Evidence of meeting #31 for National Defence in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rangers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Study of the Canadian North, Trent University
Ms. Gallant, that's what my contacts are saying as well. I think that's a very poignant observation.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Algonquin—Renfrew—Pembroke, ON
Would the rangers be interested in deploying?
Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Study of the Canadian North, Trent University
I think that's not a conversation that has been had with the rangers. It would definitely require a pretty fundamental rescoping of their role and mission to be thinking of them for missions outside of Canada.
There's always a conversation worth having around whether that's an identified need from the CAF and whether that's a deficiency the rangers could potentially fill, the key part being that they would not be there to provide kinetic effects. They wouldn't be there conducting the combat operations, but I can't emphasize enough that this would be a real rescoping of what the expectations are of them.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Algonquin—Renfrew—Pembroke, ON
Dr. Scoppio, there are several key indigenous summer programs that I was not aware of until you mentioned them. I looked them up in order to see what you mentioned. There are Bold Eagle in western Canada, Black Bear in New Brunswick, Raven in British Columbia, Carcajou in Quebec and Grey Wolf in Ontario. Youths have to be 17 years and older, and in some of the programs they get paid.
The deadline to apply is the end of April for this summer. Some people are only hearing about this for the very first time today. How can we communicate to youth, who are sometimes in very out-of-the-way places, that this is going on and is an opportunity they can apply for?
Professor Emerita of Defence Studies, Royal Military College of Cananda, As an Individual
This is a great question.
I just want to clarify that most of these programs, except Raven, are army programs, which goes to the question we had before: How come we have a much greater indigenous presence in the army as a percentage? Clearly, the army is a large service, so we are always going to have a greater number there, but I am speaking in terms of proportions.
That said, I agree with you that if some of you on this committee have only heard about these programs for the first time today, then we clearly are not doing a good enough job of promoting the programs. Could this be done through better community engagements in indigenous communities? Yes, but as was mentioned and we all know, not all indigenous youth live in indigenous communities. Some have been removed from their indigenous cultures and from their indigenous language. Promoting these programs through high schools could be another option. There's so much more we can do in promoting these programs to indigenous youth.
We talked about the ILOY as well, which is a bit separate from the indigenous programs. There's also another program that is a bit shorter. It's almost like a “try before you buy”. That's also part of the indigenous programs.
The efforts are there and the programs are there, but clearly there is an issue with the promotion of these programs. That's why not all positions are filled.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
Thank you, Ms. Gallant.
Ms. Idlout, you have up to five minutes on behalf of the Liberal benches.
Liberal
Lori Idlout Liberal Nunavut, NU
Qujannamiik, Iksivautaq.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you to all of the witnesses for such great testimony all morning. I give a special thank you to Dr. Kikkert and Professor Whitney Lackenbauer for all of the great work you do to highlight the importance of the Canadian Rangers.
I want to ask each of you to respond—and maybe the chair can give you equal time—to this one question. If you could, I would love it if you could amplify the voice of any Canadian Ranger you've worked with to tell us what they've said about what is so great about being a Canadian Ranger, and what they have recommended to make sure there's more interest in increasing the number of Canadian Rangers.
Maybe we could start with you, Peter.
Associate Professor, Public Policy and Governance, Brian Mulroney Institute of Government, St. Francis Xavier University
That is an awesome but difficult question.
Rangers are very passionate, so a lot have spoken on this. I'll highlight one of my good friends. Calvin Pederson comes from a family of four generations of Canadian Rangers who have consistently volunteered their services to support everything that rangers do. Something that Calvin often amplifies is what we've heard at this committee already: telling the story more. When rangers do something that is pretty amazing, broadcast it; talk about it more. Why is the story of four rangers from Naujaat who won the Medal of Bravery not being spread wider throughout the north and the rest of the country?
I can answer your question fairly quickly. Tell the story not just in the north, but in the south as well, so people understand what the rangers bring to the communities, to the Canadian Armed Forces and to Canada.
Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Study of the Canadian North, Trent University
What a wonderful question. I don't know that I'll be able to pull out specific quotes from individuals, but to put a few names out there and some ideas, Peter Kuniliusee, a now-deceased ranger from Clyde River, was the individual who said that we are not just the eyes and ears but also the voice of the north in the Canadian Armed Forces and, as many rangers have said, of the Canadian Armed Forces in the north. That's something to never take for granted.
I think of Sergeant Titus Allooloo, from Mittimatalik, Pond Inlet, and the act of remembrance speech that he delivered in Inuktitut at the National War Museum during the national act of remembrance last year. He spoke about the pride of service in the Canadian Rangers, again thinking of the national platform to tell a story that is sometimes left to the north. We hear a lot about the understanding of the rangers—about how well the rangers are understood for their service, about their importance in their communities and about how much pride communities have in the rangers in the north. That's something that northern members of the rangers need to be supported in talking about.
I also want to mention Tony Kunuk, from Igloolik, your home community, Ms. Idlout, who was just on Operation Nanook-Nunalivut, as well as Julia Elanik, from Aklavik, and Chris Aitaok, from Cambridge Bay. All of them emphasize the incredible nature of the skills that this diverse group of Canadians brings to the table when it's time to conduct operations.
There's a real sense of unity they all spoke about. They can come from different parts of the north, but there's a common love for the land that I've heard from coast to coast to coast from rangers, who say that it's the unifying element that binds them all together. How you engage with the land and how you are part of the land will differ depending upon your background and depending upon where you're from, but there's a common touchstone that we all share as Canadians, and that's something the rangers do a marvellous job of encouraging.
We heard before about the importance of the transgenerational transfer of knowledge, of language, of culture and of confidence to go out on the land, and how important that is to hand down to youth. It also needs to be handed down to young adults, who maybe haven't had experiences on the land. I've often heard from rangers throughout the north of the importance not just of the Junior Canadian Ranger program but also of the rangers' encouraging, incentivizing and enabling people to go out on the land and really improve and share those skills.
Ms. Idlout, I don't feel that I did justice to all the richness of the stories and guidance that I've been given over the years from the rangers, but you can hear from what I said that I've become their biggest fan over the last 30 years.
Liberal
Lori Idlout Liberal Nunavut, NU
That's excellent. I could argue that I'm probably an even bigger fan.
The Government of Canada in general, the whole bureaucracy, can learn from the Canadian Rangers. What the Canadian Rangers have shown is that when you use the strengths of the people of their homeland, you'll have success. If more governments used the strengths and skills that exist in those communities, we would have stronger governments, I believe.
I thank all of you for helping to exemplify the work the Canadian Armed Forces does, and specifically the Canadian Rangers program.
Qujannamiik. Thank you so much.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
Thank you.
I wasn't sure if the other witnesses had anything more to add, Ms. Teillet or Ms. Scoppio, before we go over to Mr. Kibble, who will be next.
Mr. Kibble, it's over to you.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My first question is for Dr. Scoppio.
You said that you agree it's not a problem of attracting; it's rather about recruiting and retention. I like that comment. I couldn't agree more. We've seen some significant issues with recruiting at the schools right now, but I appreciate that you also gave a very specific recommendation—we've been speaking in broad terms—and I would like to explore that a bit.
You said that guidelines for family members of indigenous members are not inclusive. How could that be corrected? This was in reference to supports for returning to funerals and other medical emergencies. Could you expand on that a bit so we can learn and have more information about it to potentially make it more inclusive? I think that's a very positive suggestion.
Professor Emerita of Defence Studies, Royal Military College of Cananda, As an Individual
The example that was given to us is that sometimes an indigenous CAF member might have an auntie who is a very intrinsic part of their family, but they may not be allowed to go to her funeral under the current policy of the CAF. These are the kinds of things that were brought to our attention during our research. Currently, the guidelines are there, but they're not really thinking out of the box to accommodate indigenous members whose family ties might not be what the mainstream Canadian would consider.
That's one thing that was brought to our attention. The other thing—
Conservative
Professor Emerita of Defence Studies, Royal Military College of Cananda, As an Individual
Sorry, go ahead.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
I was going to say that if you had other out-of-the-box suggestions that would help alleviate differences between culture, that would support improved recruiting. Maybe you could submit some written suggestions to the committee that would be actual, tangible items. You've given one. I know that for a family, normally it's considered for “immediate family members”, but there are provisions to allow it if you can prove that somebody, like an aunt, is a primary family member.
I would like to move on to your comment about permanent residents. We said we were at 3.3% indigenous members in the forces. You said we needed more permanent residents. Could you speak to that in terms of a percentage that you think would be reasonable?
Professor Emerita of Defence Studies, Royal Military College of Cananda, As an Individual
I looked at the statistics, but I don't have them in front of me.
Another area of my research is immigrant participation in the military. Since the CAF just very recently opened recruiting to permanent residents, they have all come to knock on the CAF's door—or many have anyway—but very few have actually gone through the doors. The statistics are out there and you can see that there's a problem.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Off the top of your head, do you have a recommendation? Do you think we should be at 100% permanent residents in the military, or 5% or 2%?
Professor Emerita of Defence Studies, Royal Military College of Cananda, As an Individual
We should definitely be a lot higher than where we are now. If we're talking about how only, say, 5% or 10% get in, just for sake of conversation, then we clearly have a problem.
There are so many occupations in the CAF. I get that not everybody qualifies as a fighter pilot—that is a red occupation right now—but there are so many occupations in between in all services.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
I can tell you that right now we're at about 20% of permanent residents at the recruiting schools.
Professor Emerita of Defence Studies, Royal Military College of Cananda, As an Individual
Is that in comparison to how many have applied or how many—
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Right now in the recruiting schools, on course, they're at about 20% permanent residents.
Professor Emerita of Defence Studies, Royal Military College of Cananda, As an Individual
Well, the numbers are going up, which is great. It's a very recent policy. The CAF just recently started recruiting permanent residents—
Conservative
Professor Emerita of Defence Studies, Royal Military College of Cananda, As an Individual
—which is very different from the American military. It's completely different.