Updates

Context:

The Canadian Military Colleges’ (CMC) alumni community is keenly aware of reporting that has spotlighted symptoms of a toxic culture within the Canadian Armed Forces(CAF)/ Department of National Defence (DND), particularly around sexual misconduct and suicide.  The Independent External Comprehensive Review, otherwise known as the “Arbour Report”, contained two recommendations focusing on the CMCs:

• 28) that “The Cadet Wing responsibility and authority command structure should be eliminated’’ and
• 29) that “A combination of Defence Team members and external experts, led by an external education specialist, should conduct a detailed review of the benefits, disadvantages and costs, both for the CAF and more broadly, of continuing to educate ROTP cadets at the military colleges.”

The Canadian Military Colleges Review Board (CMCRB) was announced by the Minister of National Defence on 6 December 2023 with a 12-month mandate to focus on recommendation 28 and parts of 29, as we reported in e-Veritas on 1 January 2024.  They started work on 15 January 2024.  The CMCRB completed four weeks of orientation briefings and made their first visit to Kingston 12-16 February 2024 to visit Canadian Defence Academy Headquarters and the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). They visited the Collège militaire royale de Saint-Jean (CMRSJ) the week of 4 March 2024.

RMCAA has established a line of communication with staff in the Secretariat for the CMCRB.  We provided CMCRB Secretariat Staff with information on RMCAA’s mission and history and on the process that we have been engaged in with the membership and outside advisors to prepare a submission to the CMCRB to inform their work, as noted below.

We have been advised to expect that CMCRB will want to engage with us early in their mandate, during the deliberate engagement phase of their work plan.

RMCAA’s mission, in the context of the Canadian Military Colleges Review:

Even while acknowledging very real cultural problems, the RMCAA firmly believes the CMCs have a valuable role to play going forward and wants to participate in the review in order to advance this position and be an active participant in making the CMCs better.

We are conscious of our role as an organization to represent a membership made up of everyone who has attended a CMC, including current students, serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), civilian leaders in the Defence Team, veterans serving in industry or other sectors, and retirees serving as volunteers.

We recognize the CMC Review Board’s work could have an existential impact on the future of the CMCs.  The Royal Military Colleges of Canada Alumni Association is uniquely placed to advocate for the continuation and improvement of the CMCs.  To be credible, we need to be seen as 1) recognizing the need for change; and 2) having something substantive and evidence-based to say on how the CMCs can be improved.

To do this, RMCAA engaged outside consultants, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), through a competitive process to conduct a thorough examination.  This work was guided by a Steering Committee, carefully selected for their expertise and the credibility that they bring.  Information on the role of BCG and on the make-up of the Steering Committee was provided to RMCAA branch and class representatives by e-mail on 13 November 2024.

Information provided to Secretariat in the preliminary meeting:

In our communication with the Secretariat, we noted RMCAA’s mission of “advancement” (supporting continuation and improvement) of the CMCs and our role as an organization that represents a membership made up of everyone who has attended a CMC, including current students, serving members of the CAF, civilian leaders in the Defence Team, veterans serving in industry or other sectors, and retirees serving as volunteers.  We noted the continuing efforts, since before the merger of the RMC Club and RMC Foundation in 2021, to enhance the impact of the alumni organization.  We also discussed the history of philanthropic contributions that the alumni have made to the CMCs since the 1880s.

We described RMCAA’s approach to preparing to engage with the CMCRB.  This approach is familiar to you from previous communications, but is recapped below:

• We engaged outside consultants, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), to conduct a thorough examination. This work was guided by a Steering Committee, carefully selected for their expertise and the credibility that they bring.
• A major focus of the Steering Committee’s work has been ensuring that a balanced view of both the positives and the negatives of the military college experience, representing the perspectives of the CMC alumni community writ large, guided the examination of the CMCs. This is to ensure that any submission RMCAA makes to the CMCRB considers all viewpoints in the process.
• Thus, the Steering Committee directed our consultants from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), to conduct an in-depth survey of 1400+ RMCAA members to gather objective data on a myriad of specific topics related to their CMC experience; 40+ in-depth interviews and focus groups with various experts and interested parties; and analyze the more than 200 individual and group submissions and testimonials received since June 2022 by the RMCAA from various CMC classes and alumni at our [email protected] mailbox. They conducted a statistical analysis of the results of all data gathered in the survey, interviews, and e-mail submissions to determine the degree to which certain elements of the CMC experience need to change (or not).
• This analysis was benchmarked against US, UK, and Australian partner military academies to compare and contrast approaches, and then compared to civilian university processes and contexts where relevant.

Additional information for members on process and findings

• The examination and analysis conducted confirm both the important role of the CMCs in building leaders and the need for improvement and modernization.
  • While 85% believe their CMC experience prepared them to be leaders, and roughly 2/3 of respondents had a good experience overall at the CMCs, the corollary is that roughly 1/3 of respondents did not.
  • Moreover, a certain percentage of CMC attendees experienced some significantly traumatizing events. Those that did not personally experience or witness traumas may have a difficult time understanding/acknowledging that others were traumatized, and that the system failed.
• The BCG team and Steering Committee systematically examined the CMC cadet experience and studied the various elements beneath the “four pillars of academic, military training, physical fitness and bilingualism” as separate aspects of the experience needing varying degrees of change relative to one another in order to impact and correct identified flaws in the program while retaining all the positive benefits and outcomes of the program. They also reviewed the Cadet Wing leadership structure and approach in great detail.
• They applied a data-driven process to identify a range of mitigations from mild alterations to bold changes. The Steering Committee members debated the merits of each option for change, landing on the recommended approach via consensus, where the majority felt the proposed change would be significant enough to both improve the experience for the cadet population, and also preserve the positive outcomes that underpinned the four pillars in the first place – maintaining the “degree with a difference” as our north star, and recognizing that CMC cadets are not the same as their civilian counterparts, for good reason, given their future roles in the CAF with the acceptance of unlimited liability and responsibility for the application of lethal force.
• The process culminated in identifying seven actionable propositions for change, each of which has three or four sub-components that specify necessary changes to ensure better outcomes for all CMC cadets.

More information on these propositions will be forthcoming (see below).

Next Steps:

The RMCAA Board of Directors has been briefed on the results of the Steering Committee’s work and is actively considering next steps.

The Steering Committee’s work places the RMCAA in a high degree of readiness to make a professional, comprehensive, evidence-based submission to CMCRB.  However, without having met with the CMCRB to confirm their expectations, and to better understand the detailed questions they are examining as part of their mandate, the form and final content of the RMCAA’s submission cannot yet be finalized.  We are expecting to have an iterative series of engagements with the CMCRB throughout their mandate, beginning with a first engagement in March 2024.

We intend to keep our members informed as the CMC Review Board moves forward with its work.  To that end, the RMCAA website has been re-organized for easier access to our Arbour Response Updates.  Through that website and through future updates like this one, we will provide further information on the process, the evidence and analysis that underpins the work, the comparisons with international best practices, and recommendations for improvement in response to recommendations 28 and 29.

In the meantime, we want to continue to hear from members about the issues relating to the Arbour Report and the future of the CMCs that concern you.  You can reach us through our [email protected] mailbox (Note new email address).  Your feedback can help us to better understand the perspectives of CMC alumni, whether you send it directly, through your class secretary or through your local branch leadership.

Please remember, any person who has attended a CMC, whether undergraduate, graduate studies or continuing studies, is a member of the RMCAA.

Join us to bring together the CMC alumni for their mutual support, to advance the CMCs, and to recognize and celebrate the continuing contribution to Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces that more than 30,000 CMC alumni have made since 1876.