Transcript

(S) Welcome back to Defence Team News, I’m Shelley Van Hoof.

(P) And I’m Lt(N) Phil Henry. Here are the headlines at Defence.

(S) The RAVEN Indigenous Youth Initiative is wrapping up this week at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt.

The program, now in its sixteenth year, allows Indigenous youth from across Canada to gather for six-weeks of culture-sharing and training with the Royal Canadian Navy. We spoke to a few RAVEN candidates about why they joined the program.

(K) My name is Konnor Issaluk, I’m from Deep River, Ontario, originally from Nunavut, Iqaluit. I learned about this RAVEN program through my stepdad, who’s been in the military for quite some time. He’s been in Air Force, Navy and Army. He told me Navy was the best choice, so I chose RAVEN for that specific reason. While I’m here, I also hope to get my leadership skills and my physical skills up-to-date.

(R) My name is Raylinn Parenteau, and I’m from Chatham-Kent, Ontario. I decided to join the RAVEN program because my uncle was actually in the military and he thought the RAVEN program would be a good fit for me. What I expect to get out of the RAVEN program is to build my confidence, open up more and what I got out of that so far was I met a whole bunch of people from around Canada, and now I have a whole new family.

(P) The Military Personnel Command has recently launched the Seamless Canada initiative to help alleviate significant stressors for CAF members and their families during relocation.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan made the announcement at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, with the pilot program set to start in New Brunswick in the fall before rolling out across Canada.

The initiative supports Canada’s Defence Policy: Strong, Secure, Engaged in helping the CAF retain the talented people it recruits, and ensure the well-being of its members and their families.

(P) Before we go, sections of the Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act will come into force on September 1^st, introducing a number of substantial changes to the military justice system to enhance fairness and flexibility.

(S) Presiding officers must be fully up-to-speed on these changes in order to continue to exercise their duties and must complete mandatory training before September 1^st.

This training is available on the Defence Learning Network and more information on the upcoming changes is available in the related links.

(P) That’s it for us. Thank you so much for watching. See you next time…

(S)…for Defence Team News!