Canadian Armed Forces Are Too Male and Too White

As a black man, I don’t see a problem

An article written by Jacque Gallant in the Toronto Star caught my attention. Most race-based articles don’t. I usually skip over them because they pretty much say the same thing.

Blacks are hard-done-by and whites are supremacists. Blacks are victims and whites should apologize.

The headline in the article read,

‘Too white and too male, Canadian Armed Forces are rethinking recruiting as staffing slides, senior officers say’

Sigh!

The implication here is that the fact that the Armed Forces consists primarily of white men is problematic. They believe that the way they recruit now attracts white men, and other ethnic groups or women don’t feel inclined to apply.

Maybe!

Let’s look at the gender issue.

The article quotes,

About 71 percent of its workforce is now made up of white men, a demographic that makes up just 39 percent of the civilian workforce, said Maj.-Gen. Lise Bourgon, the CAF’s acting head of military personnel.

I don’t know why as a species, we just can’t agree that in general, men and women, are different. We tend to do and like different things.

In general, men tend to task-oriented and more physically dangerous jobs, while women tend to more nurturing, less dangerous jobs.

In Canada, in 2019, 91% of nurses were women even though they make up 50% of the population.

Contrastingly, 13% of people in the construction industry are women.

Could there be more to this than simply gender role bias? Could it be that even if you account for that and are able to remove it, the numbers wouldn’t budge much?

It is true that women have only recently been allowed to serve in combat roles in Canada. In 1989, following a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling, the Canadian Forces opened all occupations, including combat roles, to women. So it hasn’t been a long time at all. Women know they can serve if they want to.

So why aren’t they? I don’t know but the military is trying to recruit more women but is having little success.

What about the race issue.

I wish humanity didn’t make decisions based on race. I know it will never happen, at least not in my lifetime. School boards, politicians, and businesses, for example, all make policy decisions based on race.

And I don’t blame them. If they didn’t consider race, they would be lambasted with negative publicity.

So the Canadian Armed Forces is too white. That’s like saying Canada is too white. According to the 2016 census, Canada is 72.9% white, 3.5% black, 4.9% Aboriginal identity, 4.6% Chinese, etc. Canada is predominantly white.

Doesn’t it stand to reason that its institutions will be predominantly white?

The legislature is predominantly white. There are more white lawyers than racialized groups. There are more white doctors than other ethnicities.

No one should be surprised at these stats. Trust me, in Kenya, there are more blacks in every category; in South Korea, more Koreans; in India, more Indians.

I get it. Canada, unlike the above-mentioned countries, is a multicultural country made up of immigrants from all over the world. The unfortunate thing, in my view, is that we put people in those ethnic groups and demand equality based on that, instead of looking at competence or merit and acting according to that.

To me, it makes sense that the Armed Forces would be more white. That doesn’t mean it’s too white.

Pick the best people.

Here’s an article on the qualities of a good soldier. They include: 1. Reliability. 2. Fearlessness. 3. Discipline. 4. Consistency. 5. Courage. 6. Motivation.

If they all happen to be white, so be it. If they all happen to be women, so be it. If they all happen to be gay, so be it.

Recruit the best people to defend this great nation.