Jennie Carignan remains firm against the Americans on the place of women in the army

Photo: Sean Kilpatrick The Canadian Press Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff Jennie Carignan testifies in the House of Commons during a committee hearing on veterans in Ottawa, Oct. 31, 2024.

Michael Tutton – The Canadian Press in Halifax

Published at 1:56 p.m. Updated at 4:29 p.m.

• Canada

Canada’s top general has firmly rejected the idea of ​​removing women from combat roles — a position promoted by President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defence secretary — at a security forum in Halifax this weekend.

General Jennie Carignan, the chief of the defence staff, was responding to comments made by Republican Sen. James Risch on Friday about Peter Hegseth’s opposition to women in combat units.

Asked about Hegseth’s views, the Idaho senator told the roughly 300 delegates that the “jury is still out” on how to handle the “unique situations” that women in combat create. He added that it was ultimately up to the U.S. military to decide.

Carignan took a few minutes to respond to comments at the start of a panel on how Western militaries are responding to the challenge posed by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Her audience included a number of women in uniform.

“I would not want anyone to leave this forum with the idea that women are a distraction to national defense and security,” the general said.

“After 39 years as a combat arms officer and having risked my life in numerous operations around the world, I cannot believe that in 2024 we still have to justify the contributions of women … in service to their country,” she said to a standing ovation.

Mr. Hegseth, a former military officer who is a regular commentator on Fox News, has said in his book and in interviews that he believes men and women should not serve together in combat units.

On November 7, he said on a US podcast that the presence of women in combat roles has not made units more effective or more lethal, and “has made combat more complicated.” Mr. Hegseth also said that women have a place in the military, but not in special operations, artillery, infantry and armored units.

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Mr. Hegseth’s position was brought up during Friday’s “conversation” between Mr. Risch and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen on the conference’s opening panel. Mr. Risch is the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and said on the panel that he considers Donald Trump a friend.

Ms. Shaheen took a different position from Mr. Risch, saying, “If women feel that they can’t fully participate in our United States military and take on combat roles, that’s going to impact the women who join our military.” »

Major Anna Novak, a member of the Ukrainian armed forces who heard Ms. Carignan speak on Saturday, said women play a vital role in her country's combat units.

The head of logistics for a motorized brigade, who also served in combat units, said, “I know women who are very successful in their combat tasks,” adding that she knows at least 50 women who operate drones against the Russian invaders.

“A lot of women join because they want to protect what matters most in their lives,” she said in an interview.

During other roundtable discussions, several speakers said the world has become a more dangerous place as authoritarian states have united to support Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

In her opening remarks, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly explained that Russia’s ability to invade Ukraine existed “only because of China’s material support, Iran’s missiles and drones, and North Korean troops.”

A recurring theme of the meeting was that if Ukraine fails to prevail against Russia, other states will be emboldened to violate the territorial integrity of democracies, whether through China’s threats against Taiwan or China’s and Russia’s growing territorial claims in the Arctic.

During a roundtable discussion on the Arctic, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair noted that Chinese ships were mapping the seabed and gathering intelligence in Arctic waters.

During the same session, U.S. Coast Guard Commander Admiral Linda Fagan said there had been “a sea change” in Chinese and Russian presence in the Arctic.

“Until last summer, there was only one Chinese research vessel expected to be in the Arctic; last summer, there were five.”

The conference also heard from advocates who have tried to resist repression in non-democratic countries.

The day’s opening panel was moderated by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled opposition leader from Belarus, who described her struggles four years after a 2020 presidential election widely denounced as fraudulent.

The Eastern European country has maintained many restrictions and policies dating back to the days of the Soviet Union and is often called the continent’s last dictatorship. Ms Tsikhanouskaya said she estimates that around 500,000 Belarusians are currently living in exile.

She added that the pain felt by her people drives her to fight on their behalf, and that after years of knocking on the doors of Western democratic leaders, she sometimes achieves success.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya cited the example of Lithuania, which agreed in September to bring charges of crimes against humanity against the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.