The Enduring Legacy of Canada on D-Day

Canada’s military today has submarines that can’t submerge, nearly half-century-old fighter jets that should never be sent into combat, an unending recruitment crisis, a collapsed public image and barely enough combat-capable soldiers to fill an army brigade – in a G7 nation of 40 million people with a nearly $3 trillion economy. Eighty years ago the same country – much poorer and with a population 75 percent smaller – deployed six entire divisions fighting simultaneously in two different combat theatres, more than 500 warplanes and one of the world’s largest navies, and kept them all supplied across an ocean. Historian David J. Bercuson recounts a time when Canada was a country that got stuff done, that earned its seat at the table with the big nations, that knew its purpose, and whose people were able and willing to do whatever it took to win, most especially on the day – June 6, 1944 – when the fate of civilization hung in the balance.

A storm lasting several days had lashed the English Channel in early June 1944 and General Dwight David Eisenhower had a crucial decision to make in the early morning hours of June 5, 1944. The American was commander of all land, sea and air forces assembled to take part in the planned invasion of Normandy. Should he go ahead with the largest amphibious landing in history, or postpone the complex operation another day and try for June 6? Tens of thousands of soldiers, paratroopers, sailors and airmen, hundreds of ships and thousands of aircraft hung on his decision. Eisenhower decided to wait one day and then, by midnight of June 5/6, decided to launch the invasion. Off the Normandy coast with its five designated beaches, soldiers tried to sleep and eat breakfast before descending down rope ladders into small landing craft which would soon carry them through the still-rough waters of the Channel to the beaches of continental Europe.

Their force was huge; approximately eight Allied divisions including paratroopers were due to challenge Nazi Germany’s mastery of the French coast in one mass landing that would start at the water’s edge and was aimed at reaching the heart of Berlin to end the Second World War. American divisions had been assigned to beaches code-named Utah and Omaha. British divisions would land at Sword and Gold Beaches. Paratroopers from the U.S., Britain and Canada would touch down at the left and right flanks of the landing beaches to secure those beaches from German attack.

The plan to land a huge force in Normandy, France into the teeth of well-prepared Nazi defences would be the largest seaborne invasion in history – and the Western Allies’ riskiest large-scale operation of the Second World War. Failure would have meant tens of thousands of dead and extended the war by years. Orville Fisher was attached to the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, the only combat artist to come ashore with the Allied assault troops on D-Day, sketching scenes that later became his paintings.

One of the units readying for the landing was the Third Canadian Infantry Division, consisting of about 20,000 men. Commanded by Maj.-Gen. Rodney F.L. Keller, the Third was assigned its very own beach, codename: Juno (which the local inhabitants knew as the villages of Courseulles, Bernières and Saint-Aubin). Meanwhile the First Canadian Parachute Battalion was destined for the eastern flank of the landing beaches as part of the First British Airborne Army.

In the skies over the beaches, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) No. 6 Group’s heavy four-engined Lancaster bombers were in the air before dawn, flying toward the beaches and aiming to destroy German defensive fortifications built just beyond the high tide line. Bunkers, machine gun positions and so-called “pill boxes” were all targets the bombers were hoping to take out to make the infantry soldiers’ landing and exposed scramble up the beach just a little bit easier. For the most part this bombing by British, Canadian and American heavies turned out to be useless, however. Great holes were blasted in the sand or inland from the beaches, but very few fortifications were disabled.

Canada was to play an important role in Operation Overlord, with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division assigned its own beach – codenamed “Juno”. Delayed by rough weather in the English Channel, D-Day ended up occurring on June 6, 1944, the first – and crucial – step in the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany. (Source of map: Juno Beach)

Also in the air, British, American and Canadian fighter bombers – Spitfires and Typhoons of the RAF’s No. 83 Group – too headed for the beaches. They and the United States Army Air Force’s Thunderbolts and medium bombers were tasked with providing close air support for the assaulting troops. Canadian DC-3 Dakota transports were in the air ferrying Canadian and other paratroopers to their designated landing zones – where they would drop many of them all over the Normandy peninsula.

At sea, corvettes, frigates and destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy helped guard the seaward flanks of the landing against attacks by German submarines or fast attack boats, while in the waters facing the landing beaches, Canadian naval vessels joined with British and American ships to escort the transports and the landing craft to the beaches, braving German onshore artillery batteries and subject to the thunderous booms made by the huge naval guns of British and American cruisers and battleships that were aiming to destroy German defences.

The Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen were there because they were needed to fill the ranks of this great landing force to ensure victory at the water’s edge, so that the long march to Berlin could begin. They were as vital a part of the D-Day landings as were their British and American counterparts.

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In this greatest military landing in history, some 30,000 Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen took part and provided about one-fifth of the entire force hitting the Normandy beaches that day. They were not there to provide a token Canadian presence. They were not there to soothe the collective egos of Canada’s citizenry (numbering about 11 million at the time). Nor were they there to allow the Canadian government of William Lyon Mackenzie King to puff out its collective chest in a display of Canadian pride.

The Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen were there because they were needed to fill the ranks of this great landing force to ensure victory at the water’s edge, so that the long march to Berlin could begin. They were as vital a part of the D-Day landings as were their British and American counterparts. Canada was not included out of some Allied feeling of pity; it was included because its army, navy and air force were vital for victory.

Vital for victory: Canada’s contribution of some 30,000 soldiers represented one-fifth of the entire Allied invasion force. Depicted: top, aerial view of Juno Beach on the morning of D-Day showing landing craft coming ashore; middle left, 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade landing at Bernières-sur-Mer; middle right, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles heading towards Juno aboard Landing Craft Assault; bottom left, Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Wakesiu, which helped guard the landing fleet; bottom right, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Supermarine Spitfire F Mk. VI. (Sources of photos: (top) Warfare History Network; (middle left) Department of National Defence (DND)/National Archives of Canada photos; (middle right) Library and Archives Canada; (bottom left) Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3583160; (bottom right) Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3583160)

By June 1944 Canada had built a miraculous military out of what was virtually nothing when it declared war on Germany on September 10, 1939. At that time Canada possessed one understrength infantry brigade consisting of three regular force and six reserve battalions. The regular force battalions were full-time soldiers of about 300 men each who had to be brought up to a strength of about 820 men before they reached war establishment strength. The reserve battalions were part-time soldiers who had regular civilian jobs but spent an evening or two each week training at a local armoury and a few weeks each summer at an encampment with other reserve soldiers training for war. Canada also had a regular force artillery regiment and an armoured regiment that had no real tanks.

It was, in other words, an army living almost entirely on paper and in the minds of its small number of dedicated officers and soldiers.

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1939 was even worse off, with just a single modern fighter squadron consisting of British-designed Hurricane fighters built at the Canadian Car and Foundry factory at Fort William, Ontario. Other aircraft were either completely obsolete or consisted of civilian types used for government missions inside Canada. Despite wide-open spaces and clear skies in winter in the frigid Canadian West, aircrew training had been minimal. Almost no-one in the RCAF wrote about or discussed aerial tactics or campaign strategy since everyone assumed that the RCAF would be taken under the wing of Britain’s Royal Air Force in case of international emergency.

Decrepit beginning: Like the army and navy, the RCAF entered the war small and ill-equipped, with obsolete aircraft like the Wapiti bomber (top) plus barely a dozen somewhat-modern Hawker Hurricanes (bottom). (Sources of photos: (top) Library and Archives Canada; (bottom) CANAV Books Collection)

That was also true of the Royal Canadian Navy, which consisted of seven modern destroyers and a number of smaller craft, but which was concentrated on Canada’s West Coast in the event of a war against Japan, which was considered the most likely danger for Canada. The Royal Canadian Naval Reserve numbered fewer than 1,000 personnel, mostly seamen who held harbour jobs such as captaining tugboats or salvage vessels, or northern supply ships. But they, at least, knew what salty air smelled like and how to stand on the deck of a moving ship.

Canada had not even begun to prepare for hostilities until sometime around 1937. That was largely because the governments of Conservative R.B. Bennett (1930-1935) and Liberal Mackenzie King (returned to office in 1935) feared the political earthquake they assumed would take place if Quebeckers came to suspect that Canada was contemplating the reintroduction of conscription that had torn English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians apart in the last two years of the First World War.

Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (left) was so sure another major European land war was impossible (while being terrified of the domestic political implications of rearmament) that it took him two years to read General A.G.L. McNaughton’s (right) 1935 memo about the Canadian military’s catastrophic state. (Sources of photos: (left) National Archives of Canada, C-042725; (right) Library and Archives Canada, PA-034104)

It was expected that any serious effort to begin preparing Canada as a result of the rise of Nazism in Europe, the Japanese assault on China or the civil war in Spain might tear the country asunder once again. Only in 1937 did King finally get around to reading a detailed memo from General A.G.L. “Andy” McNaughton, who had retired as Chief of the General Staff in 1935 and moved on to lead the National Research Council, and it was only then that the prime minister finally understood how weak Canada’s defences were. But even then the expansion of the army, navy and air force went ahead very slowly. King simply did not believe another major land war in Europe would ever take place.

Canada’s declaration of war against Germany on September 10, nine days after Hitler’s surprise invasion of Poland, did not move mountains in Canada’s rearmament effort. Regarding the air, Canada signed an agreement with Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand to establish a training plan for the large numbers of aircrew who would be needed, called the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan or BCATP. Using mostly civilian flying clubs to begin with, it steadily spread across the country and proved one of the Canadian war effort’s signal successes, eventually turning out nearly half of all the aircrew who manned the air forces of Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – plus thousands from the U.S. and countries that had been conquered by the Nazis, like Greece and Norway – some 130,000 personnel in all.

The Navy, meanwhile, sent its West Coast destroyers through the Panama Canal and onward to the North Atlantic to begin escorting merchant ship convoys from Halifax and St. John to the United Kingdom (and, later, Murmansk in the Soviet Union). The RCAF’s only “modern” fighter squadron of already-aging and not-fit-for combat Hurricanes was sent to the UK as No. 1 Fighter Squadron, along with an army cooperation squadron. And the First Canadian Infantry Division, now fully manned, was sent to the UK in December 1939 consisting of three brigades, each with a single regular force battalion and two reserve battalions.

For a full year – from June 1940 to June 1941, when the Nazis invaded the USSR – numerically little Canada was Britain’s most important ally.

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Overall, during the Second World War’s first nine months Canadian mobilization went rather slowly. The King government – still anxious to avoid any mention of conscription – chose to fight a “limited liability war” sending only token fighting forces to the UK but mobilizing natural resources such as food, lumber and metal ores to help the UK economy and war effort. Having believed there would never be another major war, King and his cabinet now believed that the numerically large French army, together with an expanding British Expeditionary Force, would be more than enough to hold off the Nazis in Western Europe.

Until suddenly they weren’t when the Germans, having quickly conquered Poland in the fall of 1939, attacked westward in May and forced the surrender of France on June 22, 1940. That was when Canada realized the great danger it was in: when it seemed Britain itself was on the verge of surrender. Limited liability was flushed down the drain, huge increases in defence spending followed along with a massive mobilization aimed at the creation of an entire Canadian army, a navy capable of escorting thousands of cargo ships across the Atlantic and a multi-purpose air force to back the British fight against Hitler. For a full year – from June 1940 to June 1941, when the Nazis invaded the USSR – numerically little Canada was Britain’s most important ally.

Aerodrome of democracy: The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), formed by the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, became one of the signal successes of Canada’s war effort, with Canada undertaking its largest-ever construction program and turning out 130,000 aircrew from the Allied countries around the world. Depicted: top left, Lord Riverdale (seated on the left) and Mackenzie King (seated on the right) signing the BCATP Agreement on December 17, 1939; top right, No. 19 Elementary Flying Training School at RCAF Virden, Manitoba, 1944; bottom left, airplane engine mechanic candidates work at the Technical Training School in St. Thomas, Ontario, 1940; (bottom right) Royal Australian Air Force pilots at No. 2 Service Flying Training School RCAF Uplands, Ontario, 1940. (Sources of photos: (top left) National Archives of Canada, C-016761; (top right and bottom right) DND Archives; (bottom left) DND Archives, PL-1035)

Two key moves that the King government undertook after the fall of France were to negotiate a bi-national agreement with the U.S. for the shared defence of North America and to introduce a National Resources Mobilization Act which gave the federal government exclusive power to manage the wartime economy – including conscription of manpower (though only for domestic defence purposes). In early 1941 the two countries also signed an agreement to share war production.

In just a few weeks after the Fall of France Canada’s economy, society, government and armed forces shifted to an all-out war effort. Almost all Canadians threw their support behind it, agreeing to strict rationing of just about every civilian commodity from canned fruit to gasoline, buying war bonds to lend the government money, and pouring into the armed forces. Second World War Canada was a very pro-British country. Although most English-speaking Canadians had been born in Canada, their roots were firmly planted in the UK. A royal tour in the summer of 1939 had brought out large crowds to cheer King George VI and queen consort Elizabeth. Even in mostly French-speaking Quebec, the couple received a rapturous welcome.

All-out war effort: The National Resources Mobilization Act of 1941 focused Canada and Canadians on pouring their nation’s resources into the armed forces, making sacrifices not only at the frontlines but also at home. Depicted: top, the Algonquin Regiment shown leaving Port Arthur, Ontario, 1941; bottom left, production line of a Ram tank; bottom right, children taking rubber tires and shoes to a salvage centre, Montreal, 1942. (Sources of photos: (top) DND; (bottom left) Toronto Public Library)

And so Canada finally went to war with enthusiasm and determination. The RCAF overseas grew from three squadrons to 48 – well over 500 planes. Over 200,000 Canadians flew fighters, fighter-bombers, night fighters, night intruders, heavy bombers and medium bombers, coastal patrol/anti-submarine aircraft from Canada and from the UK, and transport aircraft. And maintained them on all Canadian bases in the UK.

Canadian shipyards turned out corvettes and frigates by the dozen to escort convoys and hunt German submarines, while the navy acquired two light cruisers and four fast Tribal Class fleet destroyers from the UK. The army overseas grew from a single division in December 1939 to two armoured divisions, three infantry divisions and two independent armoured brigades by the beginning of 1944.

The D-Day landing cost 381 Canadian dead and another 715 wounded or taken prisoner. All in one day. But take the beach they did. And held it for the critical first 24 hours, and soon began moving inland.

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The Canadian land forces abroad were large enough to be credibly designated the First Canadian Army. It was proclaimed in July 1944 and consisted of two corps, operating independently. I Canadian Corps was in the Mediterranean theatre fighting first in Sicily and then up the Italian “boot”. II Canadian Army Corps was stationed in the UK, ready to assume its place in the ranks of the assaulting divisions preparing to go ashore in Normandy.

The overall ground troop commander in the initial stages of the Normandy fighting was British General Bernard L. Montgomery. He had commanded Canadian troops in Italy and admired their fighting quality; “Monty” most certainly did not feel the same about senior Canadian officers with the exception of II Canadian Corps’ commander, Guy Granville Simonds, who was something like a younger British-born version of himself.

By 1944 Canada’s expeditionary land forces had swelled to six entire divisions, big enough to be designated the First Canadian Army. I Canadian Corps fought first in Sicily (top left) and then up the Italian “boot” in places like Ortona (top right); II Canadian Corps was preparing for Normandy under the command of British General Bernard L. Montgomery (bottom left), and would fight its way across northern France, then help liberate the Netherlands, led by Lieutenant-General Guy G. Simonds (bottom centre). At bottom right, troops of the Régiment de Maisonneuve advance along the road from Holten to Rijssen, the Netherlands, April 1945. (Sources of photos: (top left) Library and Archives Canada PA-114511; (top right) Library and Archives Canada PA-163411; (bottom left) Library and Archives Photo, MIKAN No. 4233436)

Thus Monty assigned Juno Beach to the Canadian landing force, sandwiched between British landing beaches Gold and Sword. Their ambitious objective for D-Day was the crossroads town of Caen, which lay about 20 kilometres due south of the nearest beach. Caen offered a seaport and also controlled roads, railway lines and canals; taking it would cement the British and Canadians’ hold over the nearby beaches and provide access to the nearby airport of Carpiquet.

Neither the Canadians nor British reached Caen on D-Day, however, and Caen was not taken until the beginning of July, following weeks of intense fighting. Canada’s Juno Beach landing saw fierce resistance from German troops, stiffer than on any other beach except Omaha Beach, assigned to the Americans. The D-Day landing cost 381 Canadian dead and another 715 wounded or taken prisoner. All in one day. But take the beach they did. And held it for the critical first 24 hours, and soon began moving inland.

Following their successful D-Day storming of Juno Beach, Canadian troops and tanks advanced into Normandy, liberating small towns and settlements. Depicted: top, “tetraeder” landing obstacles equipped with exploding mines under the waterline, part of the German “Atlantic Wall” coastal defence system; middle, fortified German defence structure at Courseulles-sur-Mer subsequently destroyed by the Canadian troops; bottom, Canadian troops freeing St. Lambert, Normandy. (Source of top photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-297-1719-26/Schwoon/CC-BY-SA 3.0)

The Allies needed to build up their troops and equipment on the Normandy beaches and landing grounds faster than the Germans could reinforce their defences. The lines remained nearly static for weeks as the Germans resisted stiffly, pouring in reinforcements including SS and regular army panzer (armoured) divisions. Many of the SS officers and non-commissioned officers were veterans of the brutal and unforgiving fighting on the Russian front, where prisoners were often not taken and mass executions were common. The Canadians would come to face the 12^th SS Panzer Division under the command of General Kurt Meyer. Units of the 12^thSS would execute – i.e., murder – some 150 Canadian prisoners at an abandoned abbey just south of Juno Beach and at other places nearby. After the war Meyer was tried for war crimes and convicted but was eventually paroled back to Germany.

By the beginning of July the British and Canadians had captured Caen and started to push south toward Verrières and Bourguébus ridges. These features dominated the road from Caen to Falaise. It was very tough going, with one Canadian attack, Operation Atlantic, being a total failure and the Fifth Canadian Infantry Brigade being especially chewed up at Verrières Ridge in Operation Spring in late July. To the west, however, the Americans near St. Lô launched a major attack at virtually the same time; Operation Cobra proved to be the breakthrough that allowed the whole Allied force to spread out from the Normandy Peninsula and onward throughout northern France.

Desperate enemies: The attacking Canadians had to overcome not merely regular German army units but ruthless fanatics hardened by combat in Russia, such as the 12th SS Panzer Division (top left and bottom) under the command of General Kurt Meyer (top right). The 12th SS would massacre over 150 Canadian prisoners, and Meyer would be tried as a war criminal. (Sources of photos: (top left) Unknown, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0; (bottom) Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-297-1740-19A/Kurth/CC-BY-SA 3.0)

As Canadian and British troops tried to press to the southeast of Caen, the Americans punched through German resistance and began to push rapidly westward into Brittany, then south and east, rolling under the main body of German defenders in Normandy. The Canadians were given the task of attacking southward to meet the Americans who by August 8 had sent some of their units hooking northward to close a pocket containing the remaining German 7^th Army troops in Normandy. This was the soon-to-be famous Falaise Pocket – and the Allied command wanted as many Germans bottled up inside it as possible.

The II Canadian Corps – now with the First Polish Armoured Division also attached – met the Americans and closed the pocket. Approximately 50,000 Germans were forced to surrender, with most of their guns, trucks, tanks, personnel carriers and horses destroyed in relentless aerial attacks. The last German attempt to escape the pocket was blocked by the South Alberta Regiment at the village of Saint-Lambert-sur-Dive, where Major David Currie commanding some 250 Canadian troops stopped the Germans cold, taking thousands of prisoners. Currie was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest decoration for valour. The Battle for Normandy was over.

In the soon-famous battle of the Falaise Pocket, the Canadians played a highly satisfying role in completing the Allies’ encirclement of a large force of Germans, with 50,000 prisoners taken and vast amounts of enemy equipment destroyed. Depicted: top right, Sherman tanks of the South Alberta Regiment in St. Lambert-Sur-Dives in the action that prevented the Germans’ last attempt to escape; bottom right, German prisoners captured in St. Lambert-sur-Dives. (Sources of photos: (top right) Donald I. Grant, Library and Archives Canada, Pa116522; (bottom right) Donald I. Grant, Library and Archives Canada, Pa116583)

Every year, small numbers of Canadians continue to visit Juno Beach or drive the roads of northern Normandy to follow the route of the Canadian Army 80 years ago. There are many Canadian war cemeteries that lie peacefully under the Norman sun, filled with neat rows of crosses and Stars of David marking the graves of the young men who were killed in this most famous of battles. Canada suffered some 18,700 casualties in the Battle of Normandy, with more than 5,000 killed and buried in Commonwealth War Commission Canadian cemeteries, some within a few kilometres of Juno Beach itself.

Right near Juno Beach stands the Juno Beach Centre, a combined museum and memorial to mark the location where Canadians came ashore 80 years ago. In the small towns scattered across the former battlefields over which the Canadian army once fought, there stand to this day plaques, memorials and street signs marking the passage of the Canadian army eight decades ago. Standing in front of one of these markers, one can pause to reflect on the crucial role played in this blood-soaked drama by Canadian soldiers representing a mere 11 million or so Canadians thousands of kilometres away and eight decades ago.

Normandy was one of Canada’s finest hours. It is time we celebrate it in full.

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It is doubtful whether Canada would ever be called upon again to play such a key role in a war as bloody and widespread as the Second World War. And there is no way of knowing if the Canada of today, a polyglot society of 40 million people and climbing fast, could rise to such a challenge. But what we do know – if only by looking at the new Canadian passports introduced this past year – is that Canada’s government is actively seeking to bury this most glorious episode in our history (and other notable achievements) while marking our mistakes – even our tragedies – committed while building our nation.

Reflecting on the heroic past: The Juno Beach Centre in Normandy (top) and the Bény-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in Reviers, France (bottom). (Sources of photos: (top) Juno Beach Centre Association; (bottom) Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

A notable Canadian, the late John Fraser, who held two ministries in the government of Brian Mulroney and became Speaker of the House of Commons, once said: “Democracy doesn’t function without a sense of history.” When the national government develops a willful amnesia about our nation’s great accomplishments, the nation’s very spirit becomes at risk of simply wafting away. Normandy was one of Canada’s finest hours. It is time we celebrate it in full.

David J. Bercuson teaches Canadian political, diplomatic and military history at the University of Calgary and is the author, co-author or editor of 40 books; his forthcoming book Canada’s Air Force: The Royal Canadian Air Force at 100 will be published by University of Toronto Press in October.

Source of main image: Legion Magazine Archives.

Related Topics:#C2CJournal #CanadaMilitary #DavidBercuson #EnduringLegacyOfCanadaOnD-Day

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Remembering Afghanistan and the sacrifices of our military families

Published on December 25, 2025

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THE MAKICHUK REPORT

We cannot forget the sacrifice of Canadian troops in Kandahar province

I guess I blame myself. I shouldn’t have watched it.

Mr. Wolf handed it to me, when I went to his house this past week, to have a Christmas get-together.

He just came back from the front in Ukraine, where he was instructing Ukrainian soldiers on landmine detection.

One of hundreds of dangerous missions, he has taken over the last several decades.

He’s Canada’s James Bond and Jason Bourne all wrapped together.

What he handed me, was a copy of Hyena Road. Just a DVD, I had never heard of.

“You should watch this,” he said.

I asked if he wanted it back, he said no, keep it.

So, what do I do? I throw it on my computer and watch it on Christmas Eve.

A time when there is joy in the world. Joy and hope.

Happiness for children. Good deeds left and right.

Families enjoying wonderful times together.

While others may be listening to Christmas music by Bing Crosby, or classic Christmas films, I’m watching a war movie!

In short, Hyena Road is a 2015 Canadian war film by Paul Gross, set in Afghanistan, focusing on a Canadian sniper, an intelligence officer, and a legendary local warrior brought together by the strategic construction of the dangerous “Hyena Road.”

It takes us on a realistic journey through Taliban territory, exploring themes of modern warfare, moral ambiguity, and the intense human cost of conflict through action and character-driven drama.

After it was over, I burst into tears. I wept.

Not just because of what I witnessed. But because of what it meant.

I immediately thought of all the Canadian military families, and also civilians, who came back from Afghanistan, in a box.

What must the Christmas-New Years holidays be like, for these families? And have we forgotten them, and what they sacrificed?

One of them was a co-worker, Michelle Lang, who died on December 30, 2009, when a roadside bomb struck the armored vehicle she was in near Kandahar, killing her and four Canadian soldiers.

I didn’t really know Michelle, or have anything much to do with her, I was a copy-editor and we had no interaction.

But from what I was told, she was a good reporter, a nice person, and she sure as hell didn’t deserve to die like that.

I still blame the management of the Calgary Herald, for sending her on this mission. Those folks — and they know who they are — will have to live with it.

As for me, I want to take the time, as a tribute to Canada’s fallen, to remember them as we approach the year 2026. All of them.

That includes 158 Canadian Armed Forces members, a diplomat, 4 aid workers, a contractor, and Michelle during Canada’s mission in Afghanistan (2001-2014).

Four Canadian soldiers were also killed in a friendly fire incident in April 2002 when a U.S. F-16 pilot mistakenly bombed their training exercise. The tragedy made international news.

The Pentagon response? A tragic accident in coalition operations. Not even a mention of Canada. No acknowledgement that Canadian families had just lost sons, brothers, fathers because of an American mistake.

And keep in mind, while other nations stationed troops in safe areas, Canada took on the toughest missions in Kandahar.

Kandahar, regional command south, where the Taliban is strongest, where combat engagements happen daily, where the dying happens.

Canadian medical evacuation helicopters, Griffins, extracted wounded soldiers from battlefields over 400 times. Canadian snipers recorded some of the longest confirmed combat kills in military history.

Canadian engineers cleared hundreds of IEDs. Canadian intelligence officers have provided targeting data for countless operations.

Former Gen. Rick Hillier once said: “ We deploy because when the fighting needs to be done, Canada doesn’t hide behind other nations’ sacrifice.

“It’s about training, professionalism, courage, and willingness to fight when the fighting gets hard.”

So, go ahead, enjoy the holidays. It’s OK to do that, and you deserve that.

But perhaps take a moment to remember the families who lost loved ones in the Afghan war, along with the many post-war suicides that followed.

I can’t even imagine, what it must be like for these folks.

___________________________________

2014

Jan. 17: Civilian contractors Martin Glazer and Peter McSheffrey are killed in an attack on a Kabul restaurant.

2011

Oct. 29: Master Cpl. Byron Greff of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Edmonton dies in the suicide bombing of a NATO bus in Kabul that kills 17 people.

June 25: Master Cpl. Francis Roy is found mortally wounded by fellow soldiers at a forward operating base in Kandahar city. Enemy action is ruled out. He was a member of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment.

May 27: Bombardier Karl Manning, 31, of Chicoutimi, Que., is found dead at a remote outpost in the Zangabad area of Panjwaii district. An investigation finds his death was not the result of enemy action and no foul play is suspected. Manning was nearing the end of an almost seven-month deployment with the 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment battle group.

March 27: Cpl. Yannick Scherrer, 24, of Montreal is killed by an improvised explosive device, or IED, during a foot patrol outside the village of Nakhonay. Scherrer was a member of 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment, and was on his first tour of duty in Afghanistan.

2010

Dec. 18: Cpl. Steve Martin, 24, from 3rd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment, is killed by an IED while on foot patrol near a major road construction project in a volatile district of Kandahar.

Nov. 26: The Defence Department says Capt. Frank Paul, who died Feb. 10 of natural causes in Canada while on leave from Afghanistan, is considered to have been on duty and a member of the mission. He was with 28 Field Ambulance based in Ottawa and was the adjutant for the health services support unit of Joint Task Force Afghanistan.

Aug. 30: Cpl. Brian Pinksen, a reservist with 2nd Battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment based in Corner Brook, N.L., dies in hospital in Germany from injuries sustained in an IED blast during an Aug. 22 patrol in Panjwaii district.

July 20: Sapper Brian Collier, 24, born in Toronto and raised in Bradford, Ont, is killed by an IED blast while on a foot patrol in the village of Nakhonay. Collier was a member of 1 Combat Engineer Regiment based at CFB Edmonton.

June 26: Master Cpl. Kristal Giesebrecht, 34, born in Wallaceburg, Ont., and Pte. Andrew Miller, 21, born in Sudbury, Ont., die when their vehicle hits an IED west of Kandahar city.

June 21: Sgt. James MacNeil, 28, of Glace Bay, N.S., is killed by an IED near the village of Nakhonay. He was based out of Petawawa with the 2 Combat Engineer Regiment.

June 6: Sgt. Martin Goudreault, 35, is killed by an IED in Panjwaii district. The native of Sudbury, Ont., was with Edmonton-based 1 Combat Engineer Regiment and in Afghanistan as part of 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group.

May 24: Trooper Larry Rudd, 26, of the Royal Canadian Dragoons based in Petawawa, Ont., dies after an IED detonate near the Panjwaii district village of Salavat while he was on a combat resupply patrol. He was from Brantford, Ont.

May 18: Col. Geoff Parker, 42, of the Royal Canadian Regiment and born and raised in Oakville, Ont., is killed in a car-bomb attack in Kabul. Parker was the highest-ranking soldier killed in Canada’s mission in Afghanistan.

May 14: Pte. Kevin McKay, 24, of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Edmonton, is killed by an IED southwest of Kandahar city.

May 3: Petty Officer Craig Blake of Simcoe, Ont., dies after a roadside bomb detonates southwest of Kandahar city. The 37-year-old was a diver based in Shearwater, N.S.

April 11: Pte. Tyler William Todd, 26, dies in a powerful roadside bomb blast while on foot patrol southwest of Kandahar city. Todd was a member of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Edmonton.

March 20: Cpl. Darren James Fitzpatrick, dies in hospital from wounds sustained in an IED blast March 6 during a foot patrol west of Kandahar city. Fitzpatrick was a member of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Edmonton.

Feb. 12: Cpl. Joshua Caleb Baker dies in a training accident on a range near Kandahar city. He was a member of 4th Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton.

Jan. 16: Sgt. John Faught, 44, dies after stepping on an IED near the village of Nakhonay. He was a member of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton.

2009

Dec. 30: Sgt. George Miok, 28; Cpl. Zachery McCormack, 21 — both of Edmonton — Sgt. Kirk Taylor, 28, of Yarmouth, N.S., and Pte. Garrett Chidley, 21, of Cambridge, Ont., are killed when their armoured vehicle hits an IED in southern Kandahar city. Canadian journalist Michelle Lang, 34, also dies.

Dec. 23: Lt. Andrew Nuttall of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry is killed when an IED detonates southwest of Kandahar city.

Oct. 30: Sapper Steven Marshall, 24, of 11 Field Squadron, 1 Combat Engineer Regiment, based in Edmonton, is killed southwest of Kandahar city when his patrol strikes an IED.

Oct. 28: Lt. Justin Boyes, 26, of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, is killed southwest of Kandahar city by an IED while leading a foot patrol.

Sept. 17: Pte. Jonathan Couturier, 23, of 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment, based in Valcartier, Que, is killed southwest of Kandahar city in a roadside blast.

Sept. 13: Pte. Patrick Lormand, 21, of 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment is killed in a roadside IED southwest of Kandahar city.

Sept. 6: Maj. Yannick Pepin, 36, of Victoriaville, Que., and Cpl. Jean-Francois Drouin, 31, born in Quebec City, are killed by a roadside bomb southwest of Kandahar city. They were based in Valcartier, Que.

Aug. 1: Cpl. Christian Bobbitt, 23, and Sapper Matthieu Allard, 21, both based in Valcartier, Que., are killed by a roadside bomb in the Zhari district west of Kandahar city.

July 16: Pte. Sebastien Courcy, 26, is killed during an operation in Panjwaii district. Courcy was a member of 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment, also known as the Van Doos, based in Valcartier, Que.

July 6: Master Cpl. Pat Audet, 38, of Montreal, and Cpl. Martin Joannette, 25, of St-Calixte, Que., die in Zabul province when their helicopter crashes on takeoff. Audet was with 430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron; Joannette with 3rd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment. Both were based at Valcartier, Que.

July 4: Master Cpl. Charles-Philippe Michaud, 28, of 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment dies in a Quebec City hospital from injuries sustained from a landmine while on foot patrol in Panjwaii district. Michaud was from Edmundston, N.B.

July 3: Cpl. Nick Bulger, 30, of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, is killed by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province. Bulger was raised near Peterborough, Ont.

June 14: Cpl. Martin Dube, 35, a combat engineer of the 5e Regiment du genie de combat based at CFB Valcartier, is killed when a roadside bomb he was trying to defuse exploded.

June 8: Pte. Alexandre (Pelo) Peloquin, 20, is killed in a roadside bomb explosion during a foot patrol in Panjwaii district.

April 23: Maj. Michelle Mendes, 30, is found dead in an accommodation room at Kandahar Airfield. Mendes was an intelligence officer based in Ottawa.

April 13: Trooper Karine Blais, 21, is killed in a roadside bomb explosion in Shah Wali Kot district. Blais was just two weeks into her first tour of duty in the country.

March 20: Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli and Cpl. Tyler Crooks are killed in a blast in Zhari district; Trooper Jack Bouthillier and Trooper Corey Joseph Hayes, are killed two hours later in an explosion in the Shah Wali Kot district.

March 8: Trooper Marc Diab, 22, is killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the Shah Wali Kot district.

March 3: Warrant Officer Dennis Raymond Brown, Cpl. Dany Fortin and Cpl. Kenneth O’Quinn die when a massive explosive detonates near their armoured vehicle in Arghandab district.

Jan. 31: Sapper Sean Greenfield, 25, is killed when his armoured vehicle strikes a roadside bomb in the volatile Zhari district.

Jan. 6: Trooper Brian Richard Good is killed in an IED blast near his armoured vehicle in Shah Wali Kot district

2008

Dec. 27: Warrant Officer Gaetan Roberge and Sgt. Gregory John Kruse are killed by a roadside bomb during a security patrol in Panjwaii district.

Dec. 26: Pte. Michael Freeman is killed when his vehicle hits an IED in Zhari district.

Dec. 13: Cpl. Thomas James Hamilton, Pte. John Michael Roy Curwin and Pte. Justin Peter Jones, all members of 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment based at CFB Gagetown, N.B., are killed in an explosion that hits their vehicle west of Kandahar city.

Dec. 5: Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros and Warrant Officer Robert Wilson are killed in Arghandab district when their armoured vehicle rolls over an IED device. All three were members of 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont.

Sept. 7: Sgt. Prescott (Scott) Shipway of 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based in Shilo, Man., is killed by a roadside bomb in Panjwaii district.

Sept. 3: Cpl. Andrew Grenon, Cpl. Mike Seggie and Pte. Chad Horn, all members of 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, are killed in an attack on their armoured vehicle in Zhari district.

Aug. 20: Sapper Stephan John Stock, Cpl. Dustin Wasden and Sgt. Shawn Eades are killed when an IED hits their vehicle in Zhari district. All three were with 12 Field Squadron, 1 Combat Engineer Regiment based in Edmonton.

Aug. 11: Master Cpl. Erin Doyle, based in Edmonton, is killed when insurgents attack a remote combat outpost in Panjwaii district.

Aug. 9: Master Cpl. Josh Roberts, an infantryman based in Shilo, Man., dies of injuries following a battle involving coalition forces, insurgents and security personnel from a civilian convoy in Zhari district.

July 18: Cpl. James Hayward Arnal, based at Shilo, Man., dies in a roadside explosion during a foot patrol in Panjwaii district.

July 6: Pte. Colin William Wilmot, a military medic based in Edmonton, dies in an explosion while on foot patrol in Panjwaii district.

July 4: Cpl. Brendan Anthony Downey, a military policeman based in Dundurn, Sask., is found dead in sleeping quarters in a secret base in the Arabian desert. A non-combat casualty.

June 7: Capt. Jonathan Sutherland Snyder of Penticton, B.C., and from 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry dies after falling into a well during a night patrol in Zhari district.

June 3: Capt. Richard Steve Leary, 32, of Brantford, Ont., from 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, is killed in a gun battle with insurgents in Panjwaii district.

May 6: Cpl. Michael Starker, 36, of Calgary and with 15 Field Ambulance Regiment based in Edmonton is killed in a gun battle with Taliban militants outside Kandahar.

April 4: Pte. Terry John Street, 24, of Hull, Que., from 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, is killed when his vehicle hits an IED in Panjwaii district.

March 16: Sgt. Jason Boyes, 32, of Napanee, Ont., and with 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry is killed by an explosion while on foot patrol in Panjwaii district.

March 11: Bombardier Jeremie Ouellet, 22, of Matane, Que., and with 1 Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Shilo, Man., is found dead at Kandahar Airfield. Military says death not related to combat.

March 2: Trooper Michael Yuki Hayakaze, 25, from Lord Strathcona’s Horse in Edmonton is killed by roadside bomb in Mushan west of Kandahar city.

Jan. 23: Sapper Etienne Gonthier, 21, of St-Georges, Que., and serving with 5e Regiement du Genie de Combat, is killed when light armoured vehicle is hit by roadside bomb in Panjwaii district.

Jan. 15: Trooper Richard Renaud, 26, of Alma Que., a member of the 12e Regiment blinde du Canada, is killed when his light armoured vehicle is hit by a roadside bomb while on patrol in the Arghandab district.

Jan. 6: Warrant Officer Hani Massouh, 41, and Cpl. Eric Labbe, 31, of 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment, are killed when their armoured vehicle rolls over in wet, rugged terrain southwest of Kandahar City.

2007

Dec. 30: Gunner Jonathan Dion, 27, with the 5th Regiment d’Artillerie legere du Canada, is killed when his vehicle hits a roadside bomb.

Nov. 17: Cpl. Nicolas Raymond Beauchamp of 5 Field Ambulance in Valcartier and Pte. Michel Levesque of the Royal 22e Regiment, are killed when their light armoured vehicle hits a roadside bomb.

Sept. 24: Cpl. Nathan Hornburg, 24, with the King’s Own Calgary regiment, is killed by a mortar shell while trying to repair a Leopard tank.

Aug. 29: Maj. Raymond Ruckpaul dies from a gun shot inside a secure NATO compound in Kabul.

Aug. 22: Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier and Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne are killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

Aug. 19: Pte. Simon Longtin is killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

July 4: Cpl. Cole Bartsch, Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe, Pte. Lane Watkins, Cpl. Jordan Anderson, Master Cpl. Colin Bason and Capt. Jefferson Francis are killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

June 20: Sgt. Christos Karigiannis, Cpl. Stephen Frederick Bouzane and Pte. Joel Vincent Wiebe are killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

June 11: Trooper Darryl Caswell is killed by a roadside bomb north of Kandahar city.

May 30: Master Cpl. Darrell Jason Priede is killed when a U.S. helicopter is reportedly shot down by the Taliban in Helmand province.

May 25: Cpl. Matthew McCully is killed by an IED in Zhari district.

April 18: Master Cpl. Anthony Klumpenhouwer, who served with elite special forces, dies after falling from a communications tower while conducting surveillance in Kandahar city. A subsequent investigation concluded Klumpenhouwer was knocked from the tower by a surge of electricity.

April 11: Master Cpl. Allan Stewart and Trooper Patrick James Pentland are killed when their light armoured vehicle strikes an IED.

April 8: Sgt. Donald Lucas, Cpl. Aaron E. Williams, Pte. Kevin Kennedy, Pte. David Greenslade, Cpl. Christopher Stannix and Cpl. Brent Poland are killed when their vehicle hits a roadside bomb.

March 6: Cpl. Kevin Megeney is killed in an accidental shooting at the NATO base in Kandahar.

2006

Nov. 27: Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard and Cpl. Albert Storm are killed by suicide car bomber.

Oct. 14: Sgt. Darcy Tedford and Pte. Blake Williamson are killed in an ambush.

Oct. 7: Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson is killed by a roadside bomb.

Oct. 3: Sgt. Craig Gillam and Cpl. Robert Mitchell are killed in mortar and rocket attack.

Sept. 29: Pte. Josh Klukie is killed by an explosion in Panjwaii district while on foot patrol.

Sept. 18: Pte. David Byers, Cpl. Shane Keating, Cpl. Keith Morley and Cpl. Glen Arnold are killed in a suicide bicycle bomb attack while on foot patrol in Panjwaii district.

Sept. 4: Pte. Mark Graham is killed when two NATO planes accidentally strafe Canadian troops in Panjwaii district.

Sept. 3: Sgt. Shane Stachnik, Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, Pte. William Cushley and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan are killed in fighting in Panjwaii district.

Aug. 22: Cpl. David Braun is killed in a suicide attack.

Aug. 11: Cpl. Andrew Eykelenboom is killed in a suicide attack.

Aug. 9: Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh is killed by apparent accidental discharge of rifle.

Aug. 5: Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt is killed when his G-Wagon patrol vehicle collides with a truck.

Aug. 3: Cpl. Christopher Reid is killed by a roadside bomb. Sgt. Vaughan Ingram, Cpl. Bryce Keller and Pte. Kevin Dallaire are killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.

July 22: Cpl. Francisco Gomez and Cpl. Jason Warren are killed when a car packed with explosives rams their armoured vehicle.

July 9: Cpl. Anthony Boneca is killed in a firefight.

May 17: Capt. Nichola Goddard is killed in a Taliban ambush.

April 22: Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Lt. William Turner and Cpl. Randy Payne are killed when their G-Wagon is destroyed by a roadside bomb.

March 29: Pte. Robert Costall killed in a firefight with the Taliban.

March 2: Cpl. Paul Davis and Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson are killed when their armoured vehicle runs off the road.

Jan. 15: Glyn Berry, British-born Canadian diplomat, is killed in a suicide bombing.

2005

Nov. 24: Pte. Braun Woodfield is killed when his armoured vehicle rolls over.

2004

Jan. 27: Cpl. Jamie Murphy is killed in a suicide bombing while on patrol.

2003

Oct. 2: Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger are killed in a roadside bombing.

2002

April 18: Sgt. Marc Leger, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Richard Green and Pte. Nathan Smith are killed when a U.S. F-16 fighter mistakenly bombs Canadians.

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armed forces

Ottawa’s Newly Released Defence Plan Crosses a Dangerous Line

Published on December 16, 2025

Todayville

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By David Redman

Canada’s Defence Mobilization Plan blurs legal lines, endangers untrained civil servants, and bypasses provinces. The Plan raises serious questions about military overreach, readiness, and political motives behind rushed federal emergency planning.

The new defence plan looks simple on paper. The risks are anything but.

Canadians have grown used to bad news about the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), but the newly revealed defence mobilization plan is in a category of its own.

After years of controversy over capability, morale, and leadership challenges, the military’s senior ranks now appear willing to back a plan that misunderstands emergency law, sidelines provincial authority, and proposes to place untrained civil servants in harm’s way.

The document is a Defence Mobilization Plan (DMP), normally an internal framework outlining how the military would expand or organize its forces in a major crisis.

The nine-page plan was dated May 30, 2025, but only reached public view when media outlets reported on it. One article reports that the plan would create a supplementary force made up of volunteer public servants from federal and provincial governments. Those who join this civil defence corps would face less restrictive age limits, lower fitness requirements, and only five days of training per year. In that time, volunteers would be expected to learn skills such as shooting, tactical movement, communicating, driving a truck, and flying a drone. They would receive medical coverage during training but not pensionable benefits.

The DMP was circulated to 20 senior commanders and admirals, including leaders at NORAD, NATO, special forces, and Cybercom. The lack of recorded objection can reasonably raise concerns about how thoroughly its implications were reviewed.

The legal context explains much of the reaction. The Emergencies Act places responsibility for public welfare and public order emergencies on the provinces and territories unless they request federal help. Emergency response is primarily a provincial role because provinces oversee policing, natural disaster management, and most front-line public services. Yet the DMP document seems to assume federal and military control in situations where the law does not allow it. That is a clear break from how the military is expected to operate.

The Emergency Management Act reinforces that civilian agencies lead domestic emergencies and the military is a force of last resort. Under the law, this means the CAF is deployed only after provincial and local systems have been exhausted or cannot respond. The Defence Mobilization Plan, however, presents the military as a routine responder, which does not match the legal structure that sets out federal and provincial roles.

Premiers have often turned to the military first during floods and fires, but those political habits do not remove the responsibility of senior military leaders to work within the law and respect their mandate.

Capacity is another issue. Combat-capable personnel take years to train, and the institution is already well below its authorized strength. Any task that diverts resources from readiness weakens national defence, yet the DMP proposes to assign the military new responsibilities and add a civilian component to meet them.

The suggestion that the military and its proposed civilian force should routinely respond to climate-related events is hard to square with the CAF’s defined role. It raises the question of whether this reflects policy misjudgment or an effort to apply military tools to problems that are normally handled by civilian systems.

The plan also treats hazards unrelated to warfighting as if the military is responsible for them. Every province and territory already has an emergency management organization that monitors hazards, coordinates responses and manages recovery. These systems use federal support when required, but the military becomes involved only when they are overwhelmed. If Canada wants to revive a 1950s-style civil defence model, major legislative changes would be needed. The document proceeds as if no such changes are required.

The DMP’s training assumptions deepen the concerns. Suggesting that tasks such as “shooting, moving, communicating, driving a truck and flying a drone” can be taught in a single five-day block does not reflect the standards of any modern military. These skills take time to learn and years to master.

The plan also appears aligned with the government’s desire to show quick progress toward NATO’s defence spending benchmark of two percent of GDP and eventually five percent. Its structure could allow civil servants’ pay and allowances to be counted toward defence spending.

Any civil servant who joins this proposed force would be placed in potentially hazardous situations with minimal training. For many Canadians, that level of risk will seem unreasonable.

The fact that the DMP circulated through senior military leadership without signs of resistance raises concerns about accountability at the highest levels. That the chief of the defence staff reconsidered the plan only after public criticism reinforces those concerns.

The Defence Mobilization Plan risks placing civil servants in danger through a structure that appears poorly conceived and operationally weak. The consequences for public trust and institutional credibility are becoming difficult to ignore.

David Redman had a distinguished military career before becoming the head of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency in 2004. He led the team in developing the 2005 Provincial Pandemic Influenza Plan. He retired in 2013. He writes here for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.