The Canadian Military is sending gender advisors to countries like Ukraine and Latvia as per the Department of National Defence’s efforts to promote DEI “across all initiatives.”
The DND recently released a performance update, revealing that their “gender-based analysis plus” initiative currently has three gender advisors who were employed in all CAF international operations.
“In 2023, notable opportunities to apply Gender-Based Analysis plus (GBA Plus) and intersectional perspectives to operational support occurred in Poland, Ukraine, Haiti, and Latvia,” their update reads, as first reported by True North.
The update further reports its aim to have gender advisors “within each DND and CAF organization, and large operation.”
The overarching initiative is Canada’s Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, which aims to ensure that women and marginalized groups are included in decision-making processes, conflict resolution, and rebuilding efforts.
As previously reported, the DND’s update admitted that they are still experiencing significant shortages in terms of personnel and equipment.
However, the department boasted about its DEI success. For example, it mentioned that the Canadian Forces Health Services and the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service (RCChS) are actively trying to recruit non-White members and religious minorities.
The DND also patted themselves on the back for having more female military members than other countries.
“DND/CAF continued to make efforts to remove barriers and increase opportunities to deploy diverse women to international operations,” the report states.
It continued, “Of note has been RCAF and Op PRESENCE Roto 22-1, where 30% of the mission’s Air Detachment were women. This is one example where the RCAF is outpacing international partners and the United Nation’s target of 15% for women serving in military contingents by 2028.”
