OCdts. On Parade

Changes to Letters Patent

The Royal Military Colleges Club of Canada Foundation Inc.

With 2010 being the Canadian Naval Centennial, a number of our members have requested that the motion to amend our Letters Patent be further amended to provide for recognition of the former naval colleges that have operated at the Canadian Military Colleges. The Board of the Foundation has approved the following amendment to the motion concerning changes to our Letters Patent:

That the current proposal to amend the Letters Patent of the Foundation be amended and that Page 2 paragraph (b) of the Letters Patent be amended to read: ….. “to receive the funds so acquired and other property of any kind or nature and to apply the same and income therefrom and accretions thereto exclusively for the advancement of education and such other charitable purposes as are for the general good of the Canadian Military Colleges and for the advancement of the memory of the former Royal Naval College of Canada (RNCC); Royal Canadian Naval College (RCNC); RCN-RCAF Joint Services College; Canadian Services College, Royal Roads; and Royal Roads Military College.”

This amendment to the original motion will be brought before the members during our upcoming Annual and Special General Meeting. On order to be approved this amendment will require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of all members present at the meeting.

9660 Cameron H. Diggon

President, the RMC Foundation

Modifications apportées aux lettres patentes

La Fondation du Club des Collèges militaires royaux du Canada Inc.

En cette année du Centenaire de la marine canadienne, bon nombre de nos membres ont demandé que la motion de modification des lettres patentes soit elle-même modifiée afin de reconnaître la contribution des anciens collèges de la marine ayant exercé des activités au sein des collèges militaires canadiens. Le conseil d’administration de la Fondation a approuvé cette correction à la motion relative aux modifications apportées à nos lettres patentes :

Que la proposition actuelle de modification des lettres patentes de la Fondation soit modifiée et que le paragraphe (b) de la page 2 se lise comme suit : « recevoir les fonds ainsi acquis et les autres biens de tout type ou de toute nature et les consacrer, tout comme les revenus qui en sont issus et les droits qui y sont associés, exclusivement au développement de l’éducation et à d’autres fins caritatives, comme le bien général des collèges militaires canadiens, et au bénéfice de la mémoire de l’ancien Collège royal de la Marine du Canada, de l’actuel Collège royal de la Marine du Canada, du RCN-RCAF Joint Services College, du Canadian Services College, de l’Université Royal Roads et du Collège militaire Royal Roads. »

Cette modification à la motion initiale sera présentée aux membres lors de notre prochaine assemblée générale annuelle et extraordinaire. Pour être adoptée, la modification devra recevoir l’appui des deux tiers de tous les membres présents à cette assemblée.

9660 Cameron H. Diggon

Président, la Fondation CMR

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Anyone out there able to top this one?

Dear Mr Oliver,

A friend of mine recently reminded me that I had the pleasure of living in all five dormitories while at RMC from 2002-06, and we asked ourselves if the feat has ever been accomplished before or repeated since. As a member of 2 Sqn, I lived in Fort LaSalle for first and second year. In the summer between second and third year, I participated in the inaugural Leadership Sqn summer training at RMC, and moved into a cabin in the Stone Frigate for the summer. In third year, I moved to 8 Sqn who inhabited the soon to be renovated Fort Haldimand. I began my fourth year as first year staff, which put me in Fort Sauve where all of the first year cadets were housed. This was the first time the RMC staff had separated the first year cadets from their respective squadron lines. I returned to the 8 Sqn lines in second semester of fourth year, now in Fort Champlain while Fort Haldimand was undergoing renovations.

A series of unique events converging on my final two years at RMC resulted in my nomadic lifestyle, and I believe it is highly unlikely that this has been done before given the youth of Fort Sauve and the Leadership Sqn program. Are you aware of any cadets who might have enjoyed the privilege of experiencing all of RMC’s dormitories like I did? If not, the task just became more difficult given the recent completion of New Dorm 2 (as it was known during the archaeological dig when I was a cadet).

Best Regards,

23454 Capt Daniel Gosselin – Class of ’06

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Sunray, the biography of the late Capt. Nichola Goddard

Author at RMC this Friday – 17 Sept (likely at 4PM Currie Hall – TBC – Check this space in a day or so to confirm)

With a record number of new female professors being hired this year in RMC’s Arts Division alone, and both the French and English Departments achieving gender parity, it seems appropriate to place this milestone into context.

It’s important to remember that not all that long ago women were neither amongst the faculty nor the cadets at this institution. That what we take for granted today was not handed to us on a silver platter in some Golden Age, but won in battle and through diplomacy via the usual blood, sweat and tears.

So, to honour those who have just arrived as well as those who, like Dr. Jane Errington and others, have for almost three decades served to bring these top-notch professors and cadets through our doors and through the Arch, the Department of English invites you to celebrate with us the 30th anniversary of the hiring of the first female professor at RMC: Dr. Anne Skabarnicki, an appointment in our department.

In September, 1980, I can assure you, this was considered radical, fringe, ill-advised, and of questionable value, with the feeling among some that there’ll be hell to pay.

Actually hiring women was something only the impractical English Department would be capable of.

Less than a week ago, Sunray, the biography of the late Capt. Nichola Goddard, was released—the story of one of our most renowned Honours English students whom the media usually refer to as the first female Canadian soldier killed in combat, in Afghanistan in 2006. Like Anne and Jane, Nichola is portrayed as a remarkable and inspiring trailblazer: someone who by virtue of simply being herself and thinking for herself radically challenged the conventional wisdom of the time, especially in the realm of gender stereotypes—of what use is a woman in the military? And of academic stereotypes—of what use is an English student in the military?

The death of these stereotypes is the life of Nichola Goddard.

The fascinating story of this leader who becomes one of RMC/CMR’s most distinguished and beloved graduates promises to be a—if not the—bestseller in Canada this year. Nichola’s biographer, Calgary journalist Valerie Fortney, will read from her book and conduct a Q & A session here Friday afternoon, 24 September, with more details to come in a subsequent email.

While the author cites Lt-Col. Ian Hope in Afghanistan and Dr. Sylvia Berg and myself at RMC as among Nichola’s mentors, in my case at least it’s actually a matter of the student tactfully offering the teacher invaluable guidance. Since Ms. Fortney has kindly asked me to introduce her, let me note that all are welcome, especially our new arrivals and those who made their arrival possible.

Michael Hurley, English Department

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