In the News May 26

Do Not Let Warmongers Speak in Our Name!

Armed Forces Digital Recruitment Campaign

Besides increasing the amounts of money to fund NATO and weapons, Canada’s Armed Forces are also conducting what they call a Digital Recruitment Campaign to co-opt the youth.

The vice-chief of Canada’s defence staff said in a March 10 press release that the military is embarking on a digital recruitment drive to build up its numbers, Canadian Press (CP) reported at the time.

“Lt.-Gen. Frances Allen told an international defence conference in Ottawa that a priority was to build back Canadian Armed Forces capacity. Given the inquiries into racism, sexism, discrimination and mistreatment in the military it is not surprising to hear Allen say that “leaders are addressing ‘many flaws’ with the recruiting process.”

“The recruitment drive will focus on the skills Canada’s Armed Forces need, and retaining existing members is also important,” Allen said. “[A] culture change is ongoing, which will allow people to ‘be their best’ without feeling they are ‘an outsider’ or ‘an other,’” CP reported her saying.

Also a CBC report from March 23 says:

“Canada’s military reports that it’s roughly 7,600 members short of full strength — just as NATO is deploying more troops to eastern Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The latest figure was recorded on Feb. 15 and shows a major shortfall in what the military calls its “trained, effective strength.” The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has roughly 65,000 regular members.

“‘This is of course a number one priority for all of us, ensuring readiness is not affected by our current trained, effective strength,’ said Maj.-Gen. Simon Bernard, the military’s lead on reconstituting the forces.

“Gen. Wayne Eyre, chief of defence staff, said earlier this month that operational readiness is ‘one of the things that keeps me awake at night’ as he laid out his plans to rebuild the military for an ‘increasingly dangerous future.’

[…]

“David Perry, the president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said CAF’s membership shortfall is ‘significant.’

“‘[The military] always put the highest priority on operational commitments, including NATO, so the short-term impacts will probably be low,’ said Perry. ‘But if we can’t quickly fix that shortfall, it will impact what we can commit to NATO in the medium and long term.'”

This puts the onus on the democratic and peace-loving youth to oppose their recruitment to be used as cannon fodder in U.S.-led NATO wars.

Not a Single Youth for Imperialist War!

(TML Daily, posted May 26, 2022)