National Defence committee  I'm not sure if I can speak for everyone else. I transferred from the primary reserve to the regular force because I couldn't get a job after graduating from university. I was the seventh in my class of 35 electrical engineers to get a job by joining the regular force. One of my classmates ended up joining later on because he couldn't get a job.

National Defence committee  Throughout my career, I personally have always been accepting of other people. I was raised that way by my mother. I grew up in a community that was diverse to begin with, with Europeans—German, Italian, Portuguese, also French. There were all sorts of people where I grew up. I think my first girlfriend was a Portuguese girl who walked me home every day.

National Defence committee  I am not aware of barriers imposed by the recruiting system on any indigenous people joining the Canadian Armed Forces. The recruiting process is a vanilla process; everyone is treated the same initially. Then they are given direction on whom they are supposed to be trying to recruit more of, what the need is, and then they try to adjust to that.

National Defence committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman, vice-chairs and honourable members of the committee, thank you for the invitation. I am honoured to appear before you to make this presentation to aid you in your study on diversity in the armed forces and the experiences of indigenous peoples in the military.