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College leadership very proud of RMC’s contributions to CIMVHR
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PG student site visit to TTC subway works
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Montreal trip to the theatre thanks to the RMC Foundation
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CIMVHR Update
From various sources
The Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) is a unique organization that was inspired by the Surgeon General and co-founded by the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen’s University.
The mission of CIMVHR is, “To enhance the lives of Canadian military personnel, Veterans and their families by harnessing the national capacity for research.“ CIMVHR has been successful in facilitating research and knowledge translation through an impressive network of 40 Canadian universities.
This past week was the 6th annual Military and Veteran Health Research Forum, held in Quebec City and the largest one yet. Those involved with CIMVHR or connected in any way to Military and Veterans Health Research know and appreciate that the success of CIMVHR is directly attributed to the hard work and dedication of the CIMVHR co-leaders, Dr. Stéphanie Bélanger, Associate professor at RMC and Dr. Alice Aiken, Associate professor at Queen’s.
And so it was with great pride and tremendous appreciation that the Commandant, BGen Sean Friday and the Principal, Dr Harry Kowal were present to witness Dr Bélanger and Dr. Aiken being inducted into the Legion of Honour of the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation.
The photo shows Dr. Rory Cooper, FISA/PVA Endowed Chair and Professor of the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, present Stéphanie and Alice their award.
BGen Friday and Dr Kowal are very proud of RMC’s contributions to CIMVHR and are especially proud of Stephanie and Alice. Well done!
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This past week, post graduate students from the Royal Military College of Canada as well as Queen’s University had the pleasure of taking part in a site visit of the currently ongoing TTC Subway works on the Toronto-York-Spadina-Subway-Extension (TYSSE) line. The students, being part of the Geo-Engineering Centre at Queen’s / RMCC, have a focus and interest in the tunneling and mining applications of Civil Engineering. As such, they were extremely excited for this opportunity to witness a real-life application of the topics and materials that they study and research on at RMCC and Queen’s. RMCC associate professor Dr. Nicholas Vlachopoulos was the organizer of the field trip, and joined the students on the visit along with Queen’s University professor Dr. Mark Diederichs.
The field trip started bright and early for everyone as the team took off from the Queen’s University Campus at 5:30 a.m., in order to avoid Toronto traffic. After arriving at the first site of the visit, the group was greeted by Debbie Cole-Gauer, the Communications/Community Relations Co-ordinator. She is in charge of looking after the tours for the TYSSE project, and was with the group for the remainder of the visit.
For the first stage of the visit, the students and professors were taken to a conference room where George Panagopoulos, the Construction Site Manager for the 407 and Jane Station, presented a brief but informative power-point session on the overall TYSSE project. The TYSSE is one of the largest expansion projects that has ever been undertaken by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It will also be the first rapid transit line to cross the City of Toronto boundary, moving into York Region. The project includes the extension of the Spadina subway line by a total of 8.6 km. This includes 6.7 km of twin-bored tunnels as well as six “cut-and-cover” stations. The line will extend from the existing Downsview Station, move through the York University campus, and end at the Vaughan City Centre. Some of the challenges in tunneling through this terrain include crossing through various different types of soils with the water table near the surface, crossing under large buildings, railway tracks, major highways, major utilities, conservation areas, and water-courses.
After this introductory briefing, Frank Dempsey led a safety talk for all of the candidates of the tour. Everyone had to wear all of the Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) required at both sites. This included CSA green tag approved safety boots, hard hat, reflective vest, safety glasses as well as gloves. Safety is paramount for the TTC and they are proud to have a frequency of work related safety issues 30 percent lower than the average for Ontario construction sites.
The first site that was visited was the Highway 407 station, located South-West of the intersection between Highway 407 and Jane Street. Here the students were able to witness an active construction site at work with all of its moving parts. The students were also able to see a typical tunnel – tunneled with a tunnel boring machine – in its final stages of construction. The station has a very modern look – resembling modern day airports from the outside – with lots of open space around it due to its location. There were not only typical construction tasks occurring on site but also some surveying was also witnessed, the operators utilizing Leica Total Stations that are used in Undergraduate studies by students at RMCC and Queen’s University.
The second site that was visited was the Finch West Station, which is located just South-West of the intersection between Finch Avenue West and Keele Street. The group entered through a drop shaft just North-East of the station into the North side of the station. The main highlight for the students and professors here was the triple track structure that was constructed utilizing the Sequential Excavation Method of tunneling (S.E.M.). This tunneling location is special as it was the first site in North America to ever utilize this method of excavation. This site also contained a typical bored tunnel – which was lined with 5.4m (internal diameters) precast concrete segments. As in the previous site, the tour included a walkthrough of the station which was in the late stages of construction, utilities, and cosmetic materials such as tiling being put in place. For an impressive video showing the project’s tunnel boring machines “Yorkie” and “Torkie” at work, follow the link below. The TBM’s are seen completing a rare double breakthrough at the extraction shaft on Keele Street, the same shaft that was used to access the second site for the visit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyP46_H4Elc
In the end, the site visit to the Toronto-York-Spadina-Subway-Extension line, was a success. Students and professors alike, were able to see various different tunnels and stations, as well as witness the many challenges involved when tunneling. This site visit helped enrichen the already top class education that students at both RMCC and Queen’s University are privileged to have, and hopefully future students will be able to take part in similar occasions. It is these experiences with real-life problems and solutions that add great value to the programs at both universities. A special thanks to all of the TTC personnel that made this visit possible.
26305 2Lt Daniel Felipe Cruz
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November 24, 2015
Dear RMC Foundation,
On behalf of the French Studies Department, and the fifteen officer cadets that had the opportunity to go see a wonderful play in Montreal on November 18, I would like to express my gratitude for the invaluable financial support that the RMC Foundation provided to us.
From my perspective, the RMC Foundation constitutes a very important asset for promoting and maintaining excellence at RMC. Sending officer cadets to these cultural activities does a lot to improve our general knowledge as well as our language skills.
As an officer cadet myself, I can testify that seeing a play is always a source of intellectual stimulation. This play that I went to see was highly interesting. It addressed the sensible subject of identity in Quebec while showing the flaws in the actual nationalist argumentation. It was a call for intellectual emancipation through education and the application of progressive values.
Thank you for enhancing the quality of our education by making such activities possible.
Sincerely,
26762 Jérémie Fraser NCdt (IV) -9 Squadron
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Sortie au théâtre avec le département d’Études françaises grâce à la Fondation des CMR
Grâce à la générosité de la Fondation des CMR, une quinzaine d’élèves officiers ont eu la chance d’aller voir une excellente pièce de théâtre au Théâtre du Nouveau-Monde à Montréal le 18 octobre 2015. Rappelons que « La Fondation des CMR a pour mission de recueillir et de distribuer les fonds nécessaires pour enrichir l’excellence des Collèges militaires royaux en matière de recrutement, de formation et d’entraînement. »
La pièce de théâtre en question est intitulée La divine illusion. Cette dernière a été composée par Michel Marc Bouchard et magnifiquement mise en scène par Serge Denoncourt.
On ne soupçonne pas l’importance de telles activités pour la formation des futurs leaders des Forces armées canadiennes. Un officier compétent se doit d’avoir de multiples compétences, parmi lesquelles on compte la culture générale et la capacité de s’exprimer avec aisance dans les deux langues officielles. Or, La divine illusion met en scène des éléments culturels importants de l’identité québécoise et oppose les subtilités linguistiques qui distinguent le français québécois du français de France.
L’activité était très enrichissante pour les participants. La majorité des élèves officiers présents étaient d’accord pour affirmer que cette pièce de théâtre était la meilleure qu’ils étaient allés voir jusqu’à maintenant.
Écrit par :
26762 Aspm Jérémie Fraser (IV) Escadron 9
Montreal Trip to the Theatre thanks to the RMC Foundation
Thanks to the generosity of the RMC Foundation, fifteen cadets had the opportunity to see a well-written play at the Théâtre du Nouveau-Monde in Montreal on October 18, 2015. It’s important to note that the mission of the RMC Foundation is to “collect and distribute the funds to enhance the excellence of the Royal Military Colleges in recruitment, training and training. ”
The play is called La divine illusion. It was composed by Michel Marc Bouchard and beautifully staged by Serge Denoncourt.
One may not see the importance of such activities for the training of future leaders of the Canadian Armed Forces. A capable officer must have multiple qualities, including general knowledge in culture and the ability to express opinions in both official languages. La divine illusion depicts important cultural elements of Quebec’s identity and opposes linguistic subtleties that distinguish Quebec French of French in France.
The trip was altogether very rewarding for students. The majority of officer cadets who saw the play agreed that it was one of the best they had seen so far.
Written by: 26762 (IV) NCdt Jérémie Fraser
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