Presentation of Scrolls to General and Flag Officers

The Citadelle, Monday, September 14, 2009

I am so pleased to welcome you and your families to the Citadelle as you prepare to take an important step in your career with the Canadian Forces.

I therefore take this morning’s ceremony very seriously.

To those of you being promoted to positions of high command, I am conferring a mission.

It is a vitally important mission, at a time when the Forces are being called upon as never before: to take care of the women and men under your command.

I know that you now find yourselves in a difficult, even paradoxical position.

On the one hand, you have to support your troops, give them the resources they need and ensure their safety.

On the other hand, you have to demand great sacrifices of them and subject them to untold dangers.

It is a responsibility that requires you to lead by example, through your words and actions.

It is a responsibility that requires you to embody in the eyes of the women and men serving under you the noblest of military values: duty, honour, professionalism, courage.

This is the only way that you will earn their loyalty and respect.

Whatever your rank, you have all chosen to join the Forces, and what matters most to you is that you “make a difference”.

I want you to know that I have the utmost respect for that choice.

Having said that, I know the kinds of pressure that you and your families beside you are facing, because my role as commander-in-chief consists of listening to you, supporting you, and encouraging you.

The service women and men I meet and work alongside often tell me about the repeated absences over extended periods of time.

About the worry, on both sides.

About the difficult homecoming following a mission.

I cannot remain indifferent.

I must confess that my heart is heavy.

Heavy with the weight of the losses that the Forces and the entire country have suffered; with the grief of the fathers and mothers, partners and children, brothers and sisters who have lost a loved one in Afghanistan; with the trauma of the wounded.

I have travelled to Trenton so many times this year to stand beside grieving families. And we will be returning once again this week to honour another one of our young soldiers who has fallen in the line of duty, Private Patrick Lormand of the Royal 22e Régiment, based in Valcartier.

As a tribute to Private Lormand, I would like to reflect on the mission for which he so bravely gave his life, because, not three days ago, I was with our soldiers in Afghanistan to honour the difficult and remarkable job they are doing.

To better appreciate our soldiers’ achievements on the ground, I met and spoke with a number of representatives from Afghan civil society, women and men who, faced with barbarity, are defending life in Afghanistan and fighting injustice and misery; these are the people we never—or rarely—hear from.

Women and men of Afghanistan who support progress, democracy, the reconstruction of peace, the rebuilding of their country, the respect of rights and freedoms, the equality of women, education and development, and Canada, in turn, supports their efforts and initiatives to promote viable Afghan solutions to Afghan problems.

They all told me that the actions of our soldiers to insure the security of the area, to protect the population, and that the contributions being made by the Canadian International Development Agency and all other civil Canadian partners are helping them to move forward as they face the forces of destruction in their country.

At the Sayad Pacha elementary school, which Canada helped to build in Kandahar in 2008, the girls and boys clearly told me in their own words that their greatest concern is security, so essential to rebuilding their country, devastated by decades of war, so crucial in order for them to achieve their dreams.

They also told me how grateful they are to all the soldiers who expose themselves to danger to protect them. They see the soldiers at work, on patrol, looking for explosive devices, uncovering mines and defending communities from terrorist incursions, all at great risk to themselves.

I visited the base hospital, Role 3, where caring and professional Canadian Forces medical teams work day and night to care for civilians and soldiers, Afghans and members of the NATO coalition. Among the patients were three children who were being treated for severe burns and mutilations they suffered as a result of a slyly buried homemade bomb.

Everyone at the hospital was mourning the two other children who had died the previous day in their care. I know they are in mourning again today for Private Lormand.

We have lost an extraordinary Canadian. 

This afternoon, I will be going to visit some of our wounded soldiers at the Institut de réadaptation en déficience physique du Québec. I want to hear about their experiences, of course, but I also want to know what they hope for and how they imagine the future.

Increasingly, our wounded soldiers are able to return to the Forces and be fully engaged in its operations, and today I would like to commend this tremendous progress.

The Forces and the country must not abandon the men and women who have risked their lives on their behalf and in the name of the values that we defend.

Furthermore, I applaud the efforts made to help and support the families. The family resource centres are models that, I hope, will come to inspire others.

General and flag officers, I am counting on you to provide not only solid leadership, but also support for our soldiers and their families.

May the ideal of justice and freedom continue to sustain your commitment.

And may it also serve to inspire your colleagues and the soldiers under your command.

I wish you every success and want to assure you that you have my profound gratitude and unwavering support.

Thank you.