Overview of the Canadian Military Colleges
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The 4-Pillar Model
The Mission of the Canadian Military Colleges (CMCs) is to educate, develop and inspire “bilingual, fit, and ethical leaders who serve the Canadian Armed Forces and Canada.” Both Colleges have long relied on the “4-Pillar” program model, which combines an undergraduate education, second language training and testing, military training and development, and physical fitness training and testing, in order to prepare and motivate Naval and Officer Cadets (N/OCdts) for effective service as commissioned officers in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Academics
The CMCs offer accredited undergraduate and post-graduate university programs across the faculties of Engineering, Science, and Social Sciences and Humanities. Designed to foster critical intellectual skills relevant to the complexities of the 21st century through a balanced liberal, scientific and military education, the academic program is intended to emphasize the practical application of learning to military settings and daily operational demands.
Within the Academic Pillar, the Core Curriculum is a mechanism through which the CMCs impart common baseline knowledge and skills to all N/OCdts related to the Profession of Arms, irrespective of their field of academic study. Comprising 16 courses, it represents the minimum content N/OCdts must acquire as a degree requirement in the areas of Mathematics (which also includes Logic and Information Technology), Sciences (Chemistry or Biology and Physics), Canadian History, Language and Culture, Political Science, International Relations, and Leadership and Ethics.
Bilingualism
Officers are expected to be fluent in both of Canada’s Official Languages. All N/OCdts must take up to four years of mandatory second language training, including through daily courses and an intensive summer term, in order to attain a minimum second language proficiency score as a prerequisite for commissioning. Those who meet or exceed the Government of Canada’s Intermediate Level of Bilingualism (BBB) are exempt from additional training. Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario (RMC) requires this level of second language proficiency for academic convocation, while Royal Military College in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec (RMC Saint-Jean) does not.
Military Training
The Military Pillar is intended to develop personal skills and abilities that underpin success in life. It seeks to prepare N/OCdts to make difficult decisions under stressful conditions through deeper understanding of the factors affecting their roles as leaders, including through studies in military psychology and leadership. Particular emphasis is placed on the importance of personal integrity, ethical behaviour and professional responsibility. At present, the programs do not have clearly defined objectives or activities, and while all N/OCdts must participate in this training, there is no shared program standard between the two Colleges; the Enhanced Military Program at RMC Saint-Jean – which includes two leadership field training activities – is the most developed, although a new draft Training Plan has recently been produced at RMC.
Physical Fitness
The CMCs aim to impart to the N/OCdts the importance of attaining and sustaining a high level of fitness and of maintaining a healthy lifestyle throughout their lives. All Cadets are required to take part in the physical education program, which is designed to ensure that they achieve and maintain a high level of fitness and learn the fundamentals in a wide variety of team and individual sports. They must also pass the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Fitness for Operational Requirements of Canadian Armed Forces Employment (FORCE) test on an annual basis to meet the commissioning standard. Until the Fall of 2024, N/OCdts were further required to pass a Physical Performance Test (PPT) in First or Second Year, and again in Third or Fourth Year, in order to meet the commissioning standard.
The Cadet Chain of Responsibility
At the CMCs, all N/OCdts are members of the Cadet Wing and are part of a hierarchy called the Cadet Chain of Responsibility (CCOR), wherein upper-year Cadets have authorities over and responsibilities for their peers and more junior Cadets. The Cadet Wing and the CCOR reflect the organizational structure typical of military organizations.
The CCOR differs slightly between the two CMCs. At RMC, the CCOR comprises the Cadet Wing Headquarters and its subordinate Divisions, Squadrons, Flights and Sections. Appointments of the N/OCdts to the CCOR “Barslate” positions count towards completion of commissioning requirements. At RMC Saint-Jean, the Cadet Wing Headquarters positions were eliminated in fall 2023 and there are insufficient numbers of N/OCdts to constitute a Division, so the CCOR is made up of Squadrons, Flights and Sections only. Barslate positions do not count towards completion of the commissioning requirements at RMC Saint-Jean.
Currently the CCOR at both Colleges is vested with certain disciplinary authorities. This allows Cadet leaders in the CCOR to impose loss of privileges and corrective measuresFootnote 8 upon other N/OCdts (although all sanctions must be approved by and administered under the supervision of the chain of command, which in practice means that all N/OCdt-imposed sanctions must be authorized by the Squadron Commander). N/OCdts in the CCOR who are in direct leadership positions also perform supervisory and administration functions.
Service Obligations
The Regular Officer Training Plan (ROTP) is a subsidized education program that provides participants with a free university-level education and with salary and benefits throughout this period of study. All ROTP participants, whether attending the CMCs or a civilian university, incur a service obligation based on their number of months of subsidized education. Two months of obligatory service is accrued for each month of subsidized education, to a maximum of 60 months.Footnote 9 This means that ROTP graduates typically incur five years of obligatory service after graduation and commissioning. Direct Entry Officers, whose university education is not subsidized by the CAF, have no such service obligation.
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