Juno News - Who is Canada’s new Chief of Defence Staff General Jennie Carignan？

00:00:00.000 Last week, Lieutenant General Jenny Carignan took command of the Canadian Armed Forces

00:00:07.540 as Canada's next Chief of Defence Staff, the highest position in the Canadian military,

00:00:13.280 making her not only the first woman to hold such a position,

00:00:16.280 but also the first woman to lead a Five Eyes military.

00:00:20.300 The work that lays ahead for General Carignan is serious.

00:00:23.880 She assumes command of the military when the military is facing four crises

00:00:27.820 that each threaten the future of the military.

00:00:31.000 A recruitment crisis, an attrition crisis, a crisis of morale,

00:00:35.380 and arguably, most important, a crisis in leadership.

00:00:39.640 Before assuming the role of CDS, General Carignan was appointed to be the first

00:00:43.900 Chief of Professional Conduct and Culture.

00:00:47.060 Some of these cultural changes implemented by General Carignan include

00:00:51.800 temporarily lowering the dress standards to allow things like colored fingernails

00:00:56.980 and colored hair as well as neck tattoos, gender-neutral language, gender-neutral uniforms.

00:01:04.400 The changes also included mandating tampons to be in every male washroom on a Canadian Armed Forces base.

00:01:12.160 Meanwhile, Canada's NATO allies have issued strong letters and signaled their frustration

00:01:17.600 to the Justin Trudeau government for not only failing to meet our NATO spending requirements,

00:01:22.640 but also failing to meet readiness standards.

00:01:27.000 This is all happening while the Canadian military is very much on a war footing.

00:01:31.260 We are spending billions of dollars supplying the Ukrainian military,

00:01:35.040 waging an active war in Europe,

00:01:36.660 and the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate.

00:01:40.320 We are now closer to World War III than we have ever been before.

00:01:43.520 So Justin Trudeau's appointment of Canada's new CDS could arguably be one of his most important

00:01:50.880 appointments in his entire nine-year premiership of Canada.

00:01:54.660 But who is the real Lieutenant General Jenny Carignan?

00:01:58.540 And is she up to the job?

00:02:00.980 Joining us now on the Faulkner Show is the host of the Hard to Kill podcast

00:02:04.880 and a 15-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, Dave Morrow.

00:02:08.900 In 2010, Morrow deployed to Afghanistan with the Vandu Battle Group.

00:02:13.540 Dave, thank you so much for joining us on the show.

00:02:15.800 It's my pleasure, Harrison.

00:02:17.840 So just to get into it, take us through the reaction from the veteran community

00:02:22.960 and the active service community, those that you're speaking with.

00:02:26.200 What was the reaction like when the news broke that Lieutenant General Jenny Carignan

00:02:31.380 was appointed for this incredibly important role?

00:02:33.680 Well, I mean, my circle is relatively large, both the ones that are literally next to me

00:02:41.260 and the ones that are at a distance online.

00:02:44.160 The general sentiment is not great, I'll be honest.

00:02:47.660 And that focuses around the rumors that exist that she didn't perform very well in Iraq.

00:02:54.200 Now, these rumors have been floating around for a while.

00:02:56.980 So overall, I mean, I don't know about her military record all that much.

00:03:02.700 However, this rumor seems to be tarnishing the reputation before she even got into the position. 0.72

00:03:08.740 And having hosted other people on the podcast that have made comments about her record and her comments,

00:03:14.940 it leaves a lot of open-ended questions.

00:03:18.160 And like we say in the military, rummant is probably the best source of intelligence out there.

00:03:22.920 And that's rumor intelligence.

00:03:25.200 And that seems to be circulating quite a bit around her tenure in the Canadian Forces.

00:03:29.360 So these are, of course, rumors, but we want to give our audience an insight into what exactly those rumors are.

00:03:36.120 Of course, we don't have evidence.

00:03:37.740 And as you say, it's based on rumor intelligence.

00:03:39.980 But when you talk about these rumors circulating around her leadership,

00:03:44.080 can you explain in more detail what members are saying?

00:03:47.180 Well, I mean, not to pull any punches, but she cut and run while she was in charge of the mission in Iraq. 1.00

00:03:56.180 Like I'm currently wearing the shirt, which is Iraqi Iraqi from Corporal News Network that outlines the ridiculousness of that situation. 1.00

00:04:06.040 Now, I wasn't there, but having spoken to folks that were, essentially were dealing with a general who was in charge of her troops in Iraq, incoming fire.

00:04:15.180 So rockets started to be lobbed into the camp and she decided to cut and run, call her own evacuation, pack up her carpets.

00:04:23.740 And the only thing that prevented her from getting on the helicopters was another NATO general from the United States,

00:04:30.040 basically dressing her down and telling her to get back into her post. 0.60

00:04:33.060 That, to me, is a pretty serious allegation.

00:04:36.280 And I just haven't seen it addressed as of yet.

00:04:41.080 In the interest of fair journalism, True North reached out to the Department of National Defense and General Carignol

00:04:47.400 to provide comment to these serious allegations.

00:04:51.440 And in response, this is what a Department of National Defense spokesperson told True North.

00:04:56.040 We are aware of ongoing disinformation stories currently spreading on social media targeting General Jenny Carignol

00:05:02.320 and her deployment to Iraq.

00:05:03.700 To set the record straight, these claims are entirely false, baseless, and unfounded,

00:05:08.820 with no credible evidence or reliable sources to support these false allegations.

00:05:14.060 They are aimed at undermining our organization and our mission.

00:05:17.920 Well, those allegations, I assume, are part of a broad series of criticisms that have been leveled at the Lieutenant General.

00:05:27.200 And I want to get your comment on two individuals.

00:05:31.360 One, the outgoing CDS, General Ayer, and comments made by the former Conservative leader, Aaron O'Toole.

00:05:37.220 At the change of command ceremony, outgoing CDS, General Wayne Ayer, lashed out at critics of Carignol

00:05:45.220 and basically said that they were helping Vladimir Putin.

00:05:49.200 He didn't basically say that.

00:05:50.100 In fact, he did say that. 1.00

00:05:51.540 He said those critics are useful idiots of the Russian regime. 1.00

00:05:56.400 Furthermore, Aaron O'Toole took to social media and basically echoed the same comments, 0.99

00:06:01.420 saying that most of the people that are criticizing General Carignol's appointments are online warriors

00:06:07.720 who've never spent a day in uniform.

00:06:09.760 You certainly have spent quite a few days in uniform, as I'm sure many of the other critics of the appointment.

00:06:14.520 But how do you respond to those statements?

00:06:18.420 You just got to laugh, Harrison, honestly.

00:06:21.560 This is exactly the problem.

00:06:23.520 And they can't see the forest for the trees.

00:06:26.340 The reason why we have such a toxic culture in both the military here in Canada and the veteran population 1.00

00:06:32.740 is because of individuals like this that don't understand what's going on.

00:06:37.500 We're not criticizing, per se, the individual so much as the institution.

00:06:41.880 Because to imply that somehow a person like myself, who is openly critical and have been for years of General Carignol,

00:06:48.660 to say that somehow I only criticize her because she's a woman is so disingenuous.

00:06:54.920 Because if you look at my feed, I go hard at General Ayer.

00:06:58.720 Because I think he's probably the worst General Canada has ever seen

00:07:01.800 and probably oversaw the complete collapse of the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:07:04.980 Now, I'll throw that statement out there.

00:07:07.500 But I don't think General Carignol will be the absolute downfall of the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:07:12.360 And to imply that somehow I'm a Russian agent.

00:07:15.540 I mean, my Russian is not great, but to imply that anybody that criticizes your government 0.99

00:07:21.260 is somehow an agent or a useful idiot is laughable, but deeply insulting. 0.97

00:07:27.620 But having a thick skin from being in the military and being in the infantry for 15 years, 1.00

00:07:31.820 I just shrug it off and add it to the pile of insanity that's been going on within our culture forever, more or less.

00:07:39.760 I want to go back to General Carignol's leadership in the field.

00:07:43.920 Ultimately, to me, that's really what I think should separate those that are suitable for the role of the chief of the defense staff.

00:07:51.340 Obviously, there are those rumors circulating, which we can't substantiate.

00:07:55.540 But she has been leading troops in Afghanistan, in Iraq, as well as she played a combat role in Bosnia.

00:08:03.400 So have you heard anything about her leadership skills from those that have worked under her,

00:08:09.100 besides whatever might be floating around on social media, but just simply about her quality of leadership?

00:08:14.300 Have you heard anything to outline, perhaps, her suitability for this role?

00:08:20.640 No, nothing specific.

00:08:21.560 I mean, the main issue here is the fact that she was rumored to have left her post or tried to have left her post.

00:08:30.420 But additionally, years ago, she was appointed to a new position for culture change in the military.

00:08:35.760 And the clear indication is that that's been a resounding failure.

00:08:40.740 So adding to the list of failures that just the general staff in general have been doing over the last 20, 30 years,

00:08:49.880 it's just kind of astounding that somebody would come out and say that just because she's a woman,

00:08:54.460 somehow she's going to get more attention and more criticism. 0.80

00:08:56.840 It's just denying the fact that overall, the entire leadership of the Canadian Forces has failed miserably for decades.

00:09:04.380 Right. And I think with being in the service for so long at a leadership position,

00:09:09.280 there is quite a lot to look at as points of success and points of criticism.

00:09:15.320 I think much of the criticism is fair.

00:09:18.220 Let's get into her role as the chief of professional conduct. 0.95

00:09:21.400 A lot went on during her tenure in that position.

00:09:24.980 There was a lot of culture change taking place inside the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:09:28.140 We, of course, know about the gender neutral uniforms, the gender neutral language, tampons in male washrooms, 0.54

00:09:35.600 all of that really demoralizing stuff.

00:09:38.620 But how has her, of the things that she implemented in that culture change role,

00:09:44.040 how did that impact the Canadian Armed Forces?

00:09:47.680 I mean, from my perspective, right, as you know, I'm a veteran, so I'm not in the forces.

00:09:52.380 Other than I do work sometimes with some units here and I do have some interaction with folks that are still in.

00:09:58.320 A lot of my friends are senior officers and senior non-commissioned officers now.

00:10:02.360 So what I can hear is not good.

00:10:05.940 Just in casual conversation, most, especially from my generation, fought in the war in Afghanistan.

00:10:12.460 So that corporate knowledge of war fighting is about to leave the forces

00:10:17.760 because there's only about five more years left before most of them are due for retirement.

00:10:21.120 And with that being said, the feeling that I'm getting is that we can't wait to leave.

00:10:27.480 We're only hanging on for our pensions.

00:10:29.860 It's such a disaster.

00:10:31.840 We can't keep this up.

00:10:33.500 I need to get out is the general sentiment.

00:10:36.340 Now, all these extras that came about, tampons in the male washrooms, uniform changes. 0.77

00:10:43.220 I mean, I think they're just distractions, to be honest.

00:10:45.780 They're trying to distract from a very, very big problem.

00:10:48.820 Like, we can't fight wars anymore.

00:10:51.560 We don't have ammunition.

00:10:53.520 We can't recruit anybody.

00:10:55.140 We can't keep anybody in.

00:10:56.860 And so that shields leadership from the big issues, which are clearly war fighting

00:11:02.960 and making sure that you have an effective fighting force that can defend Canada.

00:11:06.400 So, I mean, to comment on what it's like in the forces right now, I think it's just demoralized.

00:11:12.640 I think from what I can see, it's very hard to stay in if you are a war fighting individual

00:11:19.280 that wants to protect Canada and wants to seek out and destroy the enemy.

00:11:24.840 I'm laughing when I say it because it's almost like that's not even close to what the mandate

00:11:29.600 is for the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:11:31.040 It's like it's social justice, which is the mandate for the Canadian Armed Forces, which

00:11:35.060 it's clearly not.

00:11:36.400 Of course.

00:11:37.640 You mentioned this, you know, this drop in morale.

00:11:40.760 We've read a lot about this.

00:11:42.480 We've heard about this.

00:11:43.480 We know there is a morale crisis inside the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:11:46.940 But most people are not actually involved in the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:11:50.380 And they don't know what a morale crisis really looks like, whether you're a veteran or inside

00:11:56.060 the military.

00:11:57.020 So when you have these reports of just a drop in morale, people not knowing what their job

00:12:03.160 is and not being proud inside the military, what does that look like?

00:12:07.060 Because we hear about it.

00:12:07.980 We just don't know what a real morale crisis actually looks like on the day to day.

00:12:12.400 I mean, I guess the closest example I could use in like the civilian world is just your

00:12:18.000 your nine to five morale isn't necessarily as important because the overwhelming majority of

00:12:24.580 folks don't have a life or death job.

00:12:26.740 They go, they work, they're not expected to potentially die that day.

00:12:30.500 So the level of morale required for a nine to five is not quite as high as for a military

00:12:35.580 unit.

00:12:36.620 And morale is essentially the fighting spirit.

00:12:40.240 So it's hard to embody.

00:12:41.880 Yeah.

00:12:42.400 But it's also, it's hard to quantify, but you can tell it when there is a high level

00:12:47.240 of morale and troops want to get after it.

00:12:50.520 They want to get to the, on their next deployment.

00:12:54.620 Some, there's a hiccup in, let's say their administration.

00:12:57.260 It's okay.

00:12:58.000 I know it'll get fixed.

00:13:00.040 I'm doing something that is bigger than myself.

00:13:02.820 That is kind of the sentiment.

00:13:04.420 And you'll look after each other and you'll go out of your way to accomplish the mission

00:13:08.620 because the mission is the most important thing above all else.

00:13:11.660 When you lose morale, that all goes by the wayside.

00:13:16.440 You're not as tight on your drills.

00:13:18.460 You forget things.

00:13:19.800 You don't look after your guys as much.

00:13:21.600 You're, you're jaded.

00:13:22.780 You don't seem to want to participate as much.

00:13:26.260 You're kind of forced to do it.

00:13:28.020 And you can see the fighting spirit plummets.

00:13:30.600 And when you're fighting spirit plummets, your ability to actually wage war against a hardened

00:13:34.980 enemy just collapses.

00:13:36.520 And that's been described since the Roman era, the Greeks and countless historical textbooks.

00:13:42.460 And at this point, I don't know how good our morale is to mount a fight against a hardened

00:13:48.040 enemy.

00:13:48.400 And that kind of worries me a little bit because we're clearly in the middle of something.

00:13:52.780 Something bad is definitely on the horizon.

00:13:55.540 I would even argue we're in the middle of a war right now.

00:13:57.900 It's just that we're not literally in trenches.

00:13:59.820 So therefore, we don't perceive it to be.

00:14:02.200 But we have some really big issues that might flare up in a very short window of time.

00:14:07.880 And if we don't have the military prepared for it, I'm genuinely concerned about the security

00:14:14.320 and safety of my family here.

00:14:16.420 So how do we address that?

00:14:18.060 I don't know.

00:14:18.680 But it's definitely not the way we're going about things right now.

00:14:22.040 No doubt.

00:14:22.880 And certainly the new chief of the defense staff has a lot of work on her hands to try to tackle. 0.82

00:14:28.360 Now, one of those is without a doubt recruitment.

00:14:31.320 In her change of command speech, she mentioned that changing the recruitment prospects of the

00:14:35.960 military was her number one priority.

00:14:38.980 As someone who signed up to be in the military, you know people still involved.

00:14:43.920 I'm sure you know people who have left.

00:14:46.100 What do you think needs to be done to solve the recruitment crisis?

00:14:49.400 What does the pitch need to be to young Canadians to try to incentivize them to join the military?

00:14:56.520 Well, ironically, she, Jenny Karania, actually discovered what that was with her own poll

00:15:05.060 a few years ago of the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:15:07.400 She sent out the poll to 9,000 troops, a very large poll.

00:15:12.080 And it said, we want a clear mission and we want to know what it means to be a warfighter.

00:15:18.460 Those are the two main things.

00:15:20.320 Now that's a sample size of like that.

00:15:22.480 That's almost a third of the Canadian Armed Forces, believe it or not, or fifth of the Canadian Armed Forces.

00:15:26.200 So that being said, for anybody that wants to join, that is it.

00:15:30.360 What is our mission?

00:15:31.480 What are we getting after?

00:15:32.820 Who needs to get smashed? 0.98

00:15:34.400 That is when I joined, what I wanted to do.

00:15:37.760 We didn't have, like, I joined right before 9-11.

00:15:40.380 I joined in 2001.

00:15:42.260 9-11 happened in September.

00:15:44.720 I'd done my recruit training and it really sunk in.

00:15:47.620 I'm like, oh, I'm actually a soldier now and war is likely.

00:15:53.160 What do I do?

00:15:54.260 And I didn't decide to quit.

00:15:56.080 I didn't put my papers in and say, no, I'm not involved in this.

00:15:59.560 I wanted to get after it.

00:16:01.660 I wanted to actually fight in a war because my grandfather fought in the Second World War.

00:16:06.380 It was part of our proud military heritage in our family.

00:16:09.960 And so anybody that wants to join, you just need to pull on those strengths.

00:16:13.660 Patriotism, serving your country, and defending it against our enemies.

00:16:18.680 And that's as simple as the message needs to be.

00:16:21.700 We don't need to recruit folks with purple hair and have all kinds of different identities 0.99

00:16:28.020 because at the root of it, the reason why I joined is I needed order in my life.

00:16:32.760 I was 19 years old.

00:16:34.120 I didn't have any structure.

00:16:35.720 Well, I did, but it wasn't as much as I would like to have had.

00:16:39.060 And I saw the military as an avenue to become a man.

00:16:42.380 And you're always going to find young men ready and willing to serve if the messaging

00:16:47.240 is to them because I'll be perfectly honest.

00:16:50.860 The reason why we can't recruit anybody is because you're trying to recruit folks that

00:16:53.160 don't want to join.

00:16:53.980 And I own a company.

00:16:54.900 And if my recruiting efforts were to people that don't want to buy my stuff, then I have

00:17:01.160 a failing company.

00:17:02.740 And so it's a very simple message.

00:17:05.020 Join the military.

00:17:06.100 Learn how to blow stuff up.

00:17:07.280 Learn how to defend your country.

00:17:08.560 And let's get after it.

00:17:09.480 And it's as simple as that, but they choose not to.

00:17:11.600 And I don't quite know why.

00:17:14.160 What do you think?

00:17:15.600 Why do you think the prime minister went forward with this appointment, with appointing General

00:17:20.580 Karen Yon? 0.79

00:17:22.280 Obviously, there were other potential people to choose for this role.

00:17:27.340 But he went for Karen Yon.

00:17:29.720 He got great headlines.

00:17:31.180 It is a historic moment.

00:17:32.940 She's the first woman to lead a military in the Five Eyes. 0.98

00:17:36.100 It certainly is a historic moment, and it kind of flows along with Justin Trudeau's

00:17:40.260 political ideology.

00:17:41.760 But do you think that the appointment is political?

00:17:44.040 Is that the feeling that a lot of veterans have, that this is about politics and not necessarily

00:17:48.180 about putting the military in a position to be best suited to defend the country?

00:17:52.720 And as you say, a position and a time in the world where war is a serious prospect.

00:17:57.960 And there are wars happening right now.

00:18:01.160 Yeah, like I would argue, I would say that Canada is in the middle of a war.

00:18:05.080 We send billions of dollars to the Ukraine to fight a war.

00:18:09.180 We send our equipment.

00:18:10.060 We send our trainers.

00:18:11.360 We're in a war.

00:18:12.580 So I would say that the chief of defense staff now is a wartime chief of defense staff.

00:18:17.540 And I'm not going to pretend that the chief of defense staff is not a political position.

00:18:22.240 It is.

00:18:22.980 They have to broach the military and the politics of the day for the country.

00:18:27.780 But if the position isn't merited, I think we're in a big, big problem here.

00:18:35.600 Because when you have somebody that is at that top, top, tippy-to-top position of the military,

00:18:42.300 that is the forward-facing element of what represents us.

00:18:46.940 Because that individual is in charge.

00:18:51.540 So therefore, everything downstream is a reflection of that individual.

00:18:55.660 If you choose wrongly, you're going to have some problems.

00:18:58.880 And judging just by her record, I don't know her military qualifications.

00:19:03.980 I don't know what her record was like as a leader.

00:19:05.840 However, just based off of her record in the culture department, it's a resounding failure

00:19:15.440 because we have a recruiting crisis, because we have droves wanting to leave.

00:19:20.680 So with that being said, if you were to just rank apples to apples, oranges to oranges,

00:19:25.280 for the generals that were up for this position, did she merit the position?

00:19:30.520 I don't know.

00:19:31.420 But it seems like, and this is based off of conversations I've had with guests like Philip

00:19:37.780 Miller, who's a lawyer and a veteran on my show, it seems like the appointment was already

00:19:45.160 a FEDACOM plea in the halls of the liberal government.

00:19:48.280 And they were going to make this happen regardless.

00:19:52.340 And that to me, obviously that's politics.

00:19:55.020 But that to me for the military is a death blow because the person didn't merit the position.

00:20:02.240 And our whole system is supposed to be based off of merit, not based off of who you know.

00:20:07.040 And that really taints the whole system.

00:20:10.860 And I don't think it's going to be good for morale long-term.

00:20:14.540 Talk to us about the leadership of General Wayne Ayer.

00:20:17.480 Under his leadership, we have heard not only reports from him and other senior high-ranking

00:20:23.300 members of the military talking about how there aren't enough members in the force to

00:20:27.320 staff the ships in the Navy.

00:20:29.340 There aren't enough force, there aren't enough members to actually deal with the problems

00:20:32.600 at hand.

00:20:33.400 We also read reports about troops in Latvia having to buy their own helmets, chest rigs

00:20:37.960 and belts and that sort of thing.

00:20:39.840 Housing crises on military, on and off military bases.

00:20:43.820 It seems like it's just been one failure after the next under General Wayne Ayer's leadership.

00:20:48.740 Is that the general sentiment that people in the veteran community and in the active force

00:20:53.560 have felt?

00:20:54.520 I mean, I can speak for myself and other folks that I've spoken to both in person and on the

00:21:00.460 podcast.

00:21:02.180 I genuinely think he is part of a plan for just the managed decline of the forces because

00:21:09.920 I can't understand how a general would just let his entire force crumble in front of his

00:21:14.920 eyes if he wasn't actively trying to let that happen.

00:21:17.980 I mean, case in point, he's essentially calling folks like myself Russian agents when he could

00:21:24.040 very well try to ally with folks like myself, learn the battle space, learn that you don't

00:21:30.260 control the message anymore.

00:21:31.900 You need to get ahead of things.

00:21:33.720 I will gladly bring folks on like himself who have a message to say that is positive, that

00:21:39.060 wants to ensure that folks, if they're in, they want to actually be looked after to

00:21:44.520 actually fight wars, to actually feel like they're proud of what they're doing.

00:21:47.340 I gladly have them on, but there's an animosity there.

00:21:51.180 I'm not quite sure what it is, but ultimately his decisions that really flipped my opinion

00:21:57.060 on him because initially I thought he was a great appointment.

00:21:59.900 His records seem great.

00:22:02.080 I don't know him personally, but in terms of chief of defense staff, I thought, yeah,

00:22:06.360 he's likely a good fit.

00:22:07.680 But what really activated me was during the COVID mandates where he clearly knew based off

00:22:13.580 his own records and his own briefings that this was likely going to be a gray zone and

00:22:18.040 likely harm a lot of members in his own military.

00:22:21.600 And he was even advised against doing it, which most people don't know.

00:22:25.660 But he still went ahead and did it anyways.

00:22:28.580 And even after it was proven that this was a human rights abuse, he has yet to come out

00:22:32.740 and apologize.

00:22:33.280 And if he's wondering why folks don't want to stay in and folks are just not wanting

00:22:37.240 to join, things like this matter.

00:22:39.660 They really matter.

00:22:40.760 And you can pretend that you are a wartime general that are looking after the troops,

00:22:44.900 that we need procurement, we need more missiles and bombs, but you're not going to get the

00:22:49.280 personnel in if they don't trust you.

00:22:51.040 And the lack of trust, I think, is the biggest issue.

00:22:53.800 And that's why I think he's one of the worst chief of defense staffs we've seen since likely

00:22:58.620 the 80s and 90s.

00:22:59.760 But it's like a broken record.

00:23:01.200 We keep on seeing, I'm getting old enough now, I'm in my 40s.

00:23:03.980 I remember a time when we had the same issues.

00:23:06.900 Housing was a disaster.

00:23:08.260 Pay was a disaster.

00:23:09.980 Guys were living out of their cars.

00:23:12.060 How did we get back to the exact same point?

00:23:14.960 I just don't understand how leadership continually fails here in this country.

00:23:18.420 And that's what's so frustrating for me and a lot of folks in the veteran community.

00:23:22.780 Part of the whole call for there to be a chief of culture change, if you want to call

00:23:28.960 it that, that was Karen Yon's position. 0.86

00:23:31.200 Was that there was a string of senior military leaders who were basically kicked out of their

00:23:37.380 positions on allegations of abuse, sexual assault, and the like.

00:23:42.460 Many have been thrown out.

00:23:44.460 Many of those who were alleged to have committed misconduct have now settled outside of court

00:23:49.060 and basically won their cases.

00:23:52.440 How has that impacted the leadership class in the military?

00:23:58.080 Because we've seen Denny Fortin face issues like this.

00:24:01.960 Even earlier, outside of the sexual misconduct story, we saw Admiral Mark Norman go down as well.

00:24:09.080 And there's been one after another, it seems.

00:24:10.960 But talk to us more about that.

00:24:12.860 Because to me, when I look at that, I'm seeing a whole class of leaders in the military be

00:24:19.100 taken out and then proven right after the fact.

00:24:21.960 Yeah.

00:24:24.140 I mean, this is such a, this is such a hot button topic because I think the powers of VB knew exactly

00:24:35.660 what they were doing.

00:24:36.720 I think they were weaponizing this whole process.

00:24:39.320 It's unfortunate.

00:24:40.440 And I have a very close friend that's even involved in this as well.

00:24:44.720 And it's character assassination.

00:24:47.520 And all it's done is just completely eviscerate morale even more.

00:24:51.840 And the, the worrisome thing to me is that what they've done is they've created the conditions

00:24:56.460 for the actual predators to thrive.

00:24:59.080 And it's not saying that there isn't sexual assaults that happen in the military.

00:25:03.940 And I think that's where most people, if they listen to my opinion, think, oh, well,

00:25:07.340 he's just on the side of the, you know, the, the abusers, not at all.

00:25:11.960 We have a system that addresses it.

00:25:14.160 Now the investigation is a whole other, whole other kettle of fish.

00:25:17.580 I think we do a terrible job here in the Canadian armed forces, but that's not really something

00:25:22.700 I'm well versed in.

00:25:23.720 However, in terms of what we've done in the witch hunts against our general staff, I don't

00:25:29.880 know who would want to be a general at this point.

00:25:32.200 And I think all it's done is, is it's, it's shut a lot of generals up.

00:25:36.540 It's shut a lot of veterans who were generals up because they're fearful.

00:25:41.400 And this is coming from, again, Philip Miller, who basically called it right out.

00:25:46.100 They're petrified of saying anything contrary to the status quo.

00:25:51.140 And it reminds me of, I read Gulag Archipelago, thanks to Jordan Peterson's recommendation.

00:25:56.760 And there's a part of the book where it really stood out where the mayor, he was holding a

00:26:02.420 mandatory town hall, the commissars there, the communist parties there, they're in the

00:26:07.280 middle of a famine.

00:26:08.400 And they had to applaud the great work that the communist party has done to feed the masses,

00:26:15.100 but they're literally starving.

00:26:16.820 And they, they all have to stand up and applaud.

00:26:18.200 And he knows nobody can sit down because if anybody sits down, they're going to be taken

00:26:22.340 off to the Gulags. 0.78

00:26:23.720 And ladies are falling down. 1.00

00:26:25.260 The weak are falling down because they're getting exhausted.

00:26:27.060 It's a hot day.

00:26:27.620 They're clapping for minutes, which is a lifetime.

00:26:30.180 So he says, I'm putting it into this.

00:26:31.680 He sits down and then they grab him and throw him in the Gulag.

00:26:34.500 That's what I think is happening right now.

00:26:37.200 Folks are so petrified of the ruling party that they will be taken off to the metaphorical

00:26:42.820 Gulag that they're not willing to stand up.

00:26:45.720 I get so many messages with folks that are in like, Hey Dave, I wish I could speak up.

00:26:50.200 I wish I could say more.

00:26:51.880 Well, you know what?

00:26:53.200 I have no sympathy for them because they got to stand up.

00:26:55.920 They got to say something when they see it.

00:26:58.540 I mean, I used to do a lot of training in Petawawa and for the RCR, they have plastered

00:27:04.620 everywhere, never pass a fault.

00:27:07.200 That stuck with me, but it's like our culture today is pass every fault, look down, don't

00:27:12.380 pay attention.

00:27:13.500 And I think that's what they purposely did to the general staff and to the GOFO officers.

00:27:17.880 And now we're just seeing it exist within the entire Canadian Armed Forces.

00:27:21.680 And I think it's going to take decades to kind of build things back up.

00:27:24.680 Talk to me now about the state of veterans affairs in Canada.

00:27:28.500 It's not something that gets a lot of attention in the mainstream media or at a political level,

00:27:33.660 but I think it should.

00:27:35.300 And some of the stories we've read recently have been just disgraceful.

00:27:39.940 I'm thinking in particular about veterans being offered MAID for services instead of actually

00:27:45.420 medical attention.

00:27:46.660 You're a veteran.

00:27:47.720 I know you're part of the veterans community as well.

00:27:50.000 How has the government over the past, well, they've been in, they've been in power now

00:27:53.400 for close to nine, close to 10 years, really.

00:27:55.780 How have they handled veterans affairs?

00:27:59.640 Resounding failure.

00:28:01.020 Like that is the best way I can describe it.

00:28:05.220 There are lots of veterans that need help.

00:28:08.240 A lot of veterans, they don't seek it out.

00:28:10.560 I think the last study showed that only about 20 to 25% of veterans that actually would qualify

00:28:15.260 for benefits, apply for them.

00:28:17.660 I was part of that, you know, 75% that wouldn't apply for benefits.

00:28:21.940 I didn't think I deserved it.

00:28:23.020 Plus I didn't want to deal with veterans affairs.

00:28:24.780 I was so fed up with the military when I left that I wanted nothing to do with the whole

00:28:28.600 system.

00:28:29.720 I realized now they're two very different systems, but overall we're failing veterans

00:28:34.220 at a massive, massive level.

00:28:36.460 I mean, again, it all comes down to trust.

00:28:38.320 Our entire system revolves around trust.

00:28:40.500 When I started getting wind in chat groups that some of the guys had friends that were

00:28:47.420 offered made, I laughed.

00:28:49.260 I was like, no, that doesn't make any sense.

00:28:50.680 Okay.

00:28:50.880 Like somebody's pulling my leg and then slowly, but surely, no, this is actually a thing.

00:28:56.460 And so I dismissed it as a one-off, an individual of veterans affairs that's out of their mind.

00:29:02.380 But it turns out there's a few more and then there's a few more and, oh, this seems like

00:29:07.120 it's policy and now it's starting to look clearer and clearer that in order to ensure

00:29:14.760 that they have a robust system that's well understood and well implemented, they're using

00:29:19.660 veterans as their test group.

00:29:21.360 And I can't think of a more disgusting thing to do as a country.

00:29:24.880 And I only really started getting peaked to this because I have a friend who's in the UK

00:29:29.240 that learned about this before I did.

00:29:32.080 So that tells you something about the amount of media coverage that we get here in Canada

00:29:35.980 on these issues.

00:29:37.600 And, you know, just having been through the system for so long, you know, 14 years, I'm

00:29:41.820 just fed up dealing with the bureaucracy.

00:29:44.140 There's so many different layers of bureaucracy and compensation programs that it's mind boggling.

00:29:49.920 And I truly think that the intent is just to confuse you and demoralize you.

00:29:54.240 So you just give up.

00:29:55.420 So that's why I have the show.

00:29:57.040 That's why I try to put the message out as much as possible.

00:29:59.560 Stick with it.

00:30:00.260 Don't give up.

00:30:00.900 There's plenty of folks that will do things for free pro bono to help get your paperwork

00:30:04.700 in, but the system shouldn't be this way.

00:30:07.480 There are some good people that are trying to make some changes, but ultimately they're

00:30:11.040 bogged down by a government and a bureaucracy that I think is structured on purpose to deny

00:30:17.400 you any benefit.

00:30:18.700 Because ultimately I think the government would prefer a dead veteran than a veteran like

00:30:22.680 myself that speaks up because we are a genuine threat to their power.

00:30:26.180 Because guys like myself, I can't get canceled.

00:30:28.580 I can't get canceled.

00:30:30.420 So I know what goes on.

00:30:33.960 I talk to people that know what's going on and I'm not afraid to speak up.

00:30:38.160 And I think that is the sleeping giant that they've awoken with this.

00:30:41.980 And I can't wait for more veterans to start advocating and start getting in the face of 0.79

00:30:45.700 the government and making sure that we get our needs and our coverage for injuries incurred

00:30:53.040 during our careers.

00:30:53.760 It's just, it's only common sense.

00:30:56.360 And if there's a group in Canada that is deserving of it the most, it's certainly the veterans

00:30:59.760 community.

00:31:00.640 Dave, before I let you go, can you talk to us more about the Hard to Kill podcast and where

00:31:04.140 Canadians can find your work?

00:31:06.600 Yeah, absolutely.

00:31:07.440 Thanks, Harrison.

00:31:08.040 Really appreciate that.

00:31:09.380 So the Hard to Kill podcast, the go-to podcast for fitness, health, and mindset for the veteran

00:31:14.400 community and military community.

00:31:16.100 I've been hosting it for about five years.

00:31:18.220 And every week I go live on YouTube and drop an episode with a guest that is an expert

00:31:24.680 in the field.

00:31:25.880 And we have great conversations about all things fitness and health.

00:31:29.320 You can find me on your favorite podcast player.

00:31:32.860 Just type in the Hard to Kill podcast with Dave Morrow.

00:31:36.640 You can also find me on YouTube at the Hard to Kill podcast.

00:31:40.540 Amazing.

00:31:41.220 And a link to the podcast on YouTube, as well as Apple Music, you can find in the description

00:31:46.000 of this video.

00:31:47.200 Dave, thank you so much for joining us on the show today.

00:31:49.680 Absolutely.

00:31:50.120 It was a pleasure.

00:31:50.620 Thank you.

Juno News - July 24, 2024

Who is Canada’s new Chief of Defence Staff General Jennie Carignan？

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript