Canada’s military colleges are widely seen as clinging to a bygone era. As retired Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour states, the leadership model is both “outdated and problematic.” Recruiting efforts are failing dismally, do we think that is unrelated? Everyone knows it’s high time for major change, so how and why does the status quo continue to prevail?

Dr Danic Parenteau and FrontLine contributor LGen Michel Maisonneuve (retired) recently published a study on this topic, and propose a new vision that “will allow the correction of numerous criticisms voiced over the last thirty years” – including the contentious issue of sexual misconduct.

“By returning to their essential mission,” write Parenteau and Maisonneuve, “both institutions will better fulfill their mandate to train and educate future officers able to undertake the vast range of responsibilities that are theirs, including to foster an inclusive and respectful culture for all who serve in the CAF.”

Some might argue that a reset to the title Military Academy is just semantics, but as you will read, there are key differences. Additionally, the optics created by changing from a college to an academy could trigger just the social change that is vitally necessary for these institutions to continue to be relevant in today's world.

In this 29 page document, the authors identify the various aspects that led them to propose that RMC and RMC Saint-Jean reset their mandates and change the classification to Military Academies.

Read full report published by the CDAI:
https://cdainstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Vimy-52.pdf