Royal Military College of Canada
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The Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), located in Kingston, Ontario, is the military academy of the Canadian Forces.
RMC, was established by an act of the Canadian Parliament in 1874 "for the purpose of providing a complete education in all branches of military tactics, fortification, engineering, and general scientific knowledge in subjects connected with and necessary to thorough knowledge of the military profession." On June 1, 1876, the Military College of Canada opened its doors to the first class of eighteen cadets. The names of these "Old Eighteen" are memorized by all cadets today. In 1878, Her Majesty Queen Victoria, granted the college the right to use the prefix "Royal." The college motto is "Truth, Duty, Valour".
On June 20th, 1942, a final parade was held and the college colours were laid up in St. George's Cathedral in Kingston. For the remainder of the war the College served as a wartime training area, offering courses such as the Company Commanders Course, Intelligence Course, and the War Staff Course. In 1948 RMC reopened with the "New One Hundred" cadets. The first "Lady Cadets" entered RMC in 1980 graduating in 1984. Officer Cadet Beare was the first female to graduate from RMC in 1984.
In the Post-War re-organisation of the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Military Colleges Circle (CMC) was formed with RMC, Royal Roads Military College (RRMC) and Le Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean (CMR, established in 1952). CMC was established in order to conduct tri-service cadet training within the Canadian Forces. In 1995, following the end of the Cold War and massive government cutbacks on defence spending, the Department of National Defence closed CMR and RRMC. CMR now operates as part of ASU Saint-Jean as Campus St-Jean where preparatory year ("Prep year") cadets acquire the necessary academic standard needed to attend RMC. RRMC is no longer a military institution, and is now maintained by the Government of British Columbia as Royal Roads University. The loss of RRMC along with its many traditions and history as a military college still remains a bitter event for many cadets and alumni.
The province of Ontario granted a university charter to RMC by passing "The Royal Military College of Canada Degrees Act" in 1959 enabling RMC to offer degrees in Arts, Science, and Engineering at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Today, courses are offered both on site and by distance learning in both official languages: English and French. There are approximately 1000 undergraduate students and 250 graduate students on campus. The Division of Continuing Studies, formed in 1996, now serves more than 3,000 additional students around the World. It offers more than 100 distance learning courses, many of them web-enabled. In addition to traditional university education, the Division of Continuing Studies also delivers the Officer Professional Military Education (OPME) programme to members of the Canadian Forces.
RMC is located on Point Frederick, a small peninsula at the point where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario and where the Rideau Canal System starts. The location has been an active military base since 1789 and was an important naval base during the War of 1812. Additional military fortifications near by are Fort Frontenac, originally established in 1673 across the Rideau River from Point Frederick and Ft Henry, constructed between 1832-36. Inside Fort Frederick, officer cadets have the freedom of the fort, a tradition where all officer cadets are equal indepedently of their year. They are also allowed to remove their head dress. The RMC Flag was the inspiration for Dr. George F.G. Stanley, who was the Dean of Arts at RMC, in his design for the new Canadian Flag which was adopted in 1965.
The school is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the RMC Paladins, formerly known as the RMC Redmen.
RMC plays the United States Military Academy (Army) Black Knights, in the annual West Point Weekend hockey game. This series, conceived in 1923, is the longest running international hockey series in the world. Currently Army leads the Series 39-29-6. The 2006 game's final score was 3-3 after a stunning return by RMC during the last minute.
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