That's a great question.
One of the biggest challenges, as I alluded to in my opening remarks, has been that, historically, indigenous people have been fully dissuaded or prevented from enlisting or, when the times are more difficult and when casualties are higher, it's been “Now it's okay for us to recruit you”, and those barriers start to go down. A lot of those historical challenges are and have already been dealt with through more modern times. I've spoken with a couple of indigenous Afghanistan war veterans who have spoken about feeling very well looked after through their experience in the CAF.
Part of what's challenging, perhaps, is ensuring that recruiters and people understand their history. It's understanding that this is the legacy of decades of discrimination and restrictions that have prevented indigenous people, who have voluntarily wanted to enlist, from being able to. Then, of course, there is the aftermath of supporting them as veterans after they have served.
Some of the folks on the committee may have heard of Francis Pegahmagabow. He was an Anishinabe First World War veteran and a very highly decorated sniper. He won the Military Medal three times—one of only 38 people who served for the Canadian Forces to do so. He was denied his claim when he applied for his supports after as a veteran. When you look at a story like that, you see it's potentially hard to motivate people to want to sign up for this. That's in part why there were also petitions made to fight against conscription.
Understanding a lot of those things is probably the first step. As a historian, I'd say that's usually my go-to: learning our history and understanding that this is the legacy.