Madam Chair and committee, thank you for having me. It's a true privilege to be here today.
Before I begin, I want to recognize something that isn't often said in rooms like this: Thank you for your pursuit of continuous improvement and getting informed opinions from veterans across Canada. It is really important to help inform continuous improvement.
Within the forces, soldiers share a lot of experiences. I feel the same thing happens on the outside, whether through entrepreneurial pursuits, retirement or other reasons. Sometimes in forums like this, it can be difficult to share new information or new experiences that can reflect that, so I want to take a little turn and really look toward the future.
We live in an unprecedented time economically, militarily and geopolitically, and we're looking to set the stage of these influential policies for future veterans as a result of the experiences that current soldiers will be facing over the next 20 to 30 years. For that, I'd like to share a bit of the context of my own journey.
I joined the Canadian Armed Forces when I was 17. That decision has shaped everything in my life since. My service was unique. It was at the outset of the global war on terror. I spent 13 years of my career with Canadian Special Operations, which had me deploy multiple times to multiple places.
I loved all of it. I had a fantastic military career. I owe a lot to the people I met and the relationships that were forged. My career was defined by genuine hardships and risks, but measurable impact at the same time. I consider all of that as feeding my current journey into private business and entrepreneurship.
One of the greatest strengths of that career, as I mentioned, was an organic network of friends, colleagues and mentors who formed around it. That network provided support during deployments, transition and entrepreneurship that no formal program could ever offer. I'm sure many of my colleagues and veterans would echo that. Associations such as the Blackstone Association and the Alliance of Canadian Defence Companies have created additional communities—like Joe is running as well—and are building them in the private sector for veterans to reach out to and help enable.
I'm married. I have two daughters. Every decision I made in uniform and every decision since then has been shaped by the support I've received from them. They embody everything I care about and everything that is Canada. Our families are extended by the bonds we formed within the service. As I mentioned, those networks run very deep.
Since leaving the Canadian Armed Forces six and a half years ago, I have dedicated my professional life to building a career serving organizations that connect military experience to civilian life, including BurnPits360 Canada and BurnPits360 U.S., a U.S. organization that forged the PACT Act, which is a U.S. veteran fund for toxic exposure. I've also worked with Blackstone Association and Erase PTSD Now by Dr. Eugene Lipov, who is advancing such approaches as stellate ganglion block and procedures to support veteran health care.
Today, I am a team member on the Military Casualty Support Foundation, which is run by the family that runs IMT Corporation, one of Canada's premier defence companies. I'm also the founder and CEO of the Arctic Training Centre, a northern Arctic-based training facility privately owned to help fill the gaps of not only the CAF but also our NATO allies.
What we're often asked when coming into this—I know I was when I shared my invitation with my currently serving colleagues and some of the ones who are retired—is “Why?” What's the effect we are looking to achieve through policy, education, information and changes? Well, I propose to the committee that a flourishing veteran is the single most powerful recruiting tool Canada has. When veterans are visible in our communities, in business and in public life, they attract others to service. I don't think anybody here needs a reminder of how important that is in today's world. When veterans disappear into silence, or struggle without support, we actually lose an edge as a country.
In that spirit, through this conversation I'll be contributing points around the education and training benefit; the veterans' employment market, which is building the current defence industrial base, in large part; and the future veteran, as I mentioned. The future soldier will become a future veteran. They will come to the civilian market with a new set of skills and a new view on the strategic landscape Canada sits in.
Thank you.