The Communications and Electronics Branch (French: Branche des communications et de l'électronique) is a personnel branch of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The army component of the branch is designated the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals (French: Corps des transmissions royal du Canada[1]).
History
Major Wallace Bruce Matthews Carruthers (13 February 1863–21 October 1910) was the founder of the Canadian Signalling Corps, forerunner of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and the Communications and Electronics Branch. In the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces, functional similar components of the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force were combined into the new Communications and Electronics Branch.
During the Boer War, Carruthers noted the importance of tactical signalling in a successful campaign. Observing the employment of heliographs, semaphore flags and lamps, he realized there was a need for a unit to provide proper training in the use of these systems. Upon his return to Canada in 1902, he wrote a paper on signalling for the Royal Military College Club and championed an establishment of a signalling corps. In 1903, the formation of the Canadian Signal Corps was authorized by General Order 167. It was the first signal corps in the British Empire and is the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals.
On 3 February 1903, now Major Carruthers was appointed as one of two inspectors of signalling. Setting up his headquarters in Kingston, Ontario, he was responsible to the Militia Council for the supervision of instruction and practice of signalling and the inspection of signallers and their equipment. In 1904, the Provisional School of Signalling was established, with schools held in Kingston, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Montreal, Halifax, London, Quebec and Toronto over the next 2 years.
Training began in earnest in 1905 in summer militia instructional camps or in provisional schools set up in those eight cities. 546 officers and men from the rural corps were trained in semaphore at the summer camps and 68 of those had qualified as signallers over the next few years.
A reorganization of the corps in 1906 made Carruthers the Canadian Corps of Signal's commanding officer. He received the title of Assistant Adjutant General for Signalling
In April 2013, the army component of the branch was officially designated with its historic title, the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, but it remains a part of the C&E Branch.[2]
Uniform
Cap badge: A silver depiction of Mercury with golden lightning bolts on either side placed on a field of blue.[3]
The signalman's trade qualification badge (worn on the lower sleeve of the Service Dress jacket) is the only such trade badge that features colours (blue and white) instead of just gold.
Branch flag: Horizontal bicolour, French grey (Munsell Notation 5PB5/2) over dark blue (Munsell Notation 7.5PB2/2). It is commonly believed that the colours of the flag represent "grey skies over blue waters"; however, the colours were inherited from the officer's Mess Dress uniforms of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals (RCCS), which were in turn inherited from the 21st Lancers, the first unit of Major Carruthers, founder of the RCCS
Motto:Latin: Velox Versutus Vigilans, "Swift, Skilled, Alert"); motto inherited from the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
Nickname:
"Jimmies" – after "Jimmy", the nickname given to the Roman god Mercury as patron (and insignia) of Signals in Commonwealth countries; the origin of this particular sobriquet for the god is unknown; there are a number of theories as to why 'Jimmy' was adopted as a term of endearment for the emblem. The most widely accepted is that it came from a very popular Royal Signals boxer, Jimmy Emblem, who was the British Army Champion in 1924 and represented the Royal Signals Corps from 1921 to 1924.
"Sigs" – after the abbreviation of "Signals"
"Sig Pigs" – rhyming slang name; sometimes used deprecatingly by non-Signalmen, generally with pride by Signalmen
Signals units follow the cavalry practice of naming their units "regiment" for "battalion", "squadron" for "company", and "troop" for "platoon".
Trained privates in Signals or Communications units are styled "Signaller" or "Sig" for short.
Training
Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics
The Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics (CFSCE) in Kingston, Ontario was founded in 1937. Initially, CFSCE provided training in Communications and Electronics in Canadian Army and now in the Canadian Armed Forces. CFSCE provides basic, intermediate and advanced training to military personnel in the field of Communications and Electronics.[4]
34 Signal Regiment (formerly 712 (Montreal) Communication Squadron)
35 Canadian Brigade Group
35 Signal Regiment (formerly 713 (Beauport) Communication Regiment, and 714 (Sherbrooke) Communication Squadron)
5th Canadian Division
36 Canadian Brigade Group
36 Signal Regiment (formerly 721 (Charlottetown) Communication Regiment, 723 (Halifax) Communication Squadron, and 725 (Glace Bay) Communication Squadron)
37 Canadian Brigade Group
37 Signal Regiment (formerly 722 (Saint John) Communication Squadron, and 728 (St. John's) Communication Squadron)
3rd Canadian Division
38 Canadian Brigade Group
38 Signal Regiment (formerly 734 (Regina) Communication Squadron, 735 (Winnipeg) Communication Regiment, 736 (Thunder Bay) Communication Squadron, and 737 (Saskatoon) Communication Squadron)
39 Canadian Brigade Group
39 Signal Regiment (formerly 741 (Victoria) Communication Squadron, now B Squadron, 2 Troop; 744 (Vancouver) Communication Regiment, now A Squadron; and 748 (Nanaimo) Communication Squadron, now B Squadron, 1 Troop)
41 Canadian Brigade Group
41 Signal Regiment (formerly 745 (Edmonton) Communication Squadron, 746 (Calgary) Communication Squadron, and 749 (Red Deer) Communication Squadron)
CFS Alert
Staffing at CFS Alert are the responsibility of the Branch. In the past members were drawn by the RCAF or Canadian Army.
