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Shelved Forces Ads Aimed at Aboriginals Offensive to the Point of Being Racist

ObedientiaZelum said:
That's the idea but in practice the minute something happens that someone doesn't agree with it's an us vs them mentality. The crowd will make it about race in about .03 seconds.
I was toying with using "theory" instead of "idea", but yeah, that's not how the rubber always hits the road....
 
>people have learned that it [diversity] is a good thing to have in any organization

That is a canard; a piece of propaganda touted by the pro-diversity industry.  Depending on the type of organization, there can be little to no inherent value in "diversity", and it may even introduce "drag" when people get deflected away from core tasks by a perceived need to cater to quiffs and quirks.  Attracting and having people suited to the organizational culture is what is good to have in an organization.

Recruiting from the widest possible base in order to fill uniforms is the proper reason to reach out with messages aimed at different audiences.
 
Brad Sallows said:
>people have learned that it [diversity] is a good thing to have in any organization

That is a canard; a piece of propaganda touted by the pro-diversity industry.  Depending on the type of organization, there can be little to no inherent value in "diversity", and it may even introduce "drag" when people get deflected away from core tasks by a perceived need to cater to quiffs and quirks.  Attracting and having people suited to the organizational culture is what is good to have in an organization.

[devil's advocate]

So you're saying we should get rid of highland units, due to their quiffs and quirks?

[/devil's advocate]

Recruiting from the widest possible base in order to fill uniforms is the proper reason to reach out with messages aimed at different audiences.

Precisely.  Shifting demographics in Canada make it worthwhile to expand the recruiting base before it becomes a crisis.
 
Brad Sallows said:
Depending on the type of organization, there can be little to no inherent value in "diversity", and it may even introduce "drag" when people get deflected away from core tasks by a perceived need to cater to quiffs and quirks.  Attracting and having people suited to the organizational culture is what is good to have in an organization.


Recruiting from the widest possible base in order to fill uniforms is the proper reason to reach out with messages aimed at different audiences.

Which would give you a "diverse" group of people, or "diversity" in your organization? How are you not contradicting yourself, unless you thought that I meant forced diversity, where you have to hire someone from an ethnic background just to fill a quota?
 
milnews.ca said:
The idea is that it's best to have a mix of Canadians in the military similar to the mix of Canadians in society so everyone can say "they're OUR Armed Forces," not "THEIR Armed Forces" - similar rationale for police forces having mixes similar to the communities they police.

I know... I was framing it as a "guess" in order to diplomatically suggest these concepts to the person who wasn't comprehending why we care about race.  But thanks  ;)

As stated elsewhere, the P Res units in major urban centres are very diverse, racially & ethnically.  I'd bet that a certain percentage of racial-minority members in the Reg F end up coming from P Res units, rather than direct recruiting. 
 
bridges said:
As stated elsewhere, the P Res units in major urban centres are very diverse, racially & ethnically.  I'd bet that a certain percentage of racial-minority members in the Reg F end up coming from P Res units, rather than direct recruiting. 

And I'd bet that the "certain percentage" of minorities from the reserves is the comparable to the "certain percentage" of white males who transfer.  Even if it wasn't and reserve service was a major route of attracting minorities to (eventual) fulltime military service, demographic focused advertising probably plays a role in that initial attraction.
 
No argument here.  I was just thinking that P Res units tend to be relatively reflective of the community in which they are based & from which they draw their recruits, compared to Reg F units where people are more widely dispersed.  Maybe that affects recruiting and diversity.  Just a thought.

Anyway... back to the canoe-building tactic, I wonder who it came from, and why.  Such things will continue to crop up from time to time; not particularly newsworthy except maybe as a reminder to keep going in a better direction.  Maybe members of the community being 'targeted' would be a good source of ideas for this kind of thing - before it gets to the focus-group-laughing stage. 
 
bridges said:
Anyway... back to the canoe-building tactic, I wonder who it came from, and why.  Such things will continue to crop up from time to time; not particularly newsworthy except maybe as a reminder to keep going in a better direction.  Maybe members of the community being 'targeted' would be a good source of ideas for this kind of thing - before it gets to the focus-group-laughing stage. 

Who thought up this stuff?  The advertising agency that won the competition.  While I'm sure that there was close liaison with senior uniformed members as well as DND civilian employees (versed in marketing?), the CF/DND does not internally generate it's own advertising campaign.  Over the last several years that little nugget has been worth in excess of $12 million annually.  A nice chunk of change for whatever "creative" agency that gets the multi-year contract.  While this little hiccup does not portray the organization in the smartest light, a few years ago the CF's advertising campaign was lauded.

http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/pub-adv/rapports-reports/2007-2008/chapitre-chapter-3-eng.html#noa
The Government of Canada is pleased to acknowledge two national advertising campaigns that received special recognition in 2007-2008. The Department of National Defence and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were awarded prestigious marketing awards for their recruitment campaigns.

The Department of National Defence (DND) was named one of Canada's Top Marketers of 2007 by Marketing Magazine for its Canadian Forces recruitment advertising campaign. In past years, Canadian Forces recruitment campaigns showcased a more "operational" side of life in the military, through a collage of images of Canadians working at various careers within the Canadian Forces. Research undertaken in 2006-2007 revealed that Canadians wanted a more realistic, on-the-ground representation of life in the Canadian Forces. The new "Fight with the Canadian Forces" campaign clearly resonated with its 18 to 34 year-old target audience. Done in a "cinema réalité" style, it depicted realistic moments in our Canadian soldiers' lives in the line of duty, such as rescuing flood victims in Manitoba, patrolling war-torn neighbourhoods abroad and evacuating victims away from danger zones. In its first year, Canadian Forces exceeded the recruitment objectives.
 
Maybe this idea was a hint for Irving to hire aboriginals for the new fleet that is on "order".
 
bridges said:
No argument here.  I was just thinking that P Res units tend to be relatively reflective of the community in which they are based & from which they draw their recruits, compared to Reg F units where people are more widely dispersed.  Maybe that affects recruiting and diversity.  Just a thought.

Hardly.

I can point out at least three units in downtown urban centres (populated mainly by 'visible minorities') that are almost fully manned by 'honkies' like me. I guess that their kids are too busy studying to become lawyers and doctors etc to waste time with the infantry.

They just may be right!  ;D
 
RDJP said:
Which would give you a "diverse" group of people, or "diversity" in your organization? How are you not contradicting yourself, unless you thought that I meant forced diversity, where you have to hire someone from an ethnic background just to fill a quota?

The remark to which I responded was "people have learned that it [diversity] is a good thing to have in any organization", and my point is that "diversity is good" is just a politically correct mantra.  The point of tailoring messages to audiences is to have the largest possible pool from which to draw, in order to be choosier about quality.  There is no contradiction.

Obviously if the point is to fill a quota, the opposite is more likely to be achieved: the average quality will be degraded.

 
Any likelihood the ads were produced too hastily in light of the fact "targets" are not being met?  (Read recently, can't remember where.)
 
Brad Sallows said:
The remark to which I responded was "people have learned that it [diversity] is a good thing to have in any organization", and my point is that "diversity is good" is just a politically correct mantra.  The point of tailoring messages to audiences is to have the largest possible pool from which to draw, in order to be choosier about quality.  There is no contradiction.

Obviously if the point is to fill a quota, the opposite is more likely to be achieved: the average quality will be degraded.

Thanks for the clarification, and for the record, I agree.
 
From what I can see one of our main diversity issues is the lack of representaion by, for want of a better term, Canada's '1%'. In the UK and US there seems to be a high proportion of 'rich people's kids' in the forces.

I found that it helps to have your country's decision makers with, literally, some skin in the game.
 
for those that wanted to know, we do indeed actively recruit aboriginal peoples into the CF, and we do focus on the long and storied history between aboriginals and the CF dating back to men like Tommy Prince and others. There is a huge section at the War museum in Ottawa that focuses on it. We have several programs across Canada that help integrate or introduce military lifestyle to aboriginal peoples such as PRTC-Pre Recruit Training Course and Op Bold Eagle to name two of them. PRTC is a three week course held in Halifax now that introduces two platoons worth of people from reserves and communities from all parts of Candada from A hous it, BC to Iqaluit to Newfoundland. They learn learn drill, marksmanship, some general military knowledge such as rank structure, a little mil history and they spend a week in the field learning ofall things field craft. I have been an instructor on two of these courses. 2005 and 2006. I have to say i learned as much as the individuals on the course. I had a blast and so did they. The Bold Eagle course is a six week course that I believe they are actually sworn in as members of the reserves and is a little more intense. I've never participated in this program so i don't know a lot of the details.

I do know that from the PRTC, out of 60 candidates we get anywhere from 11 to 20 individuals who join the reg force and proceed to BMQ in St Jean. Many of the ones i taught stay in touch with me and are still in the forces, either reg or reserve.

Marc
 
M Feetham said:
The Bold Eagle course is a six week course that I believe they are actually sworn in as members of the reserves and is a little more intense. I've never participated in this program so i don't know a lot of the details.

For the Bold Eagle course, they are enrolled in the Primary Reserves and do a BMQ course along with additional culture aspect added in.  After the course they are given the option to stay in the reserves, transfer to the reg force or not stay with the military.
 
daftandbarmy said:
I found that it helps to have your country's decision makers with, literally, some skin in the game.

:goodpost:    I think you're exactly right there.  How to rectify that, though?  Seems like it may be a cultural difference in terms of joining your country's forces, between Canada or the US, & the UK. 

I wonder how many of our current MPs have someone with military service in their immediate family. 
 
bridges said:
:goodpost:    I think you're exactly right there.  How to rectify that, though?  Seems like it may be a cultural difference in terms of joining your country's forces, between Canada or the US, & the UK. 

I wonder how many of our current MPs have someone with military service in their immediate family.

Of course, there's a search criteria for that:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/lists/MilitaryService.aspx?Conflict=&Gender=&Language=E&Menu=HOC-Bio&Name=&Parliament=0d5d5236-70f0-4a7e-8c96-68f985128af9&Party=&Province=&Section=03d93c58-f843-49b3-9653-84275c23f3fb

This is MPs with military service (one in the US Army I see). Nothing about their kids.
 
Right - well that's interesting, if only part of the info.  I suspect, as you alluded to earlier, that if more MPs had family members who served/are serving, it might bring another dimension to their deliberations about military-related decisions.

daftandbarmy said:
From what I can see one of our main diversity issues is the lack of representaion by, for want of a better term, Canada's '1%'. In the UK and US there seems to be a high proportion of 'rich people's kids' in the forces.

I found that it helps to have your country's decision makers with, literally, some skin in the game.
 
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