Renowned Canadian Artist James Keirstead visited RMCC last Tuesday – 4 Mar. Many of Keirstead’s works appear in the halls of the Mackenzie Building and other locations within the college. These Keirstead paintings are part of a substantial donation by 7076 John van Haastrecht. – Class of 1966. Previous e-Veritas article on John van Haastrecht Art Collection Now Displayed at RMCC More on James Keirstead
What the Kingston Whig Standard had to say about the RMCC visit: Beautifying RMC with painting donation
In addition to welcoming Mr. Keirstead, BGen Al Meinzinger also welcomed the Mexican Ambassador to Canada, Mr. Francisco Suarez who along with his delegation were provided an in-depth historical tour of the College grounds.
RMCC hed its annual RCAF Mess Dinner where commander of the RCAF, LGen Blondin was the Guest of Honour. (Look for article elsewhere in this Issue)
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The Week That Was… at RMCC – Cadet Perspective…
26670 NCdt (III) Katherine Silins – 8 Squadron
Although the Cadet Wing may have only completed 8 of 13 weeks of the semester, preparation for next year have already started. This past week was the PPT, with many students striving to get over 400 in order to become FYOP staff for next year’s recruits (while others were merely praying that enough of their push-ups counted for a pass).
Barslate selections for next year are already underway as it is important that a strong group of cadets takes over the Cadet Wing next year in order to continue the excellent work accomplished by the 4- and 5- barmen this year. Selections are an arduous process for those doing the selections and those being selected as it involves the TW looking over the files of interested cadets and then a long night of interviews to find the best possible candidate for the job.
Fourth years, on the other hand, are exempt (for the most part) from these preparations as they continue to count down to graduation, commissioning and finding a new place to call home. Provided they passed their PPT in first semester, they were also exempt from doing it again this semester. Their PMT this week was a briefing about HHTs (house hunting trips) and other administrative details about moving and postings, an exciting subject for all as they look forward to the next (huge) step in their careers.
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International Women’s Day Forum – 2014
26659 OCdt (II) Danielle Andela – 1 Squadron
This past Wednesday, March 5th was International Women’s Day and the Royal Military College of Canada was host to a plethora of presenters and organizations promoting women and women’s services in the local community and Canadian Forces.
The presenters for the day included:
an introduction by Brigadier-General Al Meinzinger, the commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada;
Major Tomlinson, chair of the Kingston Garrison Diversity Advisory Group;
Rear-Admiral Jennifer Bennett, the National Champion for Women in Defence;
Steve Nash, founder of Traditional Excellence Human Performance; and
Deborah Kimmett, a humourist and a blogger for the Huffington Post.
A number of key community organizations were also present to display their services and speak to the people in attendance about the opportunities available for members of the community and especially military members, spouses and families as a whole.
These groups included Canadian Forces and Community Services such as:
– Health Promotion, a branch of PSP that offers health related courses to military members and families (represented by Sharon Ash),
– the Learning and Career Centre, represented by Joyce Montagnese, which offers resume help, learning plan development and many other courses for military and civilian employees of the DND,
– the Union of National Defence which was represented by Sherry Turcotte and represents the interests of the employees of the Department of National Defence,
– the Canadian Institute of Military and Veteran Health Research, represented by Angela Whitehead, this group works with 31 universities to research military and veteran health,
– the Memory Project, a group which organizes military speakers to visit schools, libraries, rotary clubs etc. about their experiences in the Canadian Forces (represented by Clarice Dale and Katharine MacNevin, and
– Family and Children’s Services which was represented by Julie Summers and promotes the need for foster families and even volunteers to be mentors to the foster children in the Kingston Area.
Some health and cosmetic groups were also present including:
– Heart and Stroke, represented by Margaret Rhodes, which provides information on heart health and promotes the importance of fitness in everyday lives,
– Breast Cancer Action Kingston, an organization that provides services for survivors of breast cancer and locally raise funds for the Kingston community (represented by Shannon McCoy and Nickie Lake),
– Loving Spoonful, represented by Morgan Anderson and Kayley Marsh, is a group that runs a community garden network and redistributes extra food from restaurants etc. to soup kitchens and hot meal programs,
– Aloette Cosmetics, represented by Debbie and Karen, an organization promoting healthy skin and arranges community events and fundraising for breast cancer research, and lastly
– Janati Yoga, represented by Bea Doyle which is a new yoga studio in Kingston that provides yoga classes for the general public as well as yoga instructors.
Community career and business focused groups were present as well such as:
– Women Mean Business, a company (represented by Josie Walsh) which offers events for women to meet face to face and network as well as assistance in starting home portable businesses, www.womenmeanbusiness.ca
– Toastmasters Kingston, represented by Captain G. Mowat, this community group is a positive learning environment for people to develop communication skills for students and professionals alike, and
– Mortgage Brokers Kingston, represented by Chantal Rook, which was promoting mortgages and financing
2014 International Women’s Day Forum was a well attended event; it was mainly and professionally organized by CFB Kingston staff – an eye opener and much appreciated by – cadets, military & civilian staffs – both genders.
A big thank you to all those who made it happen!