The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) is a Primary Reserve armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Canadian Army. The unit is based in downtown Oshawa, Ontario, and is named after Ontario County (1852–1974). Formed in 1866, and more commonly known as the 'Ontarios', 'black cats' or 'ONT R' (pronounced "ON-tar"), the regiment ranks among the oldest continuously serving Reserve (Militia) regiments in Canada and is one of the senior armoured regiments in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps (RCAC).

Lineage

The Ontario Regiment (RCAC)

thumb|Officers of the 34th (Ontario) Battalion of Infantry at Camp Niagara, 1892

  • Originated 14 September 1866 in Whitby, Canada West, as the 34th "Ontario Battalion of Infantry"
  • Redesignated 8 May 1900 as the 34th Ontario Regiment
  • Redesignated 1 May 1920 as The Ontario Regiment
  • Redesignated 15 December 1936 as The Ontario Regiment (Tank)
  • Redesignated 13 August 1940 as the 2nd Regiment, The Ontario Regiment (Tank)
  • Converted 1 April 1941 to armour and redesignated as the 11th (Reserve) Army Tank Battalion, (The Ontario Regiment (Tank))
  • Redesignated 15 August 1942 as the 11th (Reserve) Army Tank Regiment (Ontario Regiment (Tank))
  • Redesignated 1 April 1946 as the 11th Armoured Regiment (Ontario Regiment), RCAC
  • Redesignated 4 February 1949 as The Ontario Regiment (11th Armoured Regiment)
  • Redesignated 19 May 1958 as The Ontario Regiment (RCAC)

Perpetuations

The Great War

  • 116th Battalion (Ontario County), CEF
  • 182nd Battalion (Ontario County), CEF

A regimental "challenge" coin was issued in late 2009 by LCol R Brown and CWO DJ Munroe to the members and officers serving, as a remembrance of those Ontarios who have fallen in the line of duty. The coin is produced in pewter colour and shows the regimental cap badge on the front side, and the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Cap badge on the reverse, along with a serial number. A year later, the unit's CO and RSM perceived some gaps in the official honours and awards process, particularly at the unit level. As such, in November 2010, a Command Team Coin of Excellence was presented. The coin is gold in colour and shows the regimental cap badge in full colour, ringed with the words 'For Excellence'. The reverse in gold shows the ranks of the CO and RSM, along with the flag of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps.

A complete historical list of the unit's key appointments is maintained at the Regimental Museum's official website.

Lineage chart

Regimental Band

thumb|left|HCol RS (Sam) McLaughlin

Since 1866, the 34th Battalion and its successor units including the 116th Battalion, 182nd Battalion, and the Ontarios, maintained an award-winning brass marching band. The Regimental band earned top national honours in 1948 at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. The band's patron, Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin (Colonel Sam), funded the purchase of the band's instruments and uniforms for several decades, having gone so far as to build a bandshell at Oshawa's Memorial Park to provide the bandsmen with their own venue to entertain Oshawa's citizens.

The Regiment maintained its band until 1968 when, due to a reorganization of the Canadian Forces, the unit's band establishment was eliminated by the federal government of the day. Lt (N) Bill Askew, a naval veteran of World War II and officer with the 1913 Ontario Regiment Cadet Corps refused to let the band wither. Under his leadership, the band was transformed into the present-day Oshawa Civic Band. Many of the former regimental bandsmen continue to play with the Civic Band today. The Civic Band regularly performs in a summer concert series at Oshawa's Memorial Park and, from to time, at military functions including the Regimental Ball (held each May) and the Regiment's annual Parkwood Promenade.

For almost forty years, the band of the 1913 Ontario Regiment Cadet Corps has provided the Regiment with much of its marching music at public events and official regimental functions.

Allied regiment: The Royal Welsh Regiment

Since 1928, The Ontarios have maintained a strong friendship and alliance with its allied British regiment, the Royal Welsh (Formerly The Welch Regiment (41st of Foot) which amalgamated with the South Wales Borderers (24th of Foot) to form The Royal Regiment Of Wales (RRW) in 1969.) In 2006, under a further reorganization of the British Army, the RRW was amalgamated with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (RWF) to form the Royal Welsh Regiment (RWR).

Several exchange visits have taken place over the years. In 1969, officers and men of the Ontarios performed 'groundskeeping' duties on the occasion of the Welsh’s amalgamation parade at Cardiff Castle, and Capt Russell Baird represented the Ontarios at the Investiture in Caernarvon. In September 1983, a small group of Welsh officers and soldiers were on parade in Oshawa on the occasion of the Ontarios’ change of command. In July 1989, the Ontarios sent a 35-man guard to Wales for the RRW’s Tercentenary parade at Cardiff Castle. HRH Charles, Prince of Wales the longtime Colonel-in-Chief of the Welsh, inspected the Regiment. The Welsh reciprocated in 1991 by providing a guard for a parade at Iroquois Park in Whitby, Ontario to mark the Ontarios’ 125th anniversary. More recently, in September 2004, the Welsh band toured many of its War of 1812 battlefields near Niagara and encampments throughout Ontario including Kingston, Ontario. The band also visited Oshawa to perform at the Ontarios' annual Parkwood Promenade, held at the home of Colonel R.S. McLaughlin, the unit's former patron and long-serving honorary colonel.

The Ontario Regiment received the Freedom of the city of Oshawa and the County of Ontario in 1966 and the Freedom of the Regional Municipality of Durham in 1979.

A complete historical list

See also

  • Ontario Regiment RCAC Regimental Museum

Notes and references

Media

  • The Adjutant. The 116th Battalion in France. Toronto: EPS Allen, 1921.
  • Schragg, Captain Lex. History of The Ontario Regiment, 1866-1951. Oshawa: General Printers, 1952.
  • Marteinson, John Kristjan & Michael R. McNorgan. The Royal Canadian Armoured Corps: An Illustrated History. Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, 2000. (French version also available)
  • Barris, Ted. Victory at Vimy. Markham: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2007.
  • The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) Official Canadian Army website
  • The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) Museum - Oshawa
  • The Ontario Regiment (RCAC) Ferret Club - Oshawa
  • Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Association (Cavalry)
  • Royal Welsh Regiment UK
  • Royal Regiment of Wales UK
  • 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Cavalry) UK