News Article
Canadians in Favour of Employment Options for Military Forces: Poll
Adrian Alleyne, Leader-Post
November 10, 2008
The overall consensus from Canadians is that veterans and reservists need to be taken care of, especially when it comes to employment options.
The Commissionaires of Canada commissioned a poll to gauge Canadians' attitudes towards veterans receiving meaningful work and reservists having their jobs protected while they serve in the forces.
The poll shows 89 per cent of Canadians believe there is a responsibility to help veterans find meaningful work, while 88 per cent believe that members of the reserve force should have their civilian jobs protected while they are serving the country.
"We were pleasantly surprised by the amount of knowledge that exists currently among Canadians. Certainly most Canadians, well over 80 per cent, think that we should be doing something to help provide meaningful employment for the forces when they get out of the military," said Cliff Walker, CEO of Commissionaires Southern Saskatchewan.
The poll was conducted between Aug. 20 and Aug. 27 by Nanos Research, a Toronto-based company. It sampled 1,000 random Canadians by telephone.
"It was important for us to do this poll to see if there was any kind of indication by Canadians if we need to do more education or if there's things we can do to help raise the profiles of veterans across Canada," he said.
Meaningful work refers to the jobs done by the people who guard the legislature, guard the airport, provide security for the RCMP "F" Division, and look after parking and residence security at the University of Regina, said Walker.
There was a surprise finding in the poll, though, as 66 per cent of Canadians think of someone older when they discuss veterans, while 25 per cent think of someone who is 20 or 30.
"A lot of people, when they think veterans, they're still thinking World War Two or maybe Korea, but there's a whole new generation of young veterans," said Walker.
"In June of 2007 when Princess Anne was (in Regina) at the war memorial and she unveiled the plaque to some of the fallen from Afghanistan and other young people who recently lost their lives, I was amazed to look at these young women with Silver Crosses on their chests -- because to me a Silver Cross mom was a lady in her 80s or 90s who lost her son in World War Two.
"These women are only 38, 39, 40 years old. How could they be Silver Cross moms? Then of course looking at the age of people who died, they were 18, 19, 20 years old; these were their mothers. And in World War Two those Silver Cross moms weren't 80 and 90 years old, they were young moms of young men who died. It's something I think we need to work on, that veterans aren't just older people."
Reservists serve a double duty to society as a member of the forces and as a citizen. They have civilian occupations and responsibilities and they still take the time to train and learn how to serve and protect their country, Walker said.
That's why the commissionaire was developed -- to provide employment options to members of the forces. The profession was initially formed in 1925 to provide a service for veterans of the First World War and it was expanded after the Second World War.
"It started down in Eastern Canada, and after the Second World War it was decided to form a division of the corps of commissionaires in South Saskatchewan and another division in Northern Saskatchewan," said Walker.
"We started with nine people in Regina and there are now 565 great men and women who are still serving Canada and serving Saskatchewan and have been protecting the province for 60 years."
aalleyne@leaderpost.canwest.com
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