Royal Military College is a fully accredited Canadian university. It grants degrees in a variety of disciplines. Most military officers now have degrees and most have a capability in French. At Royal Military College, though, it's not just an academic education. There's a heavy emphasis on the military as well. They're in uniform, they're drilling, and they're practising military disciplines and learning military culture and socialization and all those kinds of things. So at the end, they come out of RMC with a degree that's equivalent to one from any university in Canada.
They also have a very strong grounding in military and foreign affairs and “officership”, if I can call it that. Their summer training is taken up with professional military training, whether it's pilot training or trades training within the navy or army environment. So it's very much a mix.
Just on the issue of the ombudsperson, there are a couple of sarcastic expressions, including the idea that the military is there to defend democracy, not practise it. There has to be a chain of command, and there has to be discipline. When push comes to shove, there have to be heels together, yes, sir, and away you go.
At the same time, people have individual rights. That's where the ombudsman comes in. The ombudsman is there to make sure that, as much as the military needs to have a strong command and control system, there also needs to be a capability of an individual being able to make sure his or her rights aren't being violated in some way.
It's always a tough balancing act, but since that position has come in, I think we've seen historically that the person has done a very good job. In fact, we're looking at expanding that to an ombudsperson for veterans as well, because it has worked quite well.