Shortage of soldiers in Bas-Saint-Laurent

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Martin Blanchet

Monday, 22 January 2018 17:45

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Monday, 22 January 2018 17:45

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RIMOUSKI – The canadian armed Forces are struggling to recruit new members in the Bas-Saint-Laurent, where about 200 posts are vacant in the navy and the land forces, a record.

On the side of the HMCS D’iberville in Rimouski, a reserve unit of the navy, no less than 47 out of 100 jobs are available and still have not found takers. The unit has an urgent need for officers of naval warfare, operators, naval combat, communicators and naval cooks.

The situation is even more worrying in the les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent where there is a lack nearly 58 % of the workforce. The regiment, which consists of three divisions in Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski and Matane, has in its ranks only 115 reservists out of a possible 271. It therefore remains an impressive total of 156 vacant jobs.

The Fusiliers are to the search of soldiers and officers of infantry.

Meanwhile, the forces continue their recruitment efforts in schools and at public events.

According to the second in command of HMCS D’iberville, the lieutenant of Christian Ducharme, reservists often being of the students, it is difficult to keep them in the region for a very long time.

Some of them complete their training in the larger centres, or even leaves the Bas-Saint-Laurent to find work in their field of expertise. As to those who pursue their military career, they generally turn to another unit.

The sergeant recruiter Simon Lévesque, of the les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent, also recognises that recruitment is a challenge all the more important that the armed forces want to increase the number of reservists in the country.