The Canadian Airborne Forces Association (CAFA) represents all CAF military parachutists, both retired and serving. It recently published a paper discussing how renewed parachute and aerial delivery capabilities can enhance operational readiness as the CAF modernizes. The paper was shared with the CAF senior leadership and is posted on the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI) website at https://cdainstitute.ca/wp-
Excellence. Recognized.
On March 27, 2026, three exceptional Naval Cadets were honoured at the Sword Ceremony at Royal Military College of Canada.
NCdt Manhas – Sea Logistics Sword
NCdt Murray – Naval Engineering Sword
NCdt Long – Naval Operations Sword
These prestigious awards recognize top performance in academics and naval training. Congratulations on this well-earned achievement. Your dedication and hard work continue to set the standard for future leaders.
Congratulations to Col Marie-Eve Bégin for reaching the Platinum incentive level in her FORCE Evaluation 2025. “From Silver to Gold to Platinum, what matters most is the journey of improvement. For me, it’s about asking: how can I be 1% better tomorrow? Motivation helps, but discipline is key. For me, it’s consistent weight training, an active lifestyle, and practicing the FORCE test regularly. I even bring my kids along a few times a year to share the values of perseverance and pushing beyond limits. Platinum is great, but growth is even better.” Bravo Zulu!
Félicitations à la col Marie-Eve Bégin pour avoir atteint le niveau d’encouragement Platine lors de son Évaluation FORCE 2025. « D’Argent à Or, puis à Platine, ce qui compte avant tout, c’est le cheminement vers l’amélioration. Pour moi, la question est la suivante : comment puis-je m’améliorer de 1 % demain ? La motivation aide, mais la discipline est essentielle. Pour y parvenir, je m’adonne à un entraînement de musculation régulier, j’adopte un mode de vie actif et je pratique le test FORCE de manière régulière. J’emmène même mes enfants avec moi plusieurs fois par an pour leur transmettre les valeurs de la persévérance et du dépassement de soi. Le Platine, c’est formidable, mais le progrès, c’est encore mieux. » Bravo Zulu !
It’s official!! The Royal Canadian Air Force | Aviation royale canadienne has its first Space Major-General!
Serving as the Deputy Joint Space Component Commander within U.S. Space Forces – Space (S4S), now Major-General Kyle Paul RMC 1998 is officially the most senior ranked Space officer serving in the Canadian Armed Forces | Forces armées canadiennes.
C’est officiel !! L’Aviation royale canadienne compte son premier major-général de l’Espace ! 🙌🏼🇨🇦
À titre de commandant adjoint de la composante spatiale interarmées au sein de U.S. Space Forces – Space (S4S), le major-général Kyle Paul CMR 1998 est désormais officiellement l’officier de l’Espace le plus haut gradé des Forces armées canadiennes.
Meritorious Service Decorations – Civil Division Meritorious Service Cross Awarded on: July 4, 2024 – Donald M. Cooper CMR 1970, M.S.C.
Donald Cooper has played a crucial role in the establishment of the Juno Beach Centre in France. Through his dedicated leadership as President of the Juno Beach Centre Association, he has ensured that the memorial site continues to stand as a significant symbol of the contribution and sacrifice of Canadian soldiers during the Second World War.
A visionary entrepreneur and professional engineer with over 40 years of technical and senior management experience. In 1999, Don became President and CEO of Simpson Environmental Corporation (SEC) and has led the company’s growth from a manufacturer and distributor of commercial air and water treatment equipment, to world-class facilities that convert a range of waste into sustainable energy. Don has created, led, and employed state-of-the-art energy solutions for environmental projects on a global basis. He has designed numerous solid waste management and wastewater treatment processes and currently oversees all aspects of environmental engineering projects globally. Don’s distinguished career includes working for the Department of National Defence, Ericsson Communications, and IBM/Rolm and Ericatel, where he led a merger with Tie/communications, and later, a management buy-out. As President and CEO of Ericatel, he took the Company from start-up to the Globe & Mail’s Report on Business List of Canada’s Top 300 Private Companies. Don’s charitable work includes serving as the President of the Juno Beach Centre Association, a Canadian non-profit charitable corporation that provides a tangible and fitting memorial to Canada’s participation in the Second World War on the D-Day beaches of Normandy.
CSMC Secures $1.2M Government Grant for Nuclear Microreactor Manufacturing
–https://spaceq.ca/csmc-secures-1-2m-government-grant-for-nuclear-microreactor-manufacturing/
Toronto-based Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC) has announced that they will be leading a project focused on nuclear fission microreactors, according to a CSMC release.
Specifically, CSMC will be serving as project lead “to build manufacturing capacity for nuclear microreactors, expanding access to strategically deployable power.” The project will be part of NGen’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Program (AMTP), and will be granted $1.2 million in federal government support, 40% of the overall project cost.
The remaining 60% of project funding, CSMC said, “will be contributed by CSMC and its project partners,” which include Samuel Automation and Stern Laboratories.
SLOWPOKE and LEUNR Microreactors
The announcement said that the project will “advance the development of a dedicated advanced manufacturing cell for in-factory production of CSMC’s microreactor systems”. While the announcement didn’t specify the microreactor systems in question, it is almost certainly CSMC’s LEUNR (Low Enriched Uranium Nuclear Reactor) microreactor, which is based on licensed SLOWPOKE reactor technology from Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL).
The CNL SLOWPOKE microreactor’s name stands for “Safe LOW-POwer Kritical Experiment”. Originally developed in the 1960s, it’s been described by the Royal Military College of Canada as “the only type of nuclear reactor licensed in Canada for unattended operation in automatic mode”.
Seven Canadian institutions commissioned a SLOWPOKE-2 reactor, including RMC, whose microreactor was converted to the same kind of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) that is used in the CSMC’s LEUNR microreactor. Five of the original Canadian SLOWPOKE-2 reactors have been decommissioned. Only the RMC and Polytechnique Montreal are still in service. Like the RMC unit, Polytechnique Montreal also converted theirs to LEU.
Statement from Commander Canadian Joint Operations Command
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2026/04/statement-from-commander-canadian-joint-operations-command.html
As publicly confirmed by the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal on March 31, 2026, Colonel James Smith (RMC 2000) has been charged with one count under Section 129 of the National Defence Act—Neglect to the Prejudice of Good Order and Discipline. The charge relates to an investigation by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service into the receipt of compensation and benefits.
Today, after carefully considering all relevant factors and ensuring procedural fairness, I have made the decision to temporarily remove Colonel Smith from his position as Commander Task Force Latvia. This is a decision made to ensure continuity of leadership and the effective conduct of operations while the charge against Colonel Smith proceeds through the military justice system.
I will emphasize that this situation will in no way affect the accomplishment of Canadian Armed Forces’ mission on Operation REASSURANCE. Lieutenant-Colonel Joel Maley will assume interim command of Task Force Latvia. We will continue to ensure the same level of service and operational continuity throughout this interim period and into the planned transition in summer 2026. Colonel Smith will be assigned other duties in Canada until the matter is concluded.
As drones upend tank warfare, Canada’s army races to rethink its armour
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tanks-drones-canada-army-9.7155312
The Canadian military is studying what kind of tanks and armoured troop carriers it will need in the future and how quickly those projects can and will be advanced, says the commander of the army.
An internal presentation, delivered to a closed-door audience in the United Kingdom last winter, suggested the timelines for buying new armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) and main battle tanks (MBTs) were being accelerated.
In a recent interview with CBC News, Lt.-Gen. Mike Wright acknowledged the need to move quickly on the modernization of the army, but suggested the recent lessons and technological advances on the battlefield, particularly in Ukraine, need to be factored into future decisions on what kind of armoured vehicles and tanks are purchased.
“If you look at people, equipment, training, sustainment, we have a requirement to move as quickly as we can in all areas,” said Wright.
The internal presentation, given by the director of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, noted that the timeline to acquire as many as 250 new AFVs was 2035, “although we aim for as early as 2029-31.”
It also outlined how the long-established plan will see some of the army’s newer Leopard 2A6M tanks modernized and brand new ones purchased.
The army now expects to identify what kind of tanks to buy by 2030, said the presentation, obtained by CBC News.
Four Years of War in Ukraine: The Age of Small Drone Warfare
https://www.cpac.ca/public-record/episode/four-years-of-war-in-ukraine-the-age-of-small-drone-warfare?id=462f820b-2a76-43af-b865-4e62bbb57aaa
The Montreal Institute of International Studies, the Raoul-Dandurand Chair in strategic and diplomatic studies, and the Network for Strategic Analysis host a conference entitled “4 years of war in Ukraine: prospects for peace and transatlantic security”. Faine Greenwood, specialist in civilian drone technology, delivers a presentation on ““Little Flying Robots: The Age of Small Drone Warfare”. Following her presentation, Simon Hogue (UQAM) and Chantal Lavallée (Royal Military College Saint-Jean) moderate a discussion.
Esquimalt Nation sues Canada for Hatley Park in Victoria, claims it is excluded from new treaty
The Esquimalt Nation’s 384 members are suing Canada’s attorney general for treaty rights for Hatley Park, home of Royal Roads University, in a lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming it’s left out of the treaty between Ottawa and the Songhees Nation.
The Esquimalt Nation, which has a small reserve on the south of Vancouver Island, is suing Canada’s attorney general, claiming Victoria’s Hatley Park, which is 10 times larger and home of Royal Roads University, belongs to it and not the neighbouring Songhees Nation.
RMC cadet Chantal Pilon has to prepare for international hoops play without a team, but doesn’t go it alone
For Chantal Pilon, the challenges that she faced as a first-year physics major making the transition from high school to the Royal Military College were multi-layered, like they would have been for every cadet in every course when she arrived on campus in the fall of 2024: the demanding workload, the move into residence on campus, time management to cover her obligations and sundry others.
For Pilon, the challenge she faced as an elite basketball player was singular and seemingly insurmountable: no varsity team.
While RMC has women’s varsity teams in soccer, volleyball and fencing in USports competition, the school last had a women’s hoops squad on the collegiate stage in 2012. The school shut down the women’s basketball program after 0-27 in its final year and a cumulative 2-237 across nine seasons. The Paladins’ women’s program might have picked up a few non-league victories along the way, but no hue and cry went up when the administration passed along the program’s effects to the school’s intramural league.
Pilon had been the starting centre at Regiopolis-Notre Dame, her team winning the city championships as juniors. She also played with her younger sister locally on the Impact age-group teams, but she hadn’t given a lot of thought to varsity sports when she was applying to universities in Grade 12. And even when she began the application process, she hadn’t given RMC much thought, though she had passed by the grounds hundreds of times.
Answering the call: Has the time come for mandatory national service?
https://legionmagazine.com/answering-the-call-has-the-time-come-for-mandatory-national-service/
We live in a dangerous new world, with major conflicts in Europe and Asia, with NATO under strain from within, with Canada under threat from its once-trusted American ally and, in response, with Ottawa embarking on the largest military rebuilding effort since the 1950s.
Amid this ominous milieu, should Canada adopt mandatory national service?
Numerous countries—including several NATO members in Scandinavia and the Baltic, as well as Greece and Turkey—require citizens to undertake a period of national service, often with a military component.
Finland, living under Russia’s shadow, requires every man to serve at least 165 days in the military. Finnish women can apply for voluntary service. Likewise, Estonia conscripts all men into the military for 12 months, with the option of civilian public service for those with objections.
South Korea requires all men aged 18-35 to provide 18 months of military service. Even the popular singers of the chart-topping K-pop band BTS had no choice but to swap their microphones for uniforms starting in 2023.
Retired general Stanley McChrystal, the venerated American commander who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, recently said he believes the U.S. should adopt mandatory national service for all American men and women—with both military and civilian service options, such as teaching in low-income communities—as a means of healing the country’s deep social and political divides.
“It would be a great leveler in American society,” McChrystal told The New York Times last month. “It would be something that every American had to do. And when they got together later in life … they’d start the conversation, ‘Well, where did you serve?’
“‘I taught in New Orleans,’ ‘I did X’ or whatever. It would be a way to bridge divides. All of us could use a period in our lives when we’re doing something that’s inconvenient or maybe unpleasant. We come out better for it.”
The Royal Canadian Navy already has a template on which a broader system of mandatory military service might be built: the Naval Experience Program, which recruits Canadians aged 17 and up for a paid, one-year experience in the navy. Participants get 13 weeks of basic military and naval training followed by exposure to various naval trades, including time at sea. Upon completion, participants can choose a trade and continue serving or return to civilian life.
Retired lieutenant-general Michel Maisonneuve, who joined the forces out of high school, attending the Royal Military College of Canada because his family couldn’t afford tuition at a civilian university, has argued persuasively for mandatory national service with both military and civilian options.
“I envision national service as a paying job, which would make it more attractive to young people,” Maisonneuve wrote last year in Maclean’s. “And there could be other incentives for them to join—financial support for university, for instance, or guaranteed employment after service. Permanent residents could get a faster path to citizenship.”
Officer with Ukrainian unit linked to neo-Nazis received military training in Canada
https://ottawacitizen.com/public-service/defence-watch/azov-ukrainian-unit-military-training-canada
Down the rabbit hole: Experts warn of youth radicalization online
Experts warn algorithms, influencers and online communities are radicalizing Canadian youth — and current responses are inadequate
A teenage girl in Nova Scotia and teenage boy in Manitoba were arrested last week for plotting simultaneous, murderous attacks on their high schools.
Despite being separated by thousands of miles, the pair are believed to have collaborated closely online.
After their communications were flagged by Interpol and the FBI, local police conducted searches of the teenagers’ homes. There, they found detailed plans to murder multiple students, clothing with hate symbols, an assault rifle and imitation pipe bomb.
The case is the latest example of a troubling trend: rising extremism among youth, where social and digital media play a key role.
“The online environment has expedited the exposure to violent extremist beliefs … and has likely increased in the last few years,” said Luc M., of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada’s intelligence agency, during a Feb. 10 parliamentary committee meeting on anti-feminist ideology.
Recent CSIS data show a rise in youth violent extremism, with children as young as 13 involved in terrorism investigations. Nearly one in 10 terrorism cases now involve at least one person under 18.
Meanwhile, the RCMP reported that between April 2023 and March 2024, six minors were arrested on terrorism‑related offences and charges implicating multiple youth surged nearly 500 per cent.
Jean-Pierre of CSIS’ counter-terrorism unit told the committee this trend is being seen across the Western world.
“[NATO countries] are all dealing with the same situation,” he said.
Incels and trad wives
Veilleux-Lepage, of the Royal Military College of Canada, says the online space is especially catalytic for incel communities, groups of involuntarily celibate men who often share misogynistic beliefs and grievances about women and society.
“A large part of the incel community is online, and then they are able to reinforce and intensify these beliefs, and they make these beliefs feel almost scientific,” he said.
Both Veilleux-Lepage and Chan highlighted the “looksmaxxing” trend, where social media influencers encourage young men to modify their appearance to attract women. This trend draws on language and practices rooted in incel communities, says Veilleux-Lepage.
Veilleux-Lepage says some of this content exploits a broader “crisis of masculinity,” offering alienated young men identity, grievance and belonging in ways that can make them vulnerable to more extreme ideas.
He also notes that influencers frequently popular with high schoolers, such as Andrew Tate, MrBeast and Joe Rogan, can act as vectors for radicalizing content. “Two out of those three are deeply problematic as role models for young men,” he said, referring to Tate and Rogan.
“Professors were saying Don Cherry was anti-French and homophobic”: Tim Cherry on why his father rejected Royal Military College honour
https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/nhl/news-professors-saying-don-cherry-anti-french-homophobic-tim-cherry-father-rejected-royal-military-college-honour
“The only thing I saw Dad really disappointed in was he was supposed to get an honorary doctorate at the Royal Military College, and some of the professors put up a big stink saying he was anti-French and homophobic,” Cherry said during the episode that aired on Wednesday. (26:00)
“That was becoming a big row and Dad just declined. He says, ‘There’s so many people who are getting a doctorate, and if I go down there, it’s going to be a circus, so I’m just going to pass.'”
“That was tough because Dad’s mom worked at the Royal Military College sewing uniforms and his grandfather worked there,” he added. “There was a real connection to that. When Dad just said, ‘I don’t need the hassle,’ I think he was a little disappointed with that.”