Overview
- Canada nominated its Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Jennie Carignan, to run for Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Defence Minister David McGuinty said.
- The chair is NATO’s most senior military officer and serves as the principal military adviser to Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
- Allies plan to choose the next chair at a Copenhagen conference in September 2026, with Germany fielding Gen. Carsten Breuer.
- Carignan will continue to lead the Canadian Armed Forces during the campaign and would leave that post if she wins.
- A victory would make her the first woman to hold the role and the first Canadian to do so since 2008.