What are the origins of the CF?
The CF of today draws on the traditions and heritage of colonial militias dating back to the earliest French and British settlements in North America. The oldest CF units are in the army Reserve, and the army uses two criteria to determine the age of a unit: the date of its formation as a regiment, and the length of its unbroken service from that date. The Regular Force (originally called the Permanent Active Militia) began on October 20, 1871 with the formation of two independent garrison batteries of artillery designated A Battery and B Battery. These units were formed in response to the British government’s decision to withdraw most of its forces from Canada after Confederation, which left the Dominion government in need of professional soldiers to maintain the armament of Canada’s two great fortresses: Fort Henry in Kingston, Ontario and the Citadel in Qubec City. Regular infantry and cavalry regiments soon followed, formed in the 1880s as schools of instruction for the “Non-Perman
