Cadet crisis needed military intervention
The four cornerstones of Canada’s prestigious Royal Military College — academia, bilingualism, military and athletics — have taken an unfortunate back seat in light of devastating reports of suspected suicides, sexual misconduct and low morale among student cadets.
It could have been sloughed off, but it wasn’t.
Chief of National Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance last week accepted that major problems exist at the 140-year-old institution and has put RMC and two other military colleges under his direct command. Good for him. He needed to step up. After all, it’s not as if sexual harassment and abuse have not been in the headlines when it comes to enlisted military personnel.
Vance says he is committed to getting “back to basics” and injecting “some fun” into RMC, a college in Kingston, Ont. in dire need of loosening up and eliminating the “negative stress” that permeates it. It’s been a long time coming. In 2015, RMC was rocked by allegations of rampant sexual misconduct.
A year later, two officer cadets — aged 20 and 22 — died suspiciously within days of each other. In June 2016, a recent graduate took his own life while undergoing basic training while another, released from the military for medical reasons, also committed suicide.
Our military doesn’t get much love from our governments.
The Harper years heard accusations of the mistreatment and disrespect of the needs of veterans, old and new, while the Trudeau Liberals’ most recent budget didn’t toss our armed forces so much as a dime.
Notably absent, in fact, were any references to increasing spending to meet NATO’s target of 2% of GDP, even as the Liberals’ much-touted review of defence policy remains in their spin cycle.
Oh, there was a promise in Budget 2017 to spend $17.5 million over four years to create a Centre of Excellence on PTSD, and other mental health issues facing veterans, just not yet.
While we hope Gen. Vance is correct that problems at RMC are not “systemic,” we also hope he treats them as if they are.
The young men and women at RMC are our military’s future leaders.
They need all the support they can get before graduating and becoming our future military leaders.