It must be a very small group within St. John Ambulance. There is certainly no volume to any movement away from the uniforms. The uniform is a requirement to be identified when providing community service. It is important to that other professional first responders know where to look for the St. John volunteers.
The standard working uniform for St. John is black cargo pants, white shirt, (black sweater) beret, or officer cap and appropriate bright yellow coloured outerwear depending upon the service with St. John First Aid. Accoutrements include rank epaulets.The uniform is similar for adults, cadets, and crusaders.
The dress uniform for St. John officers remains the same. Single breasted black tunic with silver buttons and accoutrements. The attached news letter even has a photo of the Ceremonial Cape, St. John mess dress and standard black uniform.
http://www.sja.ca/BCYukon/PDF%20Documents/CP-R-0512-Life_Lines-E-BC.pdf
I speak as a past vice president of the the Branch Executive Council and Chair of the 125th anniversary committee. There is no such serious discussion in the St. John organization. I even checked today with a large group of volunteers at a major event.
Certainly, there are occasional individuals who do not understand the requirement for a uniform and question the rank system. Those same individuals do not understand that in an organization that requires leaders, who must react and act and direct actions that will reduce suffering and in the extreme save lives (no matter how collegial) there must be an obvious "chain of command" with indications of obvious expectations of the level of authority and experience. In addition to First Aid Courses, the St. John Organizations runs "NCO" Courses for its cadet and adult brigade members. There are officer qualification courses as well. St. John Cadet/Crusader Brigade First Aid Competitions usually involve a "drill competition" -- albeit the standard is not often "military" ... but it does what drill is supposed to do.
