- Reaction score
- 18,191
- Points
- 1,280
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/chinese-canadians-reluctant-to-join-military-study-finds/article2096714/
From the G&M about a week ago.
*Warning: Bit of a rant, and all views are mine alone.*
I'm Chinese-Canadian, so I've had this debate before (and sometimes still do) with my family and their friends; the military isn't viewed the same way "back home." I've also noticed that people assume that as a visible minority, there would be more discrimination in something as hierarchical as the military and are surprised when I tell them that my ethnicity has never come up in a negative light.
While I think it'd be nice if the CF does recruit more Chinese-Canadians, it will be very tough for two reasons, both related to location:
1. Close-knit family. The article mentions this at the end, after the argument that the CF isn't seen as a stepping stone to higher education, but I think this is a more important reason. Moving away from the family is something that is generally tolerated for the first part of adulthood (for school, to get a job, etc.) After a while, however, the pressure is on (and sometimes intense) to move back to where other family members live (preferably in the same house) in order to take care of the older generation. The individualist "don't worry what other people think, it's your life" belief doesn't work in Chinese culture. While I'm sure that happens to some extent with every family, I have never personally heard of Chinese parents "kicking" their children out of the house to see the world; in contrast, my parents (and my aunts/uncles) would like nothing more than for my generation (who have all moved to various countries for work) to live with them again in the same house.
2. Chinese-Canadians (especially the ones who have moved in the past 30-odd years) live generally in big cities (I'll let you figure those cities out.) This ties into the first point, since Chinese-Canadians would be more wary of moving to other areas without a significant Chinese (or otherwise) population. For example: I was once offered a posting to Halifax (a great city), but when I told my parents this and saying how great it was, the questions were as though I was going to move to Nunavut. Now imagine trying to tell a mother from Hong Kong or mainland China that her son/daughter will be posted in places like Cold Lake or Gander for a few years at a time.
I believe that if the CF increases publicity on the opportunities for higher education (ROTP, MMTP, etc.) as well as what that could translate to in the civilian world, it would help the situation. However, that would be a bit counter-intuitive if the goal is to keep people for longer than their obligatory service. Bases are where they are, so that's really beyond debate. However, I would like to know if countries like Australia, where their bases are generally near their cities, have the same problem.
Again, this is just stuff I've noticed from...let's call them "discussions" with family over my career in the CF. Unfortunately it's more of a rant, since I have no answers or even ideas to remedy this, short of making all bases next to the big cities similar to what Australia did, coupled with not posting people. Ever.
*rant off*
Edited to add: The PRes units with us in Vancouver on Canada Day weekend had a significant number of Chinese-Canadians, and I'll assume the same in Toronto. So, it's not that the CF as a whole isn't attracting them ("us?" Now I'm getting my pronouns mixed.)
From the G&M about a week ago.
*Warning: Bit of a rant, and all views are mine alone.*
I'm Chinese-Canadian, so I've had this debate before (and sometimes still do) with my family and their friends; the military isn't viewed the same way "back home." I've also noticed that people assume that as a visible minority, there would be more discrimination in something as hierarchical as the military and are surprised when I tell them that my ethnicity has never come up in a negative light.
While I think it'd be nice if the CF does recruit more Chinese-Canadians, it will be very tough for two reasons, both related to location:
1. Close-knit family. The article mentions this at the end, after the argument that the CF isn't seen as a stepping stone to higher education, but I think this is a more important reason. Moving away from the family is something that is generally tolerated for the first part of adulthood (for school, to get a job, etc.) After a while, however, the pressure is on (and sometimes intense) to move back to where other family members live (preferably in the same house) in order to take care of the older generation. The individualist "don't worry what other people think, it's your life" belief doesn't work in Chinese culture. While I'm sure that happens to some extent with every family, I have never personally heard of Chinese parents "kicking" their children out of the house to see the world; in contrast, my parents (and my aunts/uncles) would like nothing more than for my generation (who have all moved to various countries for work) to live with them again in the same house.
2. Chinese-Canadians (especially the ones who have moved in the past 30-odd years) live generally in big cities (I'll let you figure those cities out.) This ties into the first point, since Chinese-Canadians would be more wary of moving to other areas without a significant Chinese (or otherwise) population. For example: I was once offered a posting to Halifax (a great city), but when I told my parents this and saying how great it was, the questions were as though I was going to move to Nunavut. Now imagine trying to tell a mother from Hong Kong or mainland China that her son/daughter will be posted in places like Cold Lake or Gander for a few years at a time.
I believe that if the CF increases publicity on the opportunities for higher education (ROTP, MMTP, etc.) as well as what that could translate to in the civilian world, it would help the situation. However, that would be a bit counter-intuitive if the goal is to keep people for longer than their obligatory service. Bases are where they are, so that's really beyond debate. However, I would like to know if countries like Australia, where their bases are generally near their cities, have the same problem.
Again, this is just stuff I've noticed from...let's call them "discussions" with family over my career in the CF. Unfortunately it's more of a rant, since I have no answers or even ideas to remedy this, short of making all bases next to the big cities similar to what Australia did, coupled with not posting people. Ever.
*rant off*
Edited to add: The PRes units with us in Vancouver on Canada Day weekend had a significant number of Chinese-Canadians, and I'll assume the same in Toronto. So, it's not that the CF as a whole isn't attracting them ("us?" Now I'm getting my pronouns mixed.)