Canada’s esteemed military colleges live to fight another day

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NewsFlash: Two military universities in Canada will not be closed. But, what exactly are they?

On the eve of International Women’s Day last weekend, Defense Secretary Bill Blair published an independent report that would be willing to be deceived to two Canadian military academies – the Royal Military Academy of Kingston (RMC) and the Royal Military Academy St. Jean-Jan Sur Richelieu (RMC Saint-Jean) – who were willing to be deceived.

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However, the 49 recommendations for reform signals presented by the report in training military cadets have changed, including increasing the quota for female cadets to 33% by 2035, eliminating peer leadership models and physical performance tests, and rejuvenating the campus as a symbol of national pride.

The fate of the Canadian Military Academy was in danger in 2022, when former Canadian Supreme Court judge Louise Arbor raised concerns about the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) review of sexual misconduct (CAF). Subsequently, a largely civilian group was appointed “whether misogyny and sexual misconduct are so deeply rooted in order to make them inevitable.”

I read the March 7 report, ending up. With Americans who shouted “warrior culture” and “fatality” and “beat the enemy” (recall a confirmation hearing by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth), the Milquit Islands report almost avoids the issue of why military universities or cafes arise.

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Management consultant Mike Kennedy agreed, “The one thing that shocked me very frankly, is that you don’t see words like ‘war’ or ‘Warior’ or ‘Warrior’ or ‘Combat’ or ‘kill’. Well, there’s a very short mention of ‘lethal force’.” People have to understand, Mike explains, “What are these places, what’s going on in the military? Killing isn’t something people naturally have.”

Mike is not your typical military insider. In fact, he is a 67-year-old former student at RMC and he may hold a grudge. In 1976, Mike, the first year of his RMC training, “Meet all requirements,” he shared in a recent conversation “and visited the so-called basic officer training course in the summer after the first year… For a brief story, one of us met a group of unfortunate people who had some unfortunate problems with one of our bosses who treated us badly, which left us in a difficult situation, which left us away, which left us away. So I didn’t graduate. I didn’t actually serve as a commissioned officer.”

There was a time in this country where military service was regarded as a very noble and prestigious profession

Despite this, Mike is full of wonderful memories of his time in college and attaches great importance to the armed forces. There is a close network between Canada’s service and former military members, Mike’s staying in touch. When military historians gave revelations to Canadian War Heroes and wrote extensively for RMC’s alumni publications, they even hosted the Montreal branch of the RMC Club. (In another life, he developed in partnership with financial positions and awarded the Management Education Award Leader.)

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Over the past year, Mike and I have had several discussions on military culture (including bullying, bullying) and the process of civilians becoming soldiers. He is a perfect former student who can weigh the future significance of Canadian Military University.

Mike assured me that you cannot develop young people’s leadership through savages. “A lot of people think that’s what military training means. It’s not. That being said, you have to make the training so challenging and strict that people don’t collapse when facing potentially life-threatening situations.

“There was a time in this country where military service was seen as a very noble and prestigious profession,” he reflected. “There was a time when RMC was seen as being in the same alliance as McGill, Queens and u of T..”

Mike cites two major blows to the reputation: the first was the unification of the armed forces in the 1960s, and the second was “a government decision starting with Pierre Trudeau, cutting funds basically allocated to social programs for the military.”

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Mike paused, adding: “The other thing that was not realized was that one of the policy decisions of the (Pierre) Trudeau administration was that in hindsight, it was a big mistake to change the main task of the armed forces from one of those who defend Canadian sovereignty to one of the internal security forces.”

This is an important point he put forward here. Turning the army into another branch of public services was a major shift. I worry that this March 2025 report won’t turn the trajectory of CAF, but what’s going on in the world around us may force Canadians to see how recruiting and trainee training.

Poland watched the EU countries (the most quickly established funds for the military, all took unprecedented steps to expand their military and even assessed nuclear deterrence – it felt like the world was in the past. Mike agreed: “In 1962 (at the time we had a population of about 18.5 million) the combined force of the Canadian armed forces exceeded 126,000 … Today, 41 million people have a population of 41 million, and the total normal force is about 63,000.”

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He is grateful that the report does not recommend closing military universities, so improvement is needed. But he was very upset.

“This is written in the main article by a group of civilians who have never served before, who have never been to college themselves,” he said. “I don’t think anyone can understand military culture unless they actually live for a while.”

Mike is not ready to throw the entire report in the trash, and it remains to be seen how the report will be implemented.

He is a fan who abandons standardized physical performance tests. But he also hopes to see self-defense guidance added to the course to teach recruits how to fight and win in life and death situations. “You know, you have to take young people and train them to war, train them to the whole idea of ​​killing or being killed,” he said. Mike added that training martial arts, developing practical combat abilities, and developing psychological discipline, can react instinctively if they are imposed in situations where they have to defend themselves.

It is suggested to increase the number of cadets in the military academy system to drive cost reductions for each student, which has bothered Mike. He is cautious about the report’s recommendations to eliminate any powers of senior trainees over juniors; “The focus of the university is on inculcating leadership skills.”

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He sighed.

“People need to remember that the Military Academy is an organization that serves the country as a whole, and when you look at people who have experienced what the system has done and contributed, it is not only for those who graduate, but for many others. I think the contribution they have made is certainly disproportionate to the size of the institution.”

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