Military personnel hope to recruit Inuit during stop in Iqaluit

MIRIAM HILL

Debbie Eisan’s face becomes animated when she talks about the Canadian Forces Aboriginal Entry Program.

Relaunched in 1999, the program gives Aboriginal people and Inuit a chance to try the Forces — with no obligation to join.

Eisan is the Forces’ Atlantic Regional Division Recruiting Officer. Her visit to Iqaluit coincides with a visit from the HMCS Goose Bay, the first naval ship to enter Arctic waters in 13 years and the first to visit Nunavut.

She spoke at the dome youth centre this week and set up a recruiting tent on the breakwater where people were boarding boats to visit the naval ship.

Eisan, an Ojibwa from the Batchewana Reserve in Sault Ste-Marie, Ontario, said if she manages to help one person figure out what to do with their life, then she’s made a difference. After high school, Eisan said she was working as waitress and knew she didn’t want to do that forever, but her parents couldn’t afford to send her to school. At 17 she joined the Forces.

“Even if they don’t sign up today, maybe seven or eight months down the road they might think about it,” she said.

Her job is to tell people aged 17 to 52 (17-year-olds need parental consent) about what the Canadian Forces have to offer. In the South, people in the Aboriginal Entry Program spend three weeks learning what it’s like to be in the military. North of 60, people spend two weeks in Yellowknife doing the same.

Recruits are given the history of Aboriginal people in the Forces, and they learn how to go through “drill,” as well as learning rapelling, and doing some map and compass work. Job counselling is available and recruits are asked to complete an aptitude test to determine where their strengths lie.

Aboriginal counsellors are on hand for the two weeks for recruits to talk about anything they wish. Recruits are paid $1,200 for their participation.

Eisan said all of the instructors are trained in Aboriginal culture, and things like dietary differences are taken into account. The gradation ceremony incorporates traditional practices such as smudging ceremonies.

To apply to enter the Canadian Forces Aboriginal Entry Program, you must have completed at least five credits in Grade 10.

Upon completion of the program, recruits can enroll immediately or take time to think about it. If they decide the Forces aren’t for them, Eisan said, they have at least gained some time management skills, self-confidence and had an opportunity to go through some job counselling.