General John de Chastelain, OC
Former Chief of the Defence Staff
Canadian Armed Forces
will be addressing the Vancouver Institute on October 31, 2009 at 8:15 p.m., Lecture Hall No. 2 in the Woodward Instructional Resources Centre, University of British Columbia.
General de Chastelain has had a distinguished military career: as Deputy Chief of Staff of the United Nations Force in Cyprus, Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada, Commander of the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Germany, and Director General Land Doctrine and Operations at National Defence Headquarters. In 1989, he was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff, and four years later became Canada’s Ambassador to the United States. Since November 1995, General de Chastelain has been involved in the Northern Ireland peace process and has been Chairman of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, which is responsible for ensuring the decommissioning of arms by paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. He was a recipient of the Vimy Award, which recognizes those who have made a significant and outstanding contribution to the defence and security of Canada and the preservation of its democratic values.
