ARCHIVED - Loreena McKennitt formally invested as honorary colonel of the Air Staff and RCAF

News Article / January 23, 2015

By Joanna Calder

“Democracy does not thrive as a spectator sport.”

Singer. Songwriter. Musician. International recording star. Philanthropist. And now honorary colonel of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Honorary Colonel Loreena McKennitt and Lieutenant-General Yvan Blondin, commander of the RCAF, signed the official “assumption of appointment” documents investing her and confirming her position as honorary colonel of the Air Force on January 21, 2015, in Ottawa, Ontario.

“I am delighted to be standing before you today as the honorary colonel of the Royal Canadian Air Force,” said Honorary Colonel McKennitt. “And I’m certainly honoured and humbled to be so welcomed into such a distinguished family.”

She was appointed to the position by the Minister of National Defence in August 2014 and received her appointment scroll from Governor General David Johnston on September 5, 2014, during the RCAF’s honorary colonels conference in Quebec City.

“On behalf of Canadians, I thank you,” Honorary Colonel McKennitt told the assembled members of the Air Staff during the investiture ceremony. “There can be no nobler a calling than that of serving others. I am reminded of Cicero’s words which were so famously adopted in the inaugural speech of John F. Kennedy: ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country’. And those words ring as relevant today as they did in Cicero’s time – and you answered the call.

“During the several years I held the role as honorary colonel of 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, I had the privilege of learning about and being exposed to a great deal of what you do and how you do it….

“I have learned of the many of compromises and sacrifices you and your families quietly incur as you go about your daily duties…. I have been in utter awe of the sophistication of your training, your capacity for leadership and your devotion to humanity and the common good.

“I accepted the role of honorary colonel largely inspired by the belief that democracy does not thrive as a spectator sport,” she continued. “That if we care about the democracy we live in, we all need to do our part to preserve it.

“As Canadians, we are deeply privileged to have some of the finest men and women serving our country and the international community,” she said. “Around, behind and beside them are some of the most remarkable families you will find anywhere. As citizens we owe them all our duty of care.”

Honorary Colonel McKennitt is officially the honorary colonel of the Air Staff, which is located at National Defence Headquarters, as the Royal Canadian Air Force is not a “unit” of the Canadian Armed Forces in the way that a wing or squadron or school is a unit. The members of the Air Staff support the commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force and provide advice and assistance in developing policies, plans and programs.

“Although she is honorary colonel of the Air Staff,” explained Colonel (retired) David Peart, special advisor to the commander of the RCAF, “she is recognized as the honorary colonel of the entire RCAF, and takes an interest in all RCAF matters.

“It was fortuitous that her appointment scroll could be presented in Quebec City among the other RCAF honorary colonels to herald the fact that she is now honorary colonel of the RCAF as a whole,” he continued. “Today is her introduction to her unit here in Ottawa and the formalization of her appointment.”

“This is just fantastic,” said Lieutenant-General Yvan Blondin in his remarks following the signing of the appointment documents. He recounted that he first met Honorary Colonel McKennitt in Winnipeg when he was commander of 1 Canadian Air Division and she was honorary colonel of 435 Squadron. One evening, he attended a dinner at which she was the guest speaker. “I heard Loreena McKennitt speak about me, about us in uniform, about my family… She connected with people [and] I was impressed.”

Then, a few years later, he and his wife attended one of her concerts in Ottawa. “Right in the middle of the show she stopped singing and started talking to the crowd … about ‘us’. About her family. About ordinary Canadians doing this job – and people were touched.”

Last year, at the same time that he was considering who should be invited to become honorary colonel of the Air Force, a letter, thanking Honorary Colonel McKennitt for her service with 435 Squadron, was waiting for his signature.

“I remembered the way she spoke and the way people listened to her,” he continued. “So I put an ‘X’ on the letter and wrote on the bottom, ‘Dear Loreena, would you become my Air Force honorary colonel?’”

Lieutenant-General Blondin continued by saying that most people think of sleek, modern machines when they think of the Air Force, but that each aircraft needs dozens if not hundreds of Air Force people to support it. And all of those people have families who make sacrifices because of the postings, deployments, risks, and day-to-day routine of working in the Canadian Armed Forces.

“Family is air force business and having Loreena beside me as we push the issues regarding families – that for me is one of the best things we can be doing with honorary colonels [such as Honorary Colonel McKennitt].”

“On behalf of all of us in the Air Force thank you for the way you speak, the way you make people see what we do, and the way you put our families in front of Canadians,” he said to Honorary Colonel McKennitt.

“Thank you and welcome to the RCAF.”

After signing the appointment documents, Honorary Colonel McKennitt joined Lieutenant-General Blondin and Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Young, the chief warrant officer of the RCAF, for her first official duty as honorary colonel: presenting decorations and awards to members of the Air Staff. Among the presentations were several Canadian Forces Decorations for long and distinguished service and commendations from the commander of the RCAF, the commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, and the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff.