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In that same poster, some people felt that the aboriginal person in the forefront was merely a “token” who wasn’t depicted as part of the team.

“It would be more appealing if they showed a mix of races or more than one Aboriginal,” one of the commenters in an aboriginal focus group said in the report.

In reviewing one radio advertisement, some of the people in the aboriginal focus groups criticized the speaker’s Inuktitut pronunciation of the letter “r.” In the radio ad recruiting mechanics, some Iqaluit participants said the voice used in the Inuktitut version was using the kutuk dialect, which they said is not respected.

The report recommended that the person’s accent should be selected carefully to make sure it’s accepted in the communities where the ad will be aired.

“This will ensure the ad is taken seriously,” the report noted.

There were some positive reactions to some of the aboriginal ads, citing the portrayal of proud and capable aboriginal people and a strong female presence in the posters, and the diversity of ethnic backgrounds represented in the web banners.

The Canadian’s Forces have a priority to better reflect Canada’s diversity, the report said, but noted that very few aboriginal people have joined the military.

One of the aims of the research was to understand the “values, motivators and reservations” that influence views regarding employment in the Canadian Forces among aboriginal people, the report said.

Among both test groups, the Canadian Forces was viewed as offering good pay and benefits, stability and adventure. But a military career was also viewed as a long-term commitment that implied discipline, strictness, hard work and dangerous situations.

Pride in serving one’s country was “more top of mind” among the aboriginal people in the study than in the non-aboriginal focus groups, the report said.

Defence did not immediately respond to an interview request Monday.

With files from Postmedia and The Canadian Press