strategic hiring, to give them a call”.

Donors to science, he added: “are very interested in the science ecosystem, if you will, because they know that science is international. So at some sort of high level, they always keep an eye out on how the international system is going.

“They see that research is being rattled [by the US cuts] and they know that we’re always building. So I was not surprised that they contacted us, but it was a welcome email”.

Beyond Canada

As Bouchard explained, universities around the world are also making plans to hire professors whose research programmes have been closed by the American cuts or because they do not feel comfortable in the United States.

The Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), which three years ago saw professors and graduate students leave Ukraine for safety following the Russian full-scale invasion, is among those universities on the lookout.

With funds provided by the Simons Foundation, the mission of which is to support mathematics and basic sciences, KSE is actively looking to hire mathematics and physics professors.

In a posting on X on 29 March, KSE rector Tymofii Brik invited academics who are “feeling uncertain or threatened” to apply to KSE and promised a warm welcome as well as relocation support.

In an interview with University World News, Brik noted that “right now there is a crisis in the United States”, a country he first studied in as a Fulbright Fellow.

“The crisis is political and geopolitical,” he said, noting that Trump’s administration has cut research funds, plans on increasing taxes on endowments, and attacked and cut funds from, among others, Columbia University.

“It seems that a lot of American faculty are frustrated. We hear that Jason Stanley is leaving Yale University because the university is not supporting faculty anymore,” Brik said.

“I think it’s an opportunity for us because despite the war, we are operational,” Brik noted.

“If you really want to be an academic and push science and innovation, Ukraine is about the best place because you have access to data about social activities and demography.

“You have real-time data about how the economy changes during the war. You can have access to data on military issues, so if you are an engineer, you can analyse that.

“Maybe the money is not as great as in the United States. But at least you have a sense of security and academic fulfilment. And you know that you’re fighting for democracy,” he added.

Threats to sovereignty

Dr Marc Ruel, a professor in the department of surgery, and division head and chair of cardiac surgery at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), earlier this year accepted an offer by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), to become the chief of the division of adult cardiothoracic surgery. Last month, he announced he had changed his mind.

Ruel saw himself, he told the CTV Television Network, as “a bit of a Canadian export” – a reference to Canada’s status as a hockey-mad country, which supplies 42% of the players on American National Hockey League teams, almost 150% more players than the next largest group: Americans themselves.

In an email to University World News, Ruel said he has the “greatest admiration for UCSF and their focus on care excellence, research, education, and innovation” and that his decision to remain in Canada should not be taken as “engag[ing] in their [American] internal politics”.

He told the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail the “tipping point” in his decision to stay was Trump’s talk of making Canada America’s 51st state and the threat of crippling tariffs; by coincidence, he informed UCSF of his change of mind on 4 March, the day that Trump announced tariffs of 25% on Canadian imports.

Ruel told the Globe and Mail the threat to Canada’s “sovereignty and our identity . . . changes everything”.

“I can’t go to a jurisdiction that belittles our country,” he said.

In his email to University World News, Ruel set his decision in the context of international scientific exchange.

“In my view, it’s important for international scientific collaboration and exchange that the sovereignty of partaking countries is not something that is up for grabs or threatened by another.

“If that happens, it’s rather difficult for trust and collaboration to thrive. Science, research, and clinical leaders generally care about how their country – which has educated and supported them – is viewed by the one with which they will closely collaborate or might even move to in order to provide a new stage for their innovation, clinical care, research, or education platform,” he stated.

Patriotic education

While the Trump administration’s attack on Columbia triggered Stanley’s decision to accept the offer to come to Canada, his analysis of the authoritarian nature of American politics includes a trenchant critique of the laws that states like Florida have brought in banning the teaching of critical race theory in the K-12 system.

The vagueness of these laws, he explained to interviewer Michel Martin on Amanpour & Company, was not a bug in the system but, rather, a feature, designed to keep teachers looking over their shoulders because “your fellow citizens have been empowered to report you” for deviating from the “official state ideology”.

The ‘Dear Colleague’ letter issued by the Department of Education that Martin read serves as ‘Exhibit A’ for Stanley’s analysis.

The letter states “that educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon systemic and structural racism and advanced discriminatory policies and practices, and that proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them, particularly during the last four years under the banner of diversity, equity and inclusion, you know, DEI, smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race consciousness into everyday training, programming and discipline”.

‘Exhibit B’ is Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s statement in what she called the “final mission statement of the Department of Education”, which Trump tasked her with dismantling. In that statement, she wrote that the goal of American education is “patriotic education”.

The problem, Stanley underscored, is that the US was “founded and built upon systematic racism and exclusion. It’s part of our founding documents that we wanted to take more indigenous land … The United States is built on slavery. There’s no factual argument about that.

“So when you begin by saying that universities and K-12 schools are not allowed to teach facts, then you’re already on a very problematic playing field.

“And part of the point of these guidelines is to be vague because it allows wide latitude to target professors and to encourage students to report professors for anything that might suggest that the United States was not always the greatest nation on Earth and was essentially free from sin”.

Turning to higher education, Stanley noted: “Universities are not there in a democracy to stroke the egos of the citizens of a country. Just imagine your cartoon vision of an authoritarian country: it’s where the purpose of schools is to tell students to love their country and not question it.

“In a democracy, universities are there to teach the facts. They’re not there to breed patriotism. These documents explicitly tell us the purpose of schools and universities is to create patriotic citizens. That is not the purpose of the university. That’s nationalist education. That is not democratic education.”

Bending to Trump

Stanley is equally critical of American academics and university leaders who, he wrote in The Chronicle of Higher Education, have, in a pre-emptive way, acceded to Trump’s threats.

“Let’s keep our heads down and we won’t be seen; we won’t be a target,” he wrote before characterising Columbia’s “obsequious, embarrassing” response as amounting to: “Oh, hit us again, please. Hit us again.”

The Trump administration’s attack on Columbia – the withdrawal of US$400 million in research grants and pressuring the university to place the Department of Middle Eastern Studies into “academic receivership” because the administration objected to its “ideology” – stems, Stanley explained to Martin, from the Trump administration’s equation of “antisemitism” with “leftism”.

Born, Stanley says, in the hothouse atmosphere of Columbia’s campus during the pro-Palestinian encampment last year, which included “a large number of Jewish students” (but during which both Jewish and Palestinian students felt threatened), the equating of antisemitism with leftism has left little room for Jews like Stanley, who is highly critical of Israel but does not “want to take down the State of Israel”.

Trump’s administration, he underscores in this interview, has divided Jews into “good” and “bad” Jews. “And the good Jews are the ones who support Israel’s actions in Gaza, and the bad Jews are the people like me who are highly critical of what is happening and push for Palestinian rights,” he noted.

Worse, Stanley fears that the “history of this era will say that the Jewish people [as defined by Trump] were a sledgehammer for fascism.”

“It’s the first time in my life as an American that I am fearful of our status as equal Americans … because we are suddenly at the centre of politics, of US politics. It’s never good to be in the crosshairs for us; we are being used to destroy democracy,” he told Martin.

Fighting for freedom

Again and again in his essay, in his interview with Martin and on CBC, Stanley stressed his love for the United States.

“They are destroying my country,” he told Martin, referring to the Trump administration. “They are intentionally destroying my country.”

To do this, the destruction of the universities is vital.

“You take down the universities. You tell people that universities are just for job skills.

“They’re not democratic institutions anymore. And then you encourage people not to go to universities. You make student loans more difficult and expensive; privatise them. And then you delegitimise the university,” he stated.

Canada offers him the opportunity to fight the “fascist regime”, he believes, because it is a country “dedicated to freedom, to the values I love”.

Source: Will the Trump era reverse Canada’s brain drain problem?

Filed under Politics Tagged with , , ,

Countries boost recruitment of American scientists amid cuts to scientific funding

2025/03/31 Leave a comment

A reminder that Canada faces competition from other countries in seeking to attract USA-based talent concerned about the Trump education-related immigration practices:

As the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE seek to reduce the federal workforce and cut spending, some European countries are looking to capitalize on the opportunity by recruiting talent from the scientific community.

The administration’s actions, including eliminating programs and funding for scientific research, are prompting some researchers and scientists to consider leaving the U.S. to live in other countries, such as France, to continue their work.

According to a survey released by the journal Nature on Thursday, more than 1,200 respondents who identified as scientists said they were considering leaving the U.S. and relocating to Europe or Canada because of President Trump’s actions. Approximately 1,650 people completed the survey, which was posted on the journal’s website, social media and an e-mailed newsletter, according to the journal.

Source: Countries boost recruitment of American scientists amid cuts to scientific funding

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

Violent extremists are using antisemitism to recruit in Canada: CSIS report

2025/02/21 Leave a comment

Not surprising, and presumably many are also using anti-Muslim commentary for the same purpose:

Ideologically motivated violent extremist groups are using antisemitism in a bid to recruit followers and inspire violence, according to a report from Canada’s spy agency.

The report dated May 2024, released under the access to information law by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said the extremist groups are also tapping into current events, such as the Israel-Hamas conflict, to build support.

“Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremists routinely weave antisemitic commentary into their narratives in order to inspire violence and recruit individuals,” says the report. “These new adherents, in turn, use antisemitic commentary, often tailored to current events, in order to disseminate violent messaging.”

“Thus, antisemitic beliefs, with violent undertones, are disseminated jointly to an ever-expanding circle of recipients.”

The report, obtained by the University of Ottawa’s Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic and shared with CBC News, says much of that antisemitic content is circulated via social media.

“Social media is the main pathway for the consumption of antisemitic and violent extremist content, be it via popular rhetoric available from mainstream providers, or via influencers who actively convey antisemitic content or conspiracy theories,” says the report. “The narratives encourage hate crimes, violence and terrorism.”

The report says the continual increase in incidents targeting the Jewish community will normalize antisemitism in mainstream Canadian society and will likely be exacerbated by the conflict in the Middle East.

It also says pro-Palestinian protests and university encampments “are unlikely to lead to or be staging grounds for violent extremist acts.”

The agency places a number of different groups into the category of Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremist (IMVE) including far-right extremists, anti-authority groups, anarchists, xenophobic violence and violence related to gender such as incels and anti-2SLGBTQ+ groups. Religiously Motivated Violent Extremist (RMVE) groups such as those that support Al-Qaida or Daesh, also known as the Islamic State, fall into a separate category.

While the report says it is difficult to measure the precise level of antisemitism in Canada, it says the number of hate-motivated incidents directed at the Jewish and Arab/Muslim communities reported to police since Oct 7, 2023, have risen….

Source: Violent extremists are using antisemitism to recruit in Canada: CSIS report

Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism, Radicalization Tagged with ,

Few immigrant applicants to Canadian military get enlisted: Report

2024/01/20 Leave a comment

Of note:

Efforts by Canada’s military to recruit new immigrants have been futile.

In fact, a December 2023 briefing note for Defence Minister Bill Blair said only 77 applicants out of thousands of permanent residents successfully enlisted, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

“Between November 1, 2022 and November 24, 2023, the Canadian Armed Forces received 21,472 applications from permanent residents,” said the note Recruitment Of Permanent Residents. “Seventy-seven permanent residents have been enrolled.”

In 2022, the military altered regulations that promised a quicker path to citizenship for landed immigrants if they enlisted as soldiers, sailors and air crew.

Despite the more favourable regulation changes, the note cited lengthy security checks with the abysmal number of successful recruits during that timeframe.

“There are important and necessary measures which need to be completed such as security checks and medical evaluations,” said the note. “As well the validation of security clearances generally takes longer for permanent residents.”

Due to a 35% decline in recruitment numbers in 2022 — from 8,069 to 5,242 volunteers — the military turned to foreigners who had army training to fill the gap.

“The Canadian Forces recruiting group accepts trained applicants from foreign militaries,” said the note. “These applicants include pilots, logistics officers, infantry officers and other skilled professionals who may become enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces if they have permanent resident status in Canada. This enables other permanent residents who meet the same criteria as Canadian citizens to enroll in the Canadian Armed Forces as new recruits or officer cadets.”

The military says at minimum 60,500 fully trained full-time members are required while also setting a goal of reaching 68,000 military forces.

Source: Few immigrant applicants to Canadian military get enlisted: Report

Filed under Immigration, Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

Le recrutement du Québec à l’étranger est vu d’un œil critique par des pays sources

2023/10/27 Leave a comment

No better nor worse than others, but with real implications for source countries:

Le Québec pige dans les forces vives des pays étrangers, y compris dans des secteurs névralgiques comme la santé, et le plus souvent sans invitation officielle. Les ambassadeurs du Maroc et du Bénin ainsi qu’un recruteur à l’étranger souhaitent envoyer un signal au gouvernement québécois.

Tous reconnaissent que l’exode des cerveaux, un phénomène aussi connu sous le terme de brain drain en anglais, existe depuis longtemps. À une différence près : ce sont aujourd’hui des gouvernements qui font directement du recrutement, comme celui du Québec, sans toujours en demander l’autorisation ou offrir une contrepartie.

« Du côté des gouvernements qui recherchent cette main-d’oeuvre, ces compétences, il devrait y avoir une certaine retenue et une réflexion », affirme l’ambassadrice du Maroc au Canada, Souriya Otmani.

Après le terrible tremblement de terre qui a frappé le Maroc en septembre dernier, les médias locaux ont rapporté que les hôpitaux manquaient de personnel, une pénurie déjà aiguë et aggravée par une saignée des professionnels encouragée par des pays recruteurs.

Trois jours plus tard, une page officielle du gouvernement du Québec annonçait sans gêne une séance d’information pour ceux souhaitant immigrer dans la province, avec à la clé des emplois dans le secteur de la santé.

Le peu de ressources humaines « dont nous avons un besoin impérieux » est « pompé de manière un peu cynique par des partenaires qui sont déjà beaucoup plus développés », indique quant à lui l’ambassadeur de la République du Bénin au Canada et aux États-Unis, Jean-Claude do Rego.

La santé et l’éducation sont des domaines de préoccupation pour les deux officiels, alors que d’autres professions techniques les inquiètent moins. « Oui, il y a certaines catégories professionnelles où il y a un surplus, et le Maroc cherche à assurer des débouchés, y compris à l’étranger », explique la diplomate marocaine.

Il existe pour ces domaines des canaux officiels de recrutement « tout à fait légaux », comme l’Agence nationale de promotion de l’emploi et des compétences (ANAPEC) au Maroc. Cette agence nationale prend cependant garde de ne pas promouvoir l’exode dans « des secteurs très sensibles », comme la santé, avance Mme Otmani. Elle tient à préciser qu’elle ne donne que son point de vue, tout en admettant que le sujet est régulièrement abordé dans plusieurs arènes politiques et économiques au pays.

L’exode des infirmières, des aides-soignantes, des médecins ou des préposés est une « perte sèche pour un pays en plein développement comme le nôtre, qui a besoin de toutes ses ressources humaines qualifiées », ajoute-t-elle.

Des pays en situation critique

L’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) publie depuis 2020 une liste rouge des pays dont les systèmes de santé sont les plus vulnérables, afin d’alerter les pays recruteurs.

Québec recrute directement des personnes au Bénin, au Cameroun, en Côte d’Ivoire, au Togo et au Sénégal, des pays qui figurent sur la Liste de soutien et de sauvegarde du personnel de la santé. À défaut de pouvoir l’interdire, l’OMS demande aux gouvernements recruteurs d’adhérer à un certain code de conduite et de passer des ententes avec les bassins de travailleurs.

L’ambassadeur do Rego ne vise pas expressément les efforts du Québec dans son pays d’origine, mais il croit que la province est bien positionnée pour « trouver de meilleures modalités » afin que ce type d’échange « puisse rester compatible avec les besoins de développement de la société qui laisse partir ses talents », expose-t-il.

Ce pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest finance l’éducation publique, y compris des formations postsecondaires. Or, comme l’indignation autour des médecins québécois qui vont pratiquer ailleurs, cette « équation économique nationale est négative », indique quant à lui Yves Legault, vice-président exécutif ISA Immigration et Recrutement.

« Le discours politique est : “Pas de problème, on va aller chercher des infirmières à l’étranger.” Mais on n’a pas payé pour leur éducation et il n’y a aucun mécanisme de retour. Il y a une iniquité flagrante dans ce modèle migratoire », martèle M. Legault, qui est également consul honoraire du Bénin à Toronto.

Solutions

Bien sûr, pas question d’empêcher la mobilité internationale, disent-ils tous. « Mais comment peut-on rendre moins pénibles les tensions » sur un système déjà fragilisé ? demande M. do Rego.

Les gens formulent eux-mêmes le désir d’aller vivre à l’étranger, reconnaît Yves Legault, dans la « recherche d’une vie meilleure pour eux, mais surtout pour leurs enfants ». Si toutefois les conditions étaient réunies dans leur pays d’origine, « ils n’auraient pas à s’expatrier ». Le défi est donc d’aider à « construire des opportunités » dans leur pays d’origine, à l’heure où les pays occidentaux montrent un certain désintérêt pour la coopération internationale.

« Je ne suis pas manichéen. Je comprends les raisons fondamentales pour lesquelles certains pays trouvent cette solution à leurs problèmes », affirme l’ambassadeur du Bénin, qui invite à « trouver une solution de compromis ».

Il évoque notamment la volonté de son gouvernement depuis plusieurs années d’obtenir un plus grand nombre de places à coût réduit dans le système éducatif au Québec. Les étrangers paient en effet des droits de scolarité beaucoup plus élevés que les citoyens ou les résidents permanents, mais des bourses pour en être exonérés existent. « Nous ne bénéficions que d’un quota de dix bourses, alors que nous avons 50 fois plus de demandes », illustre-t-il.

La réflexion est aussi déjà lancée au Maroc et au Bénin pour trouver des incitatifs à rester là-bas, en améliorant les conditions salariales.

Elle donne l’exemple d’une entente avec l’Allemagne, qui prévoit une formation pour les travailleurs marocains et un retour éventuel dans leur pays d’origine. « Personne ne va les obliger [à rentrer dans leur pays], mais on insiste dès le recrutement sur le fait que c’est une condition de départ, de manière que le Maroc bénéficie de cette formation aussi. »

Source: Le recrutement du Québec à l’étranger est vu d’un œil critique par des pays sources

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Canadian military sees rise in applications from new immigrants

2023/04/25 Leave a comment

Long standing challenge among general recruitment challenge:

More than 6,000 new immigrants have applied to join Canada’s Armed Forces (CAF) over the past two months after the military dropped citizenship requirements to bolster its ranks, according to the latest data provided to New Canadian Media.

“We have seen a huge interest from new Canadians since we’ve opened the door to permanent residents,” Lieutenant-General Jennie Carignan, the military’s Chief of Professional Conduct and Culture told NCM in an interview during her recent visit to Vancouver.

“The number of folks from different backgrounds…new Canadians has increased from 23 per cent to over 30 per cent of applicants,” she said. “This is very, very good news.”

NCM reported on Nov 11 that Canada’s military would be opening its doors wider to attract new immigrants into its ranks after the CAF recruitment site was updated to reflect policy change. Before the change, only Canadian citizens were eligible to apply for employment within the country’s military. Permanent resident status — except in certain categories — did not qualify.

Permanent residents who join the military now will not be subject to the minimum residency requirements — to keep permanent resident status, a new immigrant must be living in Canada for at least 730 days in the last five years — and will be allowed to leave the country for overseas postings or personal reasons. 

The CAF is now recruiting for more than 100 positions, including radiologists and marine technicians.  As of July 2022, the regular force had approximately 63,500 members — about 8,000 short of its mandated strength. The CAF had a target to bring in at least 5,900 new members through its recruiting centres by March 2023. 

Top down, bottom up changes

LGen Carignan, who leads the command team for the military group tasked with leading the Canadian Armed Forces’ cultural transformation, said the recruitment uptick bodes well with her unit’s efforts to modernize the institution.

The mother of four and the first woman in the Canadian Armed Forces to lead a combat unit said her central mission now is to unify and consolidate culture change within the various departments in the CAF and the Department of National Defence (DND).

“This is a whole defence undertaking – bottom up, top down, and horizontally across the CAF,” she said. 

“We need to move towards a space where people can be themselves, be authentic and at the same time, contribute to the common mission.

Within LGen Carignan’s organization, there are these five advisory groups that represent visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, the LGBTQA+ community, people with disabilities, and women’s rights advocates.

“We gather their feedback every time we build a new policy… every time we go out and implement various initiatives,” LGen Carignan said. “And they do inform our strategies, our processes and our policies.”

“We are bringing our game up in terms of inclusive behavior,” she said.

The sweeping changes being imposed under LGen Carignan include everything from a new gender inclusive dress code to other aspects of appearance, including the length of one’s hair, and establishing a restorative engagement process, which she expects will guide culture change strategies and resolve personnel conflicts.

There will also be a restructuring of the defence department’s complaints management system and an overhaul to improve the training and promotion of managers.

“I expect a performance measurement framework that will provide quantitative and qualitative data on whether CAF is progressing in terms of creating a healthy culture, to be ready soon,” she said.

LGen Carignan said NATO members are also looking at what the CAF is doing in terms of enabling culture change within its leadership and ranks.

“Recently, I sat down with 25 of our allies within NATO who are very very interested in what we are doing,” she said.

Backlash

LGen Carignan said while most of the military family is very supportive of the required culture changes, she acknowledged that there are some within the military and media who feel otherwise.

Among the critics are Retired Lt.-Gen. Michel Maisonneuve who got a standing ovation from serving senior military officers after a dinner speech last November in Ottawa where he slammed the changes to military dress regulations, reported the Ottawa Citizen.

Thomas Juneau, a former National Defence analyst wrote on Twitter that Maisonneuve’s speech “was an embarrassment and a good illustration of the culture of entitlement that has led to the systematic abuses of power in the senior ranks of the military,” the paper said.

Others like National Post columnist Jamie Sarkonak have suggested that the military’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is getting in the way of training for war. 

“It’s hard to see why any of this would be relevant to the Armed Forces, which should be focused on defending all Canadians equally,” Sarkonak wrote.

LGen Carignan said building lasting, positive culture change in the military will ensure Canada’s effectiveness in responding to growing threats at home and around the world.

“This has never been a distraction… your teams are not conducive to be the best that they can be if its members do not feel protected and respected when they wear a uniform,” she said.

“What resulted in success in the past will not be what makes us successful in the future. We are at a time where a shift is required in how’ we conduct ourselves, how’ we exercise leadership, and how we understand power and authority,” LGen Carignan responded in an update about her unit.

“We at CPCC are inspired by the changes and evolution we have seen over the past months and are convinced of our capacity to continue to improve together.”

Source: Canadian military sees rise in applications from new immigrants

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More than half of recent applications to join the military came from permanent residents: DND

2022/12/13 Leave a comment

Will be interesting to see the percentage who are accepted (the Canadian Forces have a weak record on diversity despite efforts):

More than half of the applications received this past week from people looking to join the Canadian military — nearly 700 — came from permanent residents, the Department of National Defence says.

Since the beginning of November, 2,670 newly arrived immigrants have volunteered to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces. It may be a sign that a long-term trend of newcomers shying away from the military is finally coming to an end.

On Dec. 5, the federal government lifted the ban on permanent residents joining the military, following the example set by allies who have long held the door open for immigrants.

“That’s a great start,” the country’s top military commander, Gen. Wayne Eyre, told CBC News in a year-end interview.

In the weeks leading up to the change, inquiries from permanent residents about military service made up slightly less than a third of the total. Since the announcement on Monday, that share has increased to 50 per cent — or 680 applications between December 5 and 8.

The figures, although preliminary, likely come as a bit of a relief to Eyre, who has warned for several months that the military is facing a critical shortfall in personnel.

It’s estimated that the Armed Forces is down roughly 8,000 to 10,000 people from its assigned strength of 71,500 regular forces personnel and 30,000 reserves.

The military had a plan to boost recruitment of soldiers, sailors and aircrew before COVID-19 hit, but attrition, the fallout from the sexual misconduct scandal and the pandemic lockdowns drove that plan off the rails.

The Armed Forces has received more than 8,200 applications since early November. Until the individuals are enrolled, however, they’re not considered recruited — and that has Eyre concerned.

Source: More than half of recent applications to join the military came from permanent residents: DND

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

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