 |
 |
| NAME CHANGE |
| Adieu Redmen, welcome Paladins
In the last twenty years, Canadian society has evolved significantly in the context of human rights. Women now have the opportunity to hold any job position held by their male counterparts. Harassment, in any form is no longer an acceptable behaviour, especially in the Canadian Forces (CF). The past few years have seen the CF take great steps in adopting new etiquette to keep pace with Canadian society. This new trend saw the abolition of the moniker of the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), the Redmen. For close to fifty years, varsity athletes representing RMC were proud to call themselves the Redmen in competition. It represented one of the most prevalent facets of RMC tradition, the wearing of the scarlet uniform on formal parades. Gentlemen cadets first took on the name because it was an all-male institution at the time and due to the red uniform, hence red-men. In 1996, women had been studying as RMC cadets for fifteen years so college authorities thought it was necessary to change the varsity title to something that was representative of the whole cadet wing. Furthermore, the college was receiving some criticism that Redmen was a derogatory name for Canada�s First Nation�s People. With the closure of Royal Roads Military College (RRMC) and College Militaire Royal (CMR) in 1995, RMC saw two more student bodies join the college. Because of a large induction of francophone students from CMR, RMC was transformed into a bilingual university. General (Gen) Charles Emond, the commandant at the time, decided that the Redmen was not a fit name for this bilingual and coed institution. Therefore he invited the cadets to choose a new name. Gen Emond set out very specific criterion for the Redmen�s replacement. He decreed that the new name had to be representative of the profession of arms; it had to be identified in two languages; it also had to be unisex and original. Furthermore, the name needed to be representative of a person, people or animal rather than an inanimate object. The logo associated with the name had to be simple and easily identifiable for the public. The new name should also be easily incorporated into college chants and songs. Various committees, composed of cadets and staff, came up with twenty-four new names for the varsity teams, such as the Cavaliers or the Red�s, the two most popular names were the Sabers and the Paladins. There was vote cast by the staff and students to decide on which of the three top choices would be the one. A committee of twenty-four people was established to advertise each of the proposed names. The committee held an electoral campaign of sorts where each name was given a logo and mascot to better relate to the college on what they were voting for. The whole process of finally choosing a name took two years to complete and as a result, the college was without a sports name for the 96/97 season. Finally in 1997 the Director of Cadets, Lieutenant Colonel (LCol) Michaud released the new name. All RMC representative sports teams would now be called the Paladins. The name Paladins had won by a landslide of 70% of the votes, it was also the only name that met the criteria demanded by Gen Emond. LCol Michaud thought it was an exceptional choice as well as being quite original. Since 1997, athletes of the Royal Military College of Canada have been known as the Paladins. In actuality, it is quite a befitting name. Paladins were knights of the Crusades who modeled themselves as honest, courageous, loyal and chivalrous knights who prided themselves on their skill in battle. These same virtues are still sought after by Canada�s future leaders at RMC. Therefore it is with difficulty but understanding that RMC bids adieu to the prided Redmen to glory on the field of battle know as varsity athletics but look forward to victories to come won by the college�s finest, the Paladins. In 2002, Rear-Admiral David Morse, the commandant at the time, decided to change the logo to the crown and arm of RMC. |
 |
 |