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Domestic Stories REAR ADMIRAL GIROUARD TO COMMAND MARITIME FORCES PACIFICESQUIMALT, B.C. — Rear Admiral Roger Girouard will hand-over command of Canadian Fleet Pacific (CANFLTPAC) to Commodore Bruce Donaldson on Friday, and will accept command of Maritime Forces Pacific (MARPAC) from Vice-Admiral Jean Yves Forcier on Monday, July 25. The appointment of Vice-Admiral Forcier as the first commander of the newly created Canada Command was announced recently. The turnovers will take place in two separate and very different ceremonies as follows:
The CANFLTPAC change of command will happen Friday at 11 a.m. when Rear Admiral Girouard returns to Esquimalt aboard the flagship HMCS Algonquin, which is presently involved in a three-ship task group exercise. The short ceremony will occur under ‘operational’ conditions with the ship’s company, the ceremony principals, the Naden Band and military spectators wearing naval combat dress. The new commander, Commodore Donaldson, will return to sea in Algonquin to lead the task group through to the end of the exercise July 29. CANFLTPAC is the seagoing arm of MARPAC. It includes all ships, deployable naval units and assigned maritime aircraft under a single commander reporting to the Commander MARPAC. Commodore Donaldson was most recently the Commanding Officer of HMCS Athabaskan and previously Director General Maritime Forces Development at National Defence Headquarters.
On Monday, July 25, Her Excellency, the Governor General and Commander in Chief of the Canadian Forces, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson will witness the change of command for MARPAC with the Chief of the Maritime Staff, Vice-Admiral Bruce MacLean. The ceremony, complete with the Naden Band and a 100 person Guard of Honour, will take place at 10:30 a.m. on A-Jetty in HMC Dockyard, and will see Rear Admiral Girouard relieve Vice-Admiral Forcier. Guests will include federal, provincial and municipal political leaders, members of First Nations, Victoria area business leaders, as well as current and former serving members of the U.S. and Canadian militaries and Coast Guards.
The MARPAC Commander controls Canadian maritime forces in the Pacific and is responsible for National Search and Rescue responses throughout B.C. and the Yukon. Military changes of command ceremonies recognize that ‘the profession of arms’ is unlike any other occupation. In a democracy, a Commander is responsible, at the direction of the Government, for military operations that may put the lives of the nation’s sailors, soldiers and airmen in harm’s way.
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