KINGSTON, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 06/15/12 -- With proud families looking on, 17 cadets who completed the Aboriginal Leadership Opportunity Year (ALOY) program celebrated a successful year of training at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMCC) today.

ALOY is a one year program at RMCC for Aboriginal youth that focuses on academics, military skills, leadership skills, athletics and cultural awareness. The aim of the program is to help the youth cadets develop their leadership potential to better serve their communities and their country. The training year culminates in a final exercise - a 102 kilometre trek down the Rideau Canal to test the cadets' leadership skills.

"These outstanding young men and women in the Aboriginal Leadership Opportunity Year have worked tremendously hard over the past year and have successfully shown their abilities as leaders," said the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence and Chancellor of RMCC. "These men and women, and their families, should be proud of their accomplishments."

Brigadier-General Eric Tremblay, Commandant of RMCC, commended the cadets for their hard work and encouraged them to continue to grow as leaders.

"You have shown through your commitment and perserverance over this past year that you have what it takes to be true leaders for your communities and Canada as a whole," said Brig.-Gen Tremblay. "No matter which path you choose, I know you will take the leadership skills you have learned here and apply them in your lives every day."

In addition to the standard program, this year's cadets participated in a training exercise in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, with the Canadian Rangers, attended two cultural events-Toronto's Canadian National Pow-Wow and Georgian College's Pow-Wow in Barrie, Ontario-and, participated in RMCC's athletic and intramurals program, with several ALOY cadets making the men's varsity basketball, hockey and taekwondo teams.

Of the class of 17, three have applied to the Regular Officer Training Program (ROTP); three will join the Canadian Forces as non-commissioned members; and a number have also applied to pursue their studies with civilian universities.