Methodology

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• Primary Data Sources
  • Listening Sessions
  • Consulting with Canadians Online Portal and Other Electronic Submissions
  • International Engagements
  • Canadian Military Colleges Site Visits
  • Canadian Armed Forces Base Visits
  • Stakeholder Engagements
  • Canadian Military Colleges Student Experiences
  • Canadian Military Colleges Graduate Experience Survey
• Secondary Data Sources
• Presentation

The credibility of the Board’s recommendations lies in the mix of skills, experience and expertise of its members and in the integrity of its process. Within the provisions of the mandate proposed in the Independent External Comprehensive Review and the parameters of its Terms of Reference (Annex 1), the Board took a data-driven, evidence-based methodological approach, using the lenses of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency, to answer the question of whether the Canadian Military Colleges (CMCs) should continue to exist as undergraduate degree granting institutions, and if so, what changes may be required.

The Board’s work was guided by transparency as a means of safeguarding the integrity and credibility of its findings, and by inclusiveness as a means of seeking information and input from diversified stakeholders and eliciting diverse perspectives and opinions. It also relied on the use of trauma-informed processes, in consideration of the context of sexual misconduct that gave rise to the Canadian Military Colleges Review Board (CMCRB)’s mandate. Lastly, it was driven by a systems-centric approach, given that previous review processes had already identified many symptoms of problems at the CMCs without necessarily focusing on their systemic causes.

Relying upon triangulated qualitative and quantitative data as well as differing theoretical perspectives – as a means of both counterbalancing the limitations of any single method and enhancing the richness of the findings^{Footnote 6} – the Board focused on three areas of comparative analysis as well as seven areas of discrete analysis, where it assessed the Colleges not in relation to comparators, but unto themselves:

Comparative Analysis

• The quality of education, socialization, and military leadership training in the CMCs compared to other Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) officer entry streams and to foreign military academies
• The potential of different models for delivering university-level education and military training
• The costs, benefits, disadvantages, and advantages, both to the CAF and the nation, of continuing to educate Regular Officer Training Program (ROTP) Naval and Officer Cadets (N/OCdts) at the CMCs

Discrete Analysis

• Structure
• Identity
• Governance
• Programs
• Peer Leadership Model
• Conduct, Health & Wellbeing
• Infrastructure, Operations & Support

To contextualize the above and inform the Board’s understanding, additional consideration was given to the following issues:

• CMC Non-Regular Officer Training Plan activities (such as the Indigenous Leadership Opportunity Year, Graduate Studies and Distance Learning)
• The Role of the CAF
• CAF Recruiting
• Officer Training and Education

Overall, the Board engaged virtually and in person with several hundred stakeholders, which helped yield a very rich data set and allowed for a rigorous analysis, providing for confidence in the findings and recommendations herein. In presenting this Report, the Board has deliberately refrained from attributing contributions, to safeguard the confidentiality with which many of them were shared, and to avoid singling out any individual or group of individuals unless essential to the analysis or discussion.

Nevertheless, there were two identifiable gaps in the review process. Firstly, deeper engagement with partners in the Global South may have enriched the analysis; although breadth of data sources was achieved, some of the Board’s outreach/queries went unanswered. Secondly, self-identified Francophone voices were largely absent in data collected through the Consulting with Canadians online portal, despite the portal being available in both official languages. It is not clear whether this reflects an absence of input from Francophone Canadians, or a choice by Francophones to not self-identify.

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Primary Data Sources

Listening Sessions

Listening Sessions were designed to hear firsthand accounts of experiences at and with the CMCs. One hundred and eleven Listening Sessions were conducted during April, May and August 2024. The sessions were conducted in groups of no more than 15 individuals, with military staff, public servants, academic faculty and N/OCdts at both CMCs, as well as with junior and senior officers and senior non-commissioned officers at CFB Gagetown, CFB Halifax and 12 Wing Shearwater to ensure engagement with the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Board conducted specific Listening Sessions to understand the perspectives of female N/OCdts, as well as racialized and LGBTQ2+ N/OCdts.

Upon request, the Board also conducted engagements with a variety of other individuals, including a number who self-identified as having had traumatic or otherwise problematic experiences at the CMCs.

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Consulting with Canadians Online Portal and Other Electronic Submissions

Launched on June 15, 2024, the Consulting with Canadians online portal received 392 submissions from across the country before it closed on September 15, 2024. The CMCRB also established an electronic mailbox through which it received 47 e-mail submissions.

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International Engagements

The Board undertook a comparative analysis of 15 foreign partners and allies from around the world regarding approaches to pre-commissioning professional military education (Figure 1). International engagement constituted a four-step approach:

Firstly, the Board undertook a literature review based on open-source information designed to gather data points on things like organizational structures, entry plans, officer selection, and education scholarship and bursary plans, and to capture them in a standardized way.

Secondly, the Board undertook discussions with Canadian and foreign Military/Defence Attachés to validate these findings and to fill in gaps.

Thirdly, the Board undertook virtual engagements with a subset of these countries’ military academies to probe deeper into specific areas of interest.

Lastly, the Board held additional in-depth discussions and conducted in-person site visits with select Allies.

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Canadian Military Colleges Site Visits

The Board conducted three multi-day visits to Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario (RMC) and Royal Military College in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec (RMC Saint-Jean) respectively. The focus of the first visit was orientation and information gathering regarding the state of the College. The second visit provided the opportunity for the Board to engage in Listening Sessions with the academic faculty and support staff. The third visit focused on Listening Sessions with N/OCdts and the military staff. During each of these visits, the Board had the opportunity to observe and engage with N/OCdts informally and to tour the facilities. The Board also attended First Year Orientation Program (FYOP) activities and the Obstacle Course competitions at both CMCs, as well as the Badging Ceremony at RMC Saint-Jean.

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Canadian Armed Forces Base Visits

Visiting CAF bases provided the Board with exposure to the operational and training conditions for junior officers in the Army, Navy and Air Force. These visits highlighted the military training conditions N/OCdts will encounter during their On-the-Job-Experience, as well as during occupation training and upon graduation. The Board further observed portions of the Basic Military Officer Qualification course at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, as well as training activities at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Gagetown and CFB Halifax/Shearwater. These Base visits included Listening Sessions with junior officers, senior officers, and senior non-commissioned officers.

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Stakeholder Engagements

The Board undertook more than 85 internal and external consultations to gather a range of perspectives and information regarding the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Canadian Military Colleges. An initial meeting with The Honourable Louise Arbour provided insight into her report and context for her specific recommendations regarding the CMCs. Two meetings with the External Monitor, Madame Jocelyne Therrien, ensured that the Board remained apprised of ongoing monitoring and oversight work regarding the implementation of Independent External Comprehensive Review recommendations. The Board also met with all CAF Command leaders (L1 Commanders), select Department of National Defence (DND) Assistant Deputy Ministers (ADMs), and a range of departmental experts. The Board further engaged with the CMC Faculty Association, the Chairs of the two CMC Boards of Governors, and the Association representing CMC alumni.

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Canadian Military Colleges Student Experiences

The Board utilized current N/OCdts’ responses to existing DND^{Footnote 7} surveys, including two years’ worth of data from the Student Experience Health and Wellbeing Survey, to assess their experiences at the CMCs.

DND’s Review Services branch also conducted a review to identify gaps in the CMC policy framework related to prevention of and response to sexual misconduct, as compared to the relevant provincial and federal frameworks.

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Canadian Military Colleges Graduate Experience Survey

The Board commissioned a CMC Graduate Experience Survey that was administered by the Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis at DND. This survey focused on the experiences of the graduating classes of 2020 and 2021 and received 151 responses, constituting a 35% response rate.

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Secondary Data Sources

The Board conducted extensive literature reviews on a range of topics relevant to its mandate and undertook detailed examination of DND/CAF-specific information gathered from departmental and external experts. Existing scientific literature from the department was made available to the Board through the Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis. Information and data specific to the CMCs were provided to the Board through the Canadian Defence Academy and directly from both Military Colleges, both proactively and in response to specific information requests.

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Presentation

The Board gave extensive consideration to how best to present its findings and recommendations in such a way as to render this Report accessible and impactful in relation to its target audience – which includes informed and interested Canadians, some with a direct stake in the outcomes of this work and some who are more broadly interested in the future of Canada’s Military Colleges and the overall evolution of the Canadian Armed Forces. In this context, the Board reflected upon the extent to which the body of the Report should include references and/or citations, and the extent to which content of interest should be captured within Annexes.

Ultimately, for the purposes of readability, flow and style, the Board decided to include a limited number of endnotes when there was particular value in drawing the reader’s attention to the source of evidence upon which the Board had relied. Notwithstanding this approach, the Board has systematically documented, in a standalone repository, all further data, reference resources, background material and additional factual information that have informed, underpinned or influenced its work.

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