St. John Ambulance has provided first aid training to the Canadian Armed Forces almost from the beginning; St. John Ambulance began to conduct first aid training in 1882-83, and the first First Aid course was held at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston for Officers Cadets in 1883.1
In 1899, the outbreak of the Boer War saw more than 7,000 members of the Canadian militia serving overseas, but the pace of the conflict and the lack of available instructors meant they did not receive any first aid training. However, all officers received a copy of Shepherd’s First Aid Textbook and Illustrated Triangular Bandages.2
Things were different during World War I, when the military set a goal of providing first aid training to as many members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) as possible. Members of the St. John Ambulance Association and the St. John Ambulance Brigade were appointed to each unit and paid as Senior Non-Commissioned Officers (Sergeants and Colour/Staff Sergeants) for a set period of time, to allow them to teach first aid to every man in the unit. Members of St. John Ambulance were also appointed as Quartermaster Sergeants in the Canadian Army Medical Corps.
By 1916, St. John Ambulance had trained more than 130,000 members of the CEF.3
In 1922, the Department of National Defence (DND) Special Centre was established to oversee military first aid training. That same year, special centres were also established for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Bell Telephone Company.4
St. John Ambulance also played a significant role in World War II, by the end of which it had trained most members of the armed forces5 and had run a special course for nurses’ aides.
St. John Ambulance continued to increase the amount of training delivered to the Canadian Armed Forces, so much so that in 2006 over 50,0006 certificates were issued, compared to 20,000 in 1960.7
Today, all Canadian Armed Forces’ first aid training is provided by St. John Ambulance. All new recruits take the Standard First Aid with CPR Level C course as part of the Basic Military Qualification / Basic Military Officer Qualification, retaking it at least once every three years to retain the qualification.
All the instructors who provide training to the Canadian Armed Forces are military personnel who have qualified as St. John Ambulance First Aid Instructors and Instructor Trainers. They provide the same Standard First Aid course offered to the public, with the addition of four military-specific lessons.
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1 Christopher McCreery, The Maple Leaf and the White Cross: A History of St. John Ambulance and the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Canada (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008), 34
2 McCreery, 42
3 McCreery, 68-69
4 McCreery, 93
5 McCreery, 118
6 McCreery, 162
7 McCreery, 136
