Kanada — Change of command for Joint Task Force North

YELLOWKNIFE, NT – A change of com­mand cer­e­mo­ny held at Joint Task Force North (JTFN) this morn­ing marked the relin­quish­ment of com­mand from Brigadier-Gen­er­al David Mil­lar to Brigadier-Gen­er­al Guy Hamel.

A change of com­mand cer­e­mo­ny is a for­mal, sym­bol­ic pass­ing of respon­si­bil­i­ty, author­i­ty and account­abil­i­ty of com­mand from one leader to anoth­er. Brigadier-Gen­er­al Hamel joins JTFN from his pre­vi­ous post as Com­man­der of Cana­di­an Forces (CF) Base Bor­den and For­ma­tion Com­man­der for Cana­di­an Forces Sup­port Train­ing Group. 

“I am proud and hon­oured to be here in Canada’s North and to have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to work with the mem­bers of Joint Task Force North, Area Sup­port Unit (North), Region­al Cadet Sup­port Unit (North­ern) the Cana­di­an Rangers, Junior Rangers and 440 Trans­port Squadron in con­tin­u­ing to achieve the mis­sion of the Cana­di­an Forces in the North,” said Brigadier-Gen­er­al Hamel. “This new chal­lenge that my fam­i­ly and I are about to embark on will be full of adven­ture and rewards, and we are look­ing for­ward to the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence the peo­ple and cul­ture of the North over the next two years.” 

The for­mal cer­e­mo­ny was presided over by Vice-Admi­ral A.B. Don­ald­son, Com­man­der of Cana­da Com­mand. “I would like to rec­og­nize Brigadier-Gen­er­al Mil­lar for his exten­sive accom­plish­ments, par­tic­u­lar­ly his efforts to enhance the work­ing rela­tion­ships between oth­er key gov­ern­ment and non-gov­ern­ment agen­cies in the North,” said Vice-Admi­ral Don­ald­son. “His com­mit­ment to enhance the Team North approach in order to ensure that the CF is ready to respond to the safe­ty and secu­ri­ty needs of Cana­da in the Arc­tic is one that I am sure that Brigadier-Gen­er­al. Hamel will con­tin­ue to foster.” 

“It has been a priv­i­lege to com­mand the CF in the North, espe­cial­ly at a time when dynam­ic changes are putting a spot­light on the need to enhance our col­lec­tive capa­bil­i­ty to respond to safe­ty and secu­ri­ty emer­gen­cies,” said Brigadier-Gen­er­al Mil­lar. With our Ter­ri­to­r­i­al and Fed­er­al gov­ern­ment part­ners, and with the peo­ple of the com­mu­ni­ties through­out the North, JTFN has made sig­nif­i­cant strides in build­ing capa­bil­i­ty and increas­ing readi­ness. I am hon­oured to hand over com­mand of JTFN to Brigadier-Gen­er­al Hamel so that he and his com­mand team can con­tin­ue to pro­vide safe­ty and secu­ri­ty to northerners.” 

After com­mand­ing JTFN for the past two years, Brigadier-Gen­er­al Mil­lar will be mov­ing to the For­eign and Defence Pol­i­cy Sec­re­tari­at in Ottawa as Direc­tor Oper­a­tions, Defence/International Secu­ri­ty at the Privy Coun­cil Office 

At this same cer­e­mo­ny, Chief War­rant Offi­cer Gilles Laroche assumed the duties of JTFN Chief War­rant Offi­cer from Chief War­rant Offi­cer Mark Saulnier, who is post­ed to Hei­del­berg, Ger­many as the Com­mand Sergeant Major for the Allied Force Com­mand Hei­del­berg. Chief War­rant Offi­cer Laroche last served as the 22 Wing Chief War­rant Officer. 

As one of six region­al com­mands report­ing to Cana­da Com­mand in Ottawa, JTFN is respon­si­ble for the con­duct of all rou­tine and con­tin­gency oper­a­tions in Canada’s North. JTFN is head­quar­tered in Yel­lowknife, NT with two head­quar­ter detach­ments in the Yukon (White­horse) and Nunavut (Iqaluit). JTFN’s area of respon­si­bil­i­ty includes the North­west Ter­ri­to­ries, the Yukon and Nunavut — a vast region encom­pass­ing approx­i­mate­ly four mil­lion square kilo­me­tres, or one-third of Canada’s land mass. 

Source:
Depart­ment of Nation­al Defence, Kanada