The Ceremonial Guard (CG) is like no other military tasking in the Canadian Armed Forces, composed of reserve and regular force soldiers whose primary duties include the daily changing of the guard on Parliament Hill, in addition to providing sentries at Rideau Hall and the National War Memorial.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the CG using Carleton as their operating facility throughout the summer.
“The reason we moved here is that in the budget years of 1992 to 1995, the government of Canada decided to shut down Canadian Forces Base Uplands, so they needed a facility to house CG and this is the place that fit the bill,” said Commanding Officer Major Michel Lavigne.
The CG is composed of more than 400 soldiers from coast to coast who are housed in Glengarry and Frontenac Houses for summer programs.
Carleton’s facilities mimic the facilities that would be typically needed for any domestic military operation.
“It has a gym, it has a cafeteria, it has a residence, it has training space—it has what we need,” Lavigne said.
In addition, he said Carleton was chosen over the University of Ottawa because it had much more open space for the CG to practice their drill and parade routines.
The CG remains a highly sought-after summer tasking by officers and soldiers alike.
“I look at it as a bucket list for the military. I’m just about at the end of my career in the military, and this was one of the things that I wanted to do, so I’m getting to do it now,” said Captain Darby Whitebone, from Edmonton, Officer in Command of the Governor General’s Foot Guards Company.
Many of the CG soldiers are students themselves from schools all over Canada.
“All the dates [for the CG] gel really well together because I’m just finishing school—there’s a week break to get out of exam mode and get right into army mode,” said Corporal David Belet, a guard who attends Niagara College during the school year.
The scarlet uniforms combined with the high standard of drill in the heart of the nation’s capital are what make the CG one of Canada’s most recognizable military units and symbols.
“I’ve been teaching drill for four decades, but this is the best drill I have ever seen,” Whitebone said.
The CG is made up of four distinct segments. Two of these segments include the Public Duties companies, which comprise of the Governor General’s Foot Guards of Ottawa and the Canadian Grenadier Guards of Montreal.
Next, there is the Band of the Ceremonial Guard, which provides the musical accompaniment.
Lastly, there is a Headquarters company containing the unit’s higher command and supporting elements. The CG summer is broken down into separate phases. The first phase, during May to late June, encompasses intensive drills for both Public Duties companies and the Band.
“While all the soldiers here are all trained at doing drill, because they come from all over the country, they all do [drill] slightly differently,” Lavigne said.
The second phase begins once Governor General David Johnston inspects the guard at Rideau Hall in late June and, if satisfied, approves the CG to start the public duties phase.
The Governor General is inspecting both the uniforms and drill of the band and the Public Duties companies.
The Governor General inspects the scarlet tunics, bearskin headdress, shine on boots, and condition of soldiers’ rifles, in addition to the drill.
The CG’s public duties phase begins the morning after the Governor General’s inspection with the changing of the guard on the east lawn of Parliament Hill, beginning at 10 a.m.
This routine, the CG’s hallmark, is performed every day, including weekends, until August 22 this year.
Since the shooting last October at the National War Memorial, the CG has undergone observable security changes.
“Like any other operation or activity in the Canadian forces, there’s an assessment made on the security and the threat to the Canadian soldiers or the public,” Lavigne said.
While the guards are armed with the standard C7A1 rifle, the rifles are not loaded.
As a result, the Ottawa Police Service provides armed security at the National War Memorial alongside the Military Police, providing security during the morning changing of the guard on Parliament Hill and at Rideau Hall.
A common misconception of the CG is that the guards seen at Parliament Hill, the National War Memorial, and Rideau Hall are actors with fake rifles.
Conversely, all members of the CG are in fact trained soldiers, many with experience serving Canada in Afghanistan, and elsewhere abroad.
Additionally, the rifles carried by the rank and file soldiers in the guard are the same type of rifles that were carried by soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan.
One of the headlining performances by the CG is the Fortissimo Sunset Ceremony from July 23 to 25 on Parliament Hill.
While off-duty, the soldiers tasked to the CG embrace Carleton’s campus, according to Belet.
“Carleton has a wonderful campus . . . Very beautiful scenery with the Rideau Canal and Rideau River,” Belet said.
“Those at CG extend their appreciation to the campus staff and the students that are here and have to put up with us sometimes blocking traffic or using some of the facilities,” Lavigne said.
