National Defence committee  Good afternoon, Madam Chair, honourable members. Thank you for the opportunity to appear today alongside Major-General Paul and my colleagues from Global Affairs Canada to provide you with up-to-date information on Operation Impact. I commend the committee for wanting to learn

National Defence committee  In terms of protection and ground air defence, all our bases in Iraq are protected by the U.S. We are looking at possibly consolidating our bases, but I can assure you that every base has air defence protection, and beyond every base, the tactical sector has some protection, more

National Defence committee  No. To my knowledge, there have been no cases of traumatic brain injuries among Canadian Armed Forces personnel. However, it should be pointed out that our people in Erbil were not as close to the explosions as they would have been at Ain al-Asad air base, for example.

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. Even before the attacks, we made adjustments on the ground, because we had information suggesting the possibility of an attack. After the attacks, we took other measures, and we will actually maintain some of them forever, or for as long as we are th

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. The short answer is no. When we joined the coalition, we became dependent in various ways, to some extent, but we are mostly dependent on the United States. In terms of basic communication systems, of course we have our own systems, but the architec

National Defence committee  The special forces, both from Canada and elsewhere, are working with the Iraqi forces to contain what's left of Daesh. It's no longer a coherent military force with its own territory as it was in 2014-15. It is a group of people trying to lead an insurgency. So the job of special

National Defence committee  From the ground up, if you will, the scope has not changed. The essential fabric of the mandate is absolutely as it was, and that is to stabilize the region, to improve security, to assist with other partners in inclusive governance and to isolate and counter the VEO threat. From

National Defence committee  In my headquarters, we've put an emphasis on our ability to measure and adjust, and we're wrapping our heads around exactly what that means. I am hopeful that in the next six months we'll start to see the fruit of some of that renewed focus, not just focusing on the execution but

National Defence committee  From my perspective, with regard to the forces I command in Iraq, there's no material impact to the business we're doing in Iraq because of what's happening in Idlib. At the operational level, I am not feeling that at this time.

National Defence committee  I would just disagree a little with the premise of the question in the sense that these are not the first casualties the U.S. has taken in the fight against Daesh. There have been troops killed in action before this. I think it just broke in the open press a couple of hours ago t

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. Mr. Robillard, we have sent some troops back to Canada. Even though there were troops who had two weeks left on normal rotations, they were sent back to Canada and told that it was over. The troops that were supposed to replace those troops were kep

National Defence committee  Major-General Carignan is the commander of the NATO training mission in Iraq. Like Major-General Fortin before her, she commands all NATO forces working in Iraq to carry out the NATO mission in Iraq. She is a tactical commander of the approximately 100 forces working in Iraq. Tha

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. It's an excellent question. I've been doing this going on 33 years and I've never once asked a group of soldiers if they're lacking anything and had them mute and not say anything. As the operational commander, my job is to ensure I'm giving viable

National Defence committee  That would all be expressed, for example, in the supplementary estimates that come forward and whatnot, so your full support in the supplementary estimates would be....

National Defence committee  No, there's nothing, sir, that I could say today that we would need.