Governance
PRELIMINARY
The Canadian Infantry Association (CIA) is a non-profit / not-for-profit (NFP) organization and member driven. It is a professional association independent of the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The CIA was founded in 1912 and was designed to serve all those who served or are serving as Infanteers. The Infantry Corps is the largest element in the CAF. Today the CIA perpetuates the 1912 Canadian Infantry Association and the Machine Gun Association of Canada which is represented in the CIA logo. It receives no government funding and depends on other revenue streams to operate. The CIA is a founding member of the Conference of Defence Association (CDA) and in partnership with it, major issues and positions, are mutually addressed to government and other organizations to advance the needs and key role of the Infantry profession within the CAF.
Read on to learn more about our:
VISION STATEMENT
The Canadian Infantry Association (CIA), supporting the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps (RCIC), will be externally and internally recognized, and admired as the premier, progressive national voice, and the national association of choice for infanteers, retired or serving.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSES
The Purposes of the CIA, in no order of priority, are the following:
MISSION STATEMENT
The Canadian Infantry Association is a strong credible united national community for former serving and serving infanteers and its stakeholders. It will provide relevant programs and services, advocate for and promote the infantry profession by fostering its esprit de corps, by sharing knowledge through effective communications, networking, professional development, support services, and by preserving our heritage.
CORE VALUES
The Core values of the CIA are the following:
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Board of Directors
Ten Directors from which the Directors would elect their Officers who would form the Executive Committee. Each Div would nominate a candidate and 6 would be from the general membership.
Officers
President
1st Vice-President
2nd Vice-President
Treasurer
Board Secretary
Immediate Past President*
*Not elected
Elected General Directors
Director - 2 Div
Director - 3 Div
Director - 4 Div
Director - 5 Div
Liaison Representatives*
*Non-voting
Those determined by the Director RCIC – up to three with one representing the NCO cohort.
Revitalization Team
BACKGROUND
As you may or may not know we, the Canadian Infantry Association (CIA), established in 1912, was non-operational and on hiatus a couple of years ago. It was struggling before COVID and COVID itself took a toll. During that period the President, Brendon Bulger was working hard at getting us back up and operational. Unfortunately, his health issues took a toll on him and he passed away on 10 February 2022. This left us in a dilemma concerning leadership and moving the Association forward and back up to where it once was. The question arose: Should we try and get the Association operational or let it fade into history?
A group of interested and former CIA Presidents, CIA Council members, and others, got together to decide if we try and revitalize the Association or let it go. A couple of meetings later we decided to test the waters and see what the interest was out there to have a national association representing Infanteers of the largest Corps in the Canadian Army, consisting of all ranks, serving and retired. Well, the interest seemed to be there so we formed officially, what we now call the "Revitalization Team" (RT).
The RT has grown since 2022 and the core group consists of:
Others supporting the RT include the three Colonels of our Regular Force Regiments, the Director of Infantry, the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps (RCIC) CWO, the RCIC ARes Maj, and Joe Varner from the Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) of which we are a founding member.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
BRANCHES
Infantry Specialty
Pioneers, Anti-armoured, Para, etc.
Special Interest
Communities for Rifle Regiments, Kilted Regiments, RSMs, CADTC, etc.