The Maple Leaf –  Defence Stories

Tags: Army | Rangers | Regional stories

By Peter Moon

Three Canadian Rangers from Northern Ontario participated in a change of command ceremony that saw the highest ranking Indigenous officer in the Canadian Armed Forces assume command of the Canadian Army in Ontario.

Brigadier-General Jocelyn Paul, a member of the Huron-Wendat First Nation, is the new commander of the Army’s 4th Canadian Division. He took command at a ceremony at Queen’s Park in Toronto on June 22.

At the reception following the ceremony, BGen Paul talked with the three Rangers about growing up on his First Nation’s reserve near Quebec City. That’s where he learned to hunt and fish, something he said he looks forward to doing with Rangers when he travels to the Far North of Ontario.

“Going into the infantry was like a piece of cake when I started as a reserve soldier,” BGen Paul told the Rangers, “because I was going hunting and fishing all the time when I was growing up on the reserve.”

“I enjoyed meeting him,” said Master Corporal Emily Beardy of Muskrat Dam. “He talked to us about learning his culture when he was growing up. He used his own language when he talked about his grandmother.”

Master Corporal Beardy participated in the ceremonial parade along with Corporal Terrence Duncan from Muskrat Dam and Sergeant Charlie Linklater of Sandy Lake.

BGen Paul joined the Army as a reservist in 1988 and as a full time soldier in 1991. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross for his service in Afghanistan. He is a graduate of the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College, the U.S. Marines’ School of Advanced Warfighting, and the national security program at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.

He replaces BGen Stephen Cadden as the commander of 4th Canadian Division. BGen Cadden, who was promoted to major-general, was presented with a ceremonial Canadian Ranger axe as a farewell gift from the Rangers of Northern Ontario.

(Sergeant Peter Moon is the public affairs ranger for the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group at Canadian Forces Base Borden.)