About Esprit de Corps

Esprit de Corps

Esprit de Corps is a Canadian military magazine published monthly in Ottawa, Ontario. Founded in 1988 by former soldier Scott Taylor and his wife Katherine Taylor, it reports on Canadian and international military issues, politics, military history, and current events. With a circulation of about 30,000, it describes itself as Canada's leading military magazine, and its website is espritdecorps.ca.

Overview

The magazine's editorial mandate covers all non-fictional aspects of Canadian defence: current operational deployments, equipment procurements, political debates, industry profiles, and military history from the Viking landings in Newfoundland to the Afghanistan deployment. Each issue features "On Target," an article by Scott Taylor on current events; a letters section; a "Hit and Miss" page of short items; and history sections including "The Fight for Canada" and Les Peate's "The Old Guard." It won the Quill Award for Excellence in Canadian Communication in 1996.

History

Esprit de Corps began in an unusual way: as an in-flight magazine. In 1988 Scott Taylor — then 27 — and his wife Katherine conceived the idea during a flight from Canadian Forces Base Lahr in Germany, noting that Canadian Forces passenger aircraft lacked onboard entertainment or reading material. They submitted a proposal to create an in-flight magazine for the Canadian Forces' passenger aircraft, and it was accepted. In the première issue Taylor explained the purpose: "By focusing on the past and present accomplishments of the Canadian Forces, it is our aim to contribute to the 'esprit de corps' that has made the Canadian military one of the finest professional armed forces in the world today." The content began as a bilingual seat-back magazine with illustrations and short articles for aircraft passengers.

The end of the Cold War changed everything. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent Canadian military budget cuts, Forces personnel began travelling on Air Canada–chartered flights instead of military aircraft, and the magazine lost its distribution. The Taylors converted Esprit de Corps into a newsstand monthly — launching in its new 84-page format in 1991 — focused on current military news and Canadian military history, while retaining seat-back distribution on Air Canada military charters.

The magazine's reporting soon made it a player in Canadian military affairs. The Gulf War in 1991 was the first conflict covered by Taylor; the magazine was later instrumental in bringing to light the 1993 Battle of the Medak Pocket; it covered the Somalia scandal of the 1990s; and during the 78-day NATO bombardment of Serbia and Kosovo in 1999, Taylor reported unembedded from inside Belgrade — from the other side of the battle lines. For over a decade the magazine's coverage was dedicated to the Afghanistan conflict and its casualties. Its teams have reported from the Persian Gulf, the Balkans, Cyprus, Somalia, Cambodia, Western Sahara, and Afghanistan.

A 30th-anniversary retrospective in 2018 — "A Long and Winding Road" — recounted the publication's triumphs and setbacks, crediting Steve Collins's account of the 20th-anniversary issue as a record of its history. The magazine also fields the Esprit de Corps Commandos, a hockey team that began as beer-league buddies and became an instrument of military diplomacy and charity fundraising, playing generals, flag officers, and foreign military attachés.

Content

Each monthly issue combines investigative news, independent commentary, and military history. Taylor's "On Target" column addresses current defence issues; the "Hit and Miss" page collects short news items; readers debate in the letters section; and history features cover conflicts from Newfoundland's Viking landings through the world wars to Afghanistan. The magazine positions itself as independent and outspoken — Taylor is described as one of Canada's most outspoken defence critics — covering procurement controversies, veterans' affairs, and the politics of defence from the front lines to the corridors of power in Ottawa.

"On Target": From Medak Pocket to the Defence Budget

The magazine's editorial signature, Taylor's "On Target" column, has remained the publication's beating heart for more than three decades — and it is still running. As recently as August 2024, the column appeared as "ON TARGET: Canadian Armed Forces: Cutting to the Bone," an 875-word comment piece, showing that the magazine's commentary function has not diminished with age.

"On Target" has been the vehicle for some of the magazine's most consequential journalism. The column carried the magazine's sustained campaign for recognition of the 1993 Battle of the Medak Pocket — a 2007 installment, "Finally honoured for their heroism in Canada, Medak Pocket veterans are now being maligned by the Croats they once fought," captures the magazine's long advocacy for the veterans of a battle the Canadian military was initially reluctant to publicize. The column has also taken on defence ministers directly, as in "When Canadian soldiers are slandered by accused war criminals, Canada's defence minister must step up to the plate and set the record straight." That combative, soldier-first stance — defending the rank and file while holding the chain of command and the political class to account — is the editorial formula that has kept the magazine relevant across governments and missions, from the Gulf War through Somalia, the Balkans, and the decade-plus Afghanistan deployment.

The Commandos: Hockey as Military Diplomacy

Few media organizations own a hockey team that plays generals — but the Esprit de Corps Commandos do exactly that. What began as beer-league buddies evolved into an instrument of military diplomacy and charity fundraising: the Commandos regularly face teams of Canadian generals and flag officers (GOFOs), foreign military attachés, and naval squadrons in semi-annual double-headers, many of them staged in support of cadet leagues and military charities.

The games have their own lore. In "Commando Challenge XI," the Esprit de Corps teams took both ends of a double-header — the full Commandos defeating a GOFO squad captained by Chief of the Defence Staff General John Vance in a game that raised about $3,000 for the Cadet Leagues, with Vance presenting his challenge coins to cadet players of the game, while the Commando-Lite squad faced off against the Ottawa Service Attaché Association Lame Ducks (the latter featuring Australia's Kurt Brown and America's fan-favourite Rowell). In Halifax, the "Clash of the Titans" pitted the Commandos against the Royal Canadian Navy Mariners at the behest of Rear-Admiral John Newton; Lockheed Martin sponsored the reception with a $5,000 donation to the Military Family Resource Centre, VIA Rail transported the team from Ottawa, and Halifax Mayor Mike Savage dropped the ceremonial first puck. Commando player Alexandre (Sacha) Trudeau — yes, that Trudeau family — took a memorable slash in one contest. The team's blend of slapstick, ceremony, and fundraising has made it one of the most distinctive institutions in Canadian military media.

The Magazine in the Archive

The publication's long run is unusually well documented. The Free Library's Gale archive carries hundreds of Esprit de Corps articles — full issue listings from 2007 and 2008 show the magazine's editorial texture at the height of the Afghanistan mission, with Taylor's defence-policy columns alongside naval history by Roger Litwiller, air-power history by Norm Shannon, veterans' affairs pieces by Les Peate, military trivia and humour departments, and books-and-video reviews. Those archives, spanning defence-budget debates, procurement controversies like the Gagetown disclosures, and tributes to fallen soldiers, preserve a monthly record of how Canada's military community understood its own wars in real time.

Coverage & Audience

Esprit de Corps serves Canada's defence community: serving military personnel, veterans, defence-industry professionals, policymakers, journalists, and military-history enthusiasts. With a monthly circulation of about 30,000, it reaches readers across the country, and its publisher's tagline — "from the frontline trenches overseas to the corridors of power in Ottawa, we're 'the one that's read'" — captures its dual audience of operators and decision-makers.

Ownership

Esprit de Corps was founded in 1988 by Scott Taylor and Katherine Taylor. Scott Taylor — a former soldier turned war correspondent, author, and filmmaker — remains the magazine's publisher and editor. The company is based in Ottawa, Ontario.

Digital Presence

The magazine's website at espritdecorps.ca features commentary, articles, and photography, alongside information on Taylor's books and films. The brand maintains a social media presence amplifying its defence reporting. Its history is documented in its Wikipedia entry, in the 30th-anniversary retrospective published via The Free Library, and in profiles of Taylor such as Carleton University's journalism-school feature.