National Identity
Jobseekers polled by the Department of National Defence rate a new recruitment campaign as too technical and “a bit desperate.” Researchers said the air force, navy and army face a “highly competitive job market.”
“The Canadian Armed Forces competes with other Canadian employers for top quality applicants,” said a department report. “A highly competitive job market has posed significant challenges for Canadian Armed Forces recruitment initiatives.”
“Promoting the Armed Forces as a first class professional employer is complex given that the decision to enroll in the military requires extended personal evaluation, both emotional and rational,” said the report Awareness 2023 Recruitment Advertising Campaign. The military aimed to be “an employer of choice” for Canadians under 34, it said.
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Read MoreChina leads research in 19 of 23 technologies set as priorities by the AUKUS defence partnership of Australia, Britain and the U.S., including hypersonics, electronic warfare and undersea drones, highlighting the need for Western allies to pool research results, an Australian security think-tank says.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said on Tuesday its survey of the world’s top science papers showed China led research in most of the technologies likely to come under the defence partnership’s so-called Pillar Two.
U.S. defence technology sharing is tightly controlled, and U.S. analysts have previously said bureaucratic hurdles could slow not only a AUKUS nuclear submarine program but also “Pillar Two” – a boost in collaboration between the nations in hypersonic and counter-hypersonic technology, quantum, AI and electronic warfare.
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Read MoreBritain has ordered two more accommodation barges to house asylum-seekers, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Monday.
Sunak has pledged to stop crossings of the Channel from northern Europe made in small boats, after record numbers of people arrived last year.
But huge backlogs in the processing of applications have put the government under pressure, particularly over housing people while their claims are dealt with.
On a visit to the Channel port of Dover, Sunak announced new sites at former Royal Air Force bases to accommodate “hundreds” in the coming months.
“Nearly 3,000” will be housed there by the end of the year, he added, arguing it would ease pressure on costly hotels where many migrants have been staying.
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Read MoreCanadian soldiers have a special term they use to talk about extra equipment they purchase for themselves to add to what the Armed Forces provides. They call it “Gucci gear,” which comes from the fashion designer.
Canadian troops in Latvia have been buying private equipment for their missions. They have purchased modern ballistic helmets with built-in hearing protection, rain gear, vests, belts for carrying supplies, and replacing poorly fitting body armour for female soldiers.
These purchases made through online retailers consist of well-known tactical gear or weapon accessories that allow soldiers to personalize their existing equipment and make it more comfortable to wear.
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Read MoreThe Trudeau Foundation has investments in Chinese companies Baidu and Tencent, a former board member told MPs on a parliamentary committee. Both companies have been subjects of security warnings.
The Trudeau Foundation was created with a $125 million endowment from the federal government in 2001 in memory of former prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, to provide grants and academic scholarships.
Madeleine Redfern, a businesswomen and the former mayor of Iqaluit, says that 0.07 percent of the foundation’s portfolio is invested in Chinese tech giants Tencent and Baidu.
Redfern, who sat on the finance and investment committee of the Trudeau Foundation, testified before the House of Commons ethics committee on June 2 as part of its study on foreign interference. She said she inquired with the foundation a year ago about whether it had investments in China.
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Read MoreJody Thomas, national security advisor, yesterday said she was on holiday and never read a secret July 20, 2021 pre-election memo warning that Chinese agents had targeted a Conservative MP. Thomas testified at the House affairs committee the “integrity of my statements here” should not be questioned.
“I was the only one in the department who could read it but it wasn’t necessary for me to function as the Deputy Minister of Defence,” said Thomas. “There is a difference there.”
Thomas at the time was one of three deputy ministers who received the Canadian Security Intelligence Service memo warning Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills, Ont.) was targeted by Chinese agents. Subsequent disclosure of the memo prompted the May 8 expulsion from Canada of Zhao Wei, a spy working at the Chinese consulate in Toronto.
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Read MoreA federal registry mandating disclosure of payments to all foreign agents “will provide us with very important tools,” Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said yesterday. Cabinet has yet to set any deadline for introduction of a bill.
“I think Parliament does have a very significant role to play here, a responsibility,” Blair testified at the House affairs committee. “We have already identified and there have been consultations on a foreign agent registry which I think is going to be very important.”
“It will be provide us with very important tools,” said Blair. “We all need to make sure that legislative response to these circumstances is robust and effective but it also has to be done thoughtfully and carefully,” he added.
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Read MoreA migrant farm worker, jailed while he awaited trial on sexual assault charges, had already endangered his stay in Canada by not returning home on time.
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Dwayne Omar Henry, 34, of Manchester, Jamaica, was considered “over-stayed” which gave him a one-year ban from the country, and his criminal charges jeopardized him from ever returning.
He was charged with touching two teenage girls at a Delhi swimming pond.
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Read MoreCBC/Radio-Canada President and CEO Catherine Tait will keep her job for the next one and-a-half years as the federal government begins the process of picking a permanent replacement.
“It’s a critical issue that all Western democracies are grappling with,” Tait told CBC News on Thursday.
“I believe Canada’s public broadcaster has a unique role to play to address disinformation, build trust in verified and trusted news, and, most importantly, to foster Canadian conversations in English, French and indigenous languages.”
Tait will stay on until January 2025. Her first five-year term ends in July.
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Read MoreA bronze statue of Queen Elizabeth that was toppled on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature has been repaired and put back in place.
The three-metre-high statue was one of two monuments hauled to the ground on Canada Day in 2021 by demonstrators following the discovery of suspected unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
The statue landed face-first when it was toppled and was damaged in several areas, but remained intact.
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