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In the Lebreton Gallery of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, amid the tanks and other implements of war, history was made with the appointment of General Jennie Carignan as the first woman Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) for Canada on July 18th, 2024. In fact, she is the first woman CDS in the countries that make up the G7 and G20.
The ceremony and signing of documents was held in front of an invitation only crowd of several hundred and included former Governors-General (the Right Honorable Adrienne Clarkson and David Johnston), Ambassadors from several countries, the Nato Chair of the Military Committee, Adm. Rob Bauer, Chief of Staff for Jamaica, RAdm. Atonette Wemyss Gorman, and the Commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, Gen. Greg Guillot to name a few. Participating in the ceremony was the Governor-General of Canada, the Right Honorable Mary Simon, the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honorable Justin Trudeau, the Minister of National Defence, the Honorable Bill Blair, along with the outgoing CDS, Gen. Wayne Eyre, and the new CDS, Gen. Jennie Carignan.
First up to deliver remarks to the assembled host, and I think the most interesting speaker today, was outgoing CDS, Gen. Wayne Eyre. His address was broken down into three parts: thanking people, a bit of history, and his perspective on the current world situation. 
He started by thanking everyone for coming to his favourite location in the city and noted that “You know it’s time to go when the majority of platforms that you’ve served on are here in a museum.”. As is usual, he started with thanking those with which he worked in his three and a half years as CDS, starting with the Governor-General for her consideration and insight. He then moved on to the Prime Minister and was reminded of a conversation they had when the PM offered him the CDS position in not ideal circumstances coming on the heels of three scandals with three previous CDSs in short order. The PM said, “… [I’ve] given you a turd sandwich” to which Gen. Eyre replied, “Yes sir, but you forgot the bread”. I think that sums up what Gen. Eyre inherited pretty well.
He then thanked the three defence ministers that he’s worked with noting that on 24th Feb, 2021, Minister Sajjan offered him the temporary job as Acting CDS and exactly one year later, 24th Feb, 2022, after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he introduced New Defence Minister Anand to Carl Gustaf (he then explained to the audience that the Carl Gustaf is an anti-armour, anti-personnel weapon in case someone missed the joke). He also thanked current Defence Minister Blair for his focus on delivering for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and not just making announcements. To him, he wished good luck.
As to the world situation, Gen. Eyre noted that, “… The security situation out there is not getting any better.” and that the world must increase its deterrence to match the risk from international bad actors and that the deterrence must be implemented with a sense of urgency. “It will take a whole of government and, in cases, a whole of society to support it.”. He spoke of Canada’s history of unpreparedness for war citing, 1914, 1939, 1950, and 2001, as periods where Canada showed up wholly unprepared yet managed to make herself known and respected on the world stage. The problem now is making Canadians realize that future conflicts will not give us the time to enter a war and then gear up for it. We must be prepared now and we have to convince Canadians to invest which is hard given the long lead time of procurement of any capital defence project. He said that we need to answer the question, “Why should we invest in defence when they can’t spend the money, to, for the good of the nation, what can we do to help convert funding to the capabilities and readiness with alacrity?”.
Turning to Ukraine, Gen. Eyre put it succinctly when he said, “The implications of the outcome of this war are momentous for our global future. EVIL WALKS THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND IT MUST BE STOPPED!”. No equivocating there.
After mentioning the effects of disinformation attacks on societies where he states that good disinformation allows the enemy to win without fighting, he moved on to a more personal level to thank his family. He thanked his wife, Jennifer, for sharing his stress and keeping him grounded. He thanked her for putting the CAF front and center for almost four decades and said, “Now is the time for us – I love you.”
The ceremony then moved forward as Gen. Eyre presented the CAF ensign to the Governor-General who in turn presented it to the new CDS, Gen. Carignan. The documents of transfer of command were then signed by the three followed by handshakes all around. And then the presentation to Gen. Eyre of the personal pennant which flew on his car was made by his two drivers.
More addresses followed, starting with the Governor-General who thanked Gen. Eyre and his advocating for the modernization of the CAF. She also recapped and congratulated Gen. Carignan on her career and the ascension to her new position. The Prime Minister followed and recapped Gen. Eyre’s career noting that he was the first non-U.S. Deputy Commander of the U.N. Command in Korea. He also did a recap of Gen. Carignan’s career to date noting that she was the first woman to command a combat arms unit. MDN Blair addressed everyone next citing the changing world situation and those risks which are further compounded by climate change and the change in the face of the melting Arctic. All those things need to be assessed when trying to identify the changing risk. He thanked Gen. Eyre for being “… a champion for the men and women of the CAF”.
Gen. Carignan ended the addresses as she took the stage to provide her vision for the future, new equipment, and to thank everyone who has helped make this transition and to those which she will work with in the future. A lot of her speech was in French so I didn’t understand it but I feel that she was keeping more of the substance for the media scrum after the ceremony.
Following the ceremony, Gen. Carignan took the floor to address questions from the media. When asked what here first priority would be, she quickly answered “recruiting”, noting that it’s fine to have all the most modern equipment in the world but without the people to use it, it’s worthless. People need time to be recruited, indoctrinated, and trained before they can use the new equipment and as the equipment won’t be here for a few years, now is the time to get the people.
There was some a question as to when the CAF would be “at strength” again and Gen. Carignan stated that she was looking at a five year timeframe. She noted that in the past we had safety from a big ocean between our enemies whose conventional weapons weren’t a threat and we had a great friend to the south. She then alluded to the fact that we’re not so safe anymore as weapons can hit us from across the world and the north is thawing, opening that up to new risks. She pointed out that if we’re not ready then we won’t be able to act appropriately in defence when the time comes. So, her desire that in five years is to, “… get us close enough to be ready to conquer those long range type of [conventional] threats.”.
When asked what being CDS meant to her personally, she became a little emotional – no tears or anything just a little quiver in her voice for a moment. She said that the CAF has been her entire adult life and that she loves it and the people and is now so proud to get to lead it. I can only wish her good luck.
