On June 12, the Canadian Military Colleges Review Board (CMCRB) launched an online consultation portal to receive input from Canadians regarding Canada's two military colleges, as related to the mandate of the CMCRB. The Consulting with Canadians platform will be available until September 15, 2024 for submissions regarding the mandate of the CMCRB.
The CMCRB is mandated to:
- Review the benefits, costs and advantages to both to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the nation, of continuing to educate Regular Officer Training Plan (ROTP) naval/officer cadets at the Canadian Military Colleges (CMCs);
- Assess the comparative quality of education, socialization and military leadership training in the CMCs' environments;
- Assess the potential of different models for delivering university-level education and military leadership training to naval/officer cadets;
- Assess whether the Cadet Wing responsibility and authority command structure should remain in place, be modified or discontinued as a leadership development practice; and
- Recommend whether the CMCs should continue in their current or an altered capacity as undergraduate degree-granting institutions.
In particular, the CMCRB, will make recommendations pertaining to Recommendation 28 and Recommendation 29 of former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour's Independent External Comprehensive Review (IECR) Report. The CMCRB has approximately one year to make its recommendations. Led by Chairperson Dr. Kathy Hogarth, it is comprised of five external education and culture experts and two internal Department of National Defence (DND)/CAF members.
Quotes
"Consultation is an important part of our mandate. It would not be feasible for us to meet with everyone who has expressed an interest, which is why we invite any Canadian with perspectives related to our mandate to provide written submissions through this platform. We are committed to considering all the input we receive."
Dr. Kathy Hogarth, Chairperson, Canadian Military Colleges Review Board
Quick facts
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The IECR Report by the Honourable Louise Arbour was released to the public on May 30, 2022.
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The Minister of National Defence at the time, the Honourable Anita Anand, accepted the recommendations in her report to Parliament on December 13, 2022, and directed both the immediate implementation of Recommendation 29 and that the implementation of Recommendation 28 be informed and determined by the work of the CMCRB.
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The CAF has two military colleges, the Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston and RMC Saint-Jean in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, that educate and develop a portion of the officers (a bit less than half, though this varies by year) in the officer corps of the CAF's Regular Force. The military colleges are undergraduate and graduate degree-granting institutions.
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DND/CAF reports and studies have been conducted in the past on the climate and culture of Canadian military colleges. The most recent was the Chief of the Defence Staff directed Special Staff Assistance Visit (SSAV) - Report on the Climate, Training Environment, Culture and ROTP Programmed at the Royal Military College of Canada - Kingston, 10 March 2017
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