Rick Hillier
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General Richard "Rick" J. Hillier, CMM, MSC, CD, BSc (born 1955), is the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Forces.
Born and raised in Campbellton, Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland, he graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He is an honorary member of the Royal Military College of Canada, student # S148.
He was posted to his first regiment, the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) in Petawawa, Ontario, and subsequently to the Royal Canadian Dragoons. He has also served as a staff officer at Force Mobile Command Headquarters at CFB St. Hubert in Montreal, and at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, and (in 1998) as Deputy Commanding General of III Armoured Corps of the United States Army, at Fort Hood, Texas. In January 1998, while still at NDHQ, he commanded Operation Recuperation, the Canadian Forces intervention in the paralyzing ice storm in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.
He was named Chief of the Land Staff, commanding the Canadian army, on May 30, 2003. Previously, he had commanded the Multinational Division (Southwest) in Bosnia-Herzegovina; after his stint as CLS and before being appointed CDS, he commanded the NATO ISAF in Afghanistan from February 9 to August 12, 2004, bringing to this role his support for what is known as Canada's "3-D" approach to security – defence, diplomacy, and development.
Loquacious, personable and sometimes blunt, Hillier is noted for his public calls for increased resources for the Canadian Forces. In 2003, when he was appointed Chief of the Land Staff, he said, "Any commander who would stand up here and say that we didn't need more soldiers should be tarred and feathered and rode out of town on a rail."
On February 4, 2005, he became Chief of the Defence Staff. At the change-of-command ceremony he repeated his call, more broadly, for increased military funding. "In this country, we could probably not give enough resources to the men and women to do all the things that we ask them to do," he said, with Prime Minister Paul Martin and Defence Minister Bill Graham looking on. "But we can give them too little, and that is what we are now doing. Remember them in your budgets." In his willingness to talk openly and for the record about money in general, and the Defence budget in particular, Hillier is a most unusual Chief of the Defence Staff.
Since his appointment, Hillier has maintained a very high profile, frequently talking with the media and arguing his case for defence planning. He has been called the most prominent Chief of the Defence Staff in decades.
His official biography notes self-effacingly that "Gen Hillier enjoys most recreational pursuits, but, in particular, runs slowly, plays hockey poorly and golfs not well at all."
He is married and has two sons.
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| Preceded by: Raymond Henault |
Chief of the Defence Staff 2005- |
Succeeded by: Incumbent |
