By Dr. Ann Griffiths, 19 July 2024
History is being made. Today General Jennie Carignan took over command of the Canadian Armed Forces as Canada’s first female Chief of the Defence Staff. She trained as a combat engineer, and has had much experience over her years in the CAF. For example, she served in Bosnia to help clear explosive ordnance leftover from wars in the region, became the first Canadian woman to command a combat arms unit, led the Task Force Kandahar Engineer Regiment in Afghanistan, and commanded the NATO training mission in Iraq in 2020. Most recently she served as the Chief of Professional Conduct and Culture in the CAF.
She takes over at a time of great challenge for the CAF. Not only is the military experiencing significant personnel shortages, it is still dealing with the fallout of the sexual misconduct crisis. As well, all three branches of the military are desperate for new equipment while a glacially slow procurement process tries to cope with a multitude of projects and financial constraints. Plus, the world is an increasingly dark and dangerous place, Canada’s NATO allies are not happy with Canada’s slow pace toward the 2% of GDP defence spending commitment, and Canada’s best friend and neighbour may elect a President in November who will be difficult to deal with. These are all matters that will be on the agenda of the new CDS.
Some people have suggested that General Carignan has been set up to fail – i.e., she’s been placed on a ‘glass cliff’ whereby women are allowed to break the glass ceiling only to be given a job in which the problems are so significant that she is bound to fail.[1] This seems needlessly negative. The problems existed and would have to be addressed regardless of who took over the position. General Carignan is a capable and committed woman. I don’t see her set up to fail -- I look forward to seeing her succeed.
[1] See Sarah Ritchie, “What’s ahead for Canada’s first female defence chief? Observers warn of ‘glass cliff,’” The Canadian Press, 17 July 2024.
