The class of 2015 for the Bold Eagle program will be graduating Thursday at CFB Wainwright, Alberta.
This is the 26th year for the program which was originally started through an agreement involving the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Canadian Armed forces.
This year 85 First Nation, Metis and Inuit youth from across western Canada are graduating.
Bold Eagle Coordinator Major Bruce Hanbidge says the candidates take the same course as anyone else who joins the primary reserves, with an added cultural component.
“Which is a transition period which helps a lot of candidates transition from wherever they are from to a military culture, and in many cases it is a pretty large cultural leap from a small reserve in a remote area of western Canada to a military culture in Wainwright.”
Hanbidge says another component of the program is a career day and this year eight civilian companies were involved.
“They looked at the Bold Eagle program and they’ve seen that these candidates are exactly what they want for entry level employees for their organizations”.
Some of the organizations which attended the career day were ATCO, SaskTel, Cameco and the RCMP.
The number of female candidates is also increasing and this year reached about 30%.