Responding to the CMC Review: Towards Renewal
You will no doubt have heard that the Canadian Military Colleges Review Board issued its report on Friday March 7, 2025. While the Royal Military Colleges of Canada Alumni Association welcomes the report, the depth and breadth of analysis it contains warrants careful consideration, and we are still reviewing the details. (The report is available…
The Royal Military College Alumni Association represents all persons who have attended a program at the CMCs – including thousands of alumni with lived experience of the ROTP. We serve both the alumni – including active-duty CAF members and veterans – as well as the current officer and naval cadets of the Colleges to provide…
Summary: The Canadian Military Colleges Review is an opportunity to respond to the issues identified in Recommendations 28 and 29 of the Arbour Report while implementing changes and innovation that preserve the CMCs and enhance their capacity to produce leaders for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The RMCAA strongly believes that officer and naval cadet…
Summary As part of preparing to engage with the CMC Review Board, we conducted an extensive benchmarking study of military academies in the US, UK, and Australia, as well as Canadian civilian universities. This study identified best practices in program structure, instructor / cadet roles and selection processes, and strategies to enhance diversity, equity, and…
Responding to the CMC Review: Towards Renewal What we heard from our members Alumni Survey on the Issues in the Arbour Report In the fall of 2023, the RMCAA surveyed alumni to find out what they thought about the issues in the Arbour Report. This survey was sent to almost 7,000 individual members of the…
The Arbour Report, the Canadian Military Colleges Review Board (CMCRB), and RMCAA’s Strategy – The Process Where it started: The Arbour Report recommendations Imagine a world where every leader inspires those around them to greatness, no matter the situation. That is the kind of leadership the RMC Alumni Association wants to cultivate in graduates of…
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:…
What’s New On Monday, November 20th 2023, the Minister of National Defence, the Honourable Bill Blair, released the second status report of the External Monitor, Jocelyne Therrien, on the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF)/Department of National Defence (DND) implementation of the Independent External Comprehensive Review (IECR, otherwise known as the Arbour Report). Mme Therrien’s second report…
The Royal Military Colleges Alumni Association (RMCAA) has engaged a team of consultants, led by Genevieve Bonin (Royal Military College, Class of 1993) of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), to support the RMCAA’s efforts to produce an independent, fact-based submission to the Canadian Military Colleges (CMC) Review Board aimed at renewing the CMCs. The RMCAA believe…
The Royal Military Colleges Alumni Association (RMCAA) has reviewed the 30 May 2023 message from the Minister of National Defence, Deputy Minister and Chief of the Defence Staff, “One Year after the Independent External Comprehensive Review.” ( https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/maple-leaf/defence/2023/05/one-year-after-independent-external-comprehensive-review-dnd-caf.html ) The message is linked above and shared below for the benefit of our members, as we…
Since our last update in February (https://www.rmcalumni.ca/en/third-update-on-royal-military-colleges-of-canada-alumni-association-activities-in-response-to-the-arbour-report/ ), the Association has been taking steps to prepare to make a professional and credible submission to the Canadian Military Colleges Review Board. We are pleased to note that the CMC Review Board’s reporting relationship, terms of reference and competency profiles have now been made public and that…
We will now be providing a regular update on the Alumni Association’s activities in response to the Arbour Report, as we expect the Canadian Military Colleges (CMC) Review Board will be getting underway in 2023 (as noted in the Minister of National Defence’s December 2022 Report to Parliament on Culture Change Reforms in response to…