Early history Long before the Royal Military College was established in 1876, there were proposals for military colleges in Canada. As early as 1815, the Assembly of Lower Canada decided to establish a military college, but agreement upon its organization was blocked by religious and linguistic conflicts. Subsequent attempts also proved to be abortive, although some military schools were established. Following the withdrawal of British forces from Canada in 1870–71, the federal government recognized the need for an officer training college in Canada. In 1874, during the administration of
Alexander Mackenzie, "the real founder of the college",
An Act to Establish a Military College, was passed by the Parliament of Canada. The legislation provided for the establishment of a college "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" in one of the
Garrison Towns of Canada". The new college, named
Military College of Canada, opened on June 1, 1876, with 18 cadets under Lt.-Col.
Edward Osborne Hewett,
R.E. The names of these "Old Eighteen" are memorized by all
cadets today. Entrance was by examination, and the high standards for admissions initially depressed the number of applicants. In 1878,
Queen Victoria granted the college permission to use the prefix "Royal"; the college became the
Royal Military College of Canada. It was the first military college to be established in a colonial dependency. The college offered, like
West Point but unlike the British service academies, a four-year course, heavily geared towards science and engineering. Uniquely among its peers, there was no expectation that its graduates would automatically become career army officers. As Canada had very limited permanent armed forces at the time, most of the cadets had to seek careers in the private sector, and many families sent their sons to the college to prepare them for civilian careers. Some received commissioned in the
Permanent Force or in the
British Army, which agreed to offer the college's graduates four commissions every year. Many graduates who did not accept permanent military commissions continued to serve in the part-time
Militia. As a House of Commons report from 1881 put it:The Government of the Dominion have also established, at Kingston, an institution where young men may receive a training to fit them for the military profession—an institution something on the model of West Point—the practical benefits of which, however, are not as yet appreciable in a country like this, which has no regular army, and cannot afford employment suitable for the peculiar studies necessarily followed in the Academy."Another issue was the lack of French-speaking cadets: in the college's first 23 years of existence, there were 20 French-Canadian cadets out of 500. In the next 14 years, there were 19 out of 500. The entrance examinations were in English, which impeded recruitment. The college experienced a period of decline in the early 1890s, until
Gerald Kitson's successful term as superintendent, during which he purged ineffective staff members and reduced the length of the course to three years. His successors maintained the dual civil-military model, but put greater emphasis on the military aspect of the college's education. After 1910, all cadets were required to attend one militia camp to graduate, and to take up either a permanent or militia commission.
World wars During the
First World War, the RMC continued to operate, although the course was shortened to two years and more military instruction was added. 982 ex-cadets served in the war: they represented 86% of those who had attended the college before November 1919 who were healthy and under the age of 55. Despite being a minority of
Canadian Expeditionary Force officers, RMC graduates occupied a large share of senior and staff appointments. After the war, the RMC returned to its pre-war footing, and the course was restored to four years. During the
Great Depression of the 1930s, a military-run and -styled relief camp on Barriefield lower common was set up under the command of the RMC Commandant. Extensive public works projects at the college relied on the labour of single unemployed men, the 'Royal Twenty Centres' supplied by the Unemployment Relief Commission. From 1937, academic specialization was progressively introduced in the cadet course. In 1942, the last cadet class at RMC for the duration of hostilities graduated, a final parade was held and the college colours were laid up in
St. George's Cathedral. For the remainder of the war the college served as a wartime training facility, offering courses such as the Company
Commanders Course,
Military Intelligence Course, and the War Staff Course. Once again, most eligible cadets fought in the war, and they were disproportionately represented in the Canadian Army's senior ranks, including all four wartime
Chiefs of the General Staff.
1945 to the present day There were doubts as to whether the RMC would reopen after the war, and alumni mobilized to save it. In 1946, the Chesley committee, headed by Brigadier Leonard McEwan Chelsey (RMC 1917), made recommendations about the provision of officers for the active force, about the educational requirements of candidates, and about the way they should be trained. It recommended the elimination of the RMC as a cadet-training college, in favour of university-based training, followed by a period of military training at RMC. A second committee, chaired by Brigadier Sherwood Lett, recommended re-opening the RMC as a cadet college, alongside a university intake route. Ultimately, the college was re-opened as a tri-service institution in 1948, with the "New One Hundred" cadets reporting on 20 September 1948. In 1959, it became the first military college in the British Commonwealth to achieve degree-granting status." The Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth and the
Duke of Edinburgh visit RMC on 12 October 1951. In 1959, the province of Ontario granted a
university charter to RMC by passing "The Royal Military College of Canada Degrees Act, 1959" enabling RMC to offer degrees in arts, science, and engineering at the undergraduate and
graduate levels.
The Royal Military College of Canada Degrees Act, 1959 was passed by the Ontario legislature and given Royal Assent on 26 March 1959. That year, the
Canadian historian,
Desmond Morton O.C., was the first graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada to receive a degree from the military college. Previously, cadets transferred for their final year to a civilian university, where they earned a degree. His Excellency the Governor General presented the RMC colours in June 1961 and took the salute on the marchpast. On 26 May 1967, over 500 cadets trooped the colours on
Parliament Hill in honour of the
centennial of the
Confederation of Canada, with the troops being reviewed by the
Governor General. In 1969, RMC became bilingual. In 1979, military colleges opened their doors to women with the admission of UTPNCM female officer cadets and post graduate students. In 1976, RMC celebrated the
centennial of its opening. The Cadet Wing paraded on
Parliament Hill on 1 July in honour of that milestone. In September 1980, the first 32 female cadets were accepted into first year at RMC. Among them was Kate Armstrong, who detailed her experience in the novel The Stone Frigate. ==Organization==