Liz Hoffman Memorial Commendation Ceremony videos

Good morning. Bonjour.

Senior military and department officials, award recipients, and special guests. Welcome. Bienvenue.

Just before I get into the actual words written for me, I have to go off script.

This is the fun part of my job. But particularly for the advisory council, Doctor Hoffman, and myself, this is also the most difficult parts of my job. Because for me, I want to recognize everyone and particularly the nominations that we receive. I mean, I think the number was over 70, if I remember the number properly. That’s the difficult part of our job. One of the things Dr. Hoffman does is keep me grounded, in terms of the memory of her mother. And that we make sure that the people we recognize as much as possible commemorates the work not only of the present organization, but particularly of Liz Hoffman, who this commendation is named after. 

I am delighted you could join us in person, particularly delighted you could join us in person, or virtually on Zoom to recognize excellence within the Defence community. There is no better way to recognize excellence than by honoring individuals who have gone above and beyond their regular duties in seeking out positive resolutions to difficult and many times, often complex situations.

Over the past four years, I have had the opportunity to meet with various constituency groups, including families, reservist and regular members, ex-military personnel and civilian employees. I have seen first-hand the incredible work being done by and for Canada's defence community.

When I was first appointed, I spoke of what an honour it is to support those who have served, those who support our members today, and those who continue to put their lives at risk.  And today, particularly Andrea and myself, we are honoured to have the opportunity to recognize today’s award recipients.

Let me first say a few words about the Liz Hoffman Memorial Commendation. And I know that Andrew will also continue this part as well. The importance of the award is signified by the fact it is named after a former Ombudsman investigator. Many of you knew her.  Liz Hoffman was passionate absolutely about fairness and dedicated to finding resolution in conflict.

To our award recipients, you were nominated by your peers to receive special recognition for your dedicated efforts in going above and beyond your regular duties in seeking out positive resolutions to difficult and complex situations. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, we are happy to be able to recognize your achievements in person. I’m really happy to see you in person.

We received numerous nominations from the Defence community, a significant number of which provided compelling justifications. However, the Ombudsman's Advisory Committee has very strict criteria for nominations.

And finally for Andrea and myself, Andrea is even more strict than me. And that is very appropriate.

I must say, I am truly honoured to be able to recognize the outstanding individuals joining us today.  And I hope we all have an opportunity later on to give a personal thanks to those we are honouring today.

Thank you so much. I’m grateful to be here today with the DND/CAF Ombudsman’s Office awarding these honours to our most deserving recipients. Today’s ceremony is extra special to me for two important reasons. The first has already been mentioned by others, that we’re back in person celebrating together. We have all experienced the many challenges of the past few years and I no longer take for granted the opportunity to see people in person, to be together, and to celebrate special moments together as a community. Today, I am grateful that we can come together to honour our award recipients. As Mr. Lick has said, the Liz Hoffman Memorial Commendation is named in honour of my mother, Katherine Elizabeth Nutter Hoffman, or Liz. The naming of this award in her honour was such an amazing gift to our family. 

Of course it was a testament to her accomplishments, given that she was a pioneer and a trailblazer in the world of Ombudsman. The fact that the award recognizes people who have shown excellence in conflict resolution or bringing about positive and lasting change, would make my mother proud. Before acknowledging our award recipients, I would like to take a moment to provide some background about why this award was named in my mother’s honour, and to share how Liz Hoffman provided leadership, service and commitment at the local, provincial, national and global level. It was my mother’s sense of fairness and social justice that initially lead her to a career as an Ombudsperson. The majority of her career was spent as an Ombudsman at several prominent colleges and universities, including the University of Toronto, the Toronto Metropolitan University previously known as Ryerson, and the Ontario College of Art and Design. She then transitioned to the role of senior investigator with the DND/CAF Ombudsman’s office. She worked among equally motivated colleagues who felt as passionately about the work as she did. Together, they helped to carve out the mandate and the scope of the office so that it would be meaningful and impactful in order to help to support the DND/CAF community as a whole.

But her commitment extended outside of her work, and she was just as busy volunteering and serving on countless committees. To name a few, she was a founding member and a past president to the Association of Canadian College and University Ombudspersons. She was also a founding member of the Form of Canadian Ombudsmen and remained actively involved as a member of their board. For over 20 years, she volunteered to keep the public library system strong, and was the past president of the Ontario Public Library Association. She was a committee chair to the Development of Winnipeg’s Millennium Library, a member of the executive committee of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, a member of the board of directors for the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education, a member of the federal government’s national community access program advisory board, a member of the federal government’s information highway advisory council, and founding chair of Canada’s Coalition for public information. Her contributions were recognized by commendations by both the Prime Minister and the Governor General of Canada, among many others.

But most people who knew her were never aware of this long list of accomplishments. Instead they knew her as an avid reader. She loved to curl up with a good book at the cottage with her dog Oscar and spend the day reading and drinking tea. She loved movies, film festivals, and most of all, movie theatre popcorn. She was an active member of her local community, catching a baseball game, live theatre or a festival in the park. But her favourite activity was connecting with friends and family, watching a friend play hockey, attending a neighbour’s dance recital, or catching up over tea and chocolate. And in the end, what made my mother great, was the kind of person that she was and how she made people feel when they were with her. She had a strong sense of right and wrong, and lived by the values of hard work, fairness, dedication, loyalty, going above and beyond to help others. She was a kind and thoughtful person and always listened in a way that made you feel heard. Many people have described her as a mentor, a role model, an inspiration, and a tremendous force for positive change.

It’s an honour to present at this ceremony each year. It’s a gift to meet, to see and to speak with people who knew my mother and worked alongside her. And that brings me to the second reason why today’s ceremony is particularly meaningful to me. My mother’s best friend, and fellow Ombudsman extraordinaire, Suzanne Belson, is here with us today. Suzanne and my mother worked tirelessly together partnering on projects, supporting one another, in professional and personal endeavours. She acted as a trusting sounding board and most importantly, a dear friend. Many of my mother’s accomplishments are thanks to her collaboration with Suzanne. I want to thank Suzanne for being here today and for being such an incredibly important person in my mother’s life. Very few people accomplish great things on their own, and as Doctor Breeck said, it takes a village.

And that brings us back to why we are here today. To our award recipients, you are part of that village bringing about positive and lasting change to the Defence Community. Thank you for your resolve, commitment and your dedication. T

o our award recipients, Captain Sarah Black, for your work to address systemic misconduct and gender barriers in the Canadian Armed Forces and the Intelligence Branch, you developed a tiger team of fellow junior officers to address injustice to seek systemic change. In the nomination, it was noted that Captain Black’s hard work, dedication, and high intelligence in institutional <inaudible> allows her to confidently sit at the table with senior intelligence branch officers, generals and flag officers and provide clear and concise solutions to identify systemic issues.

Doctor Karen Breeck (Major Retired), for your work as a flight surgeon and your tireless advocacy that every member of the Canadian Armed Forces deserves equitable health care and equitable health outcomes. You have championed issues impacting women in the military, including systemic bias and research, policy, programs, and medical care. Doctor Breeck has been described as having the courage not to turn a blind eye to difficult situations but to find ways to resolve them in a manner consistent with fairness, loyalty and integrity.

Ms. Jennifer Calkin, for your leadership in conflict resolution, work in the gender based violence committee, education promoting trauma informed leadership, work involved in boundary training and coordination of an operational stress injury workshop. Ms. Calkin has been described as always providing innovative, forward thinking solutions, to not only address the root of the challenge, but also to strengthen the whole team.

And to Chief Warrant Officer Nicole Barrett, Major Jean-Raphael Fleury and to Major Hilary Forbes, for your grassroots initiative with the Corps of the RCEME, with the focus on identifying solutions to systemic issues impacting members’ wellbeing, analyzing organization culture and subcultures, including traditions and regimental system, to fully support progressive and necessary change, you have each demonstrated a passion and a commitment to improving the culture and the work environment. So to each of you, similar to my mother, you acted because you saw people in need and systemic issues that needed to be changed. And you found ways to promote positive action that is impacting the lives of others now and in the future. You have been proactive, creative, showed leadership, and invested time and passion into helping to leave the system better than how you found it.

Congratulations on receiving the Liz Hoffman Memorial Commendation. It means so much to provide you with this honour. I commend you for the work you have done and contributions you have made and I want to thank you for your service to the DND/CAF community. Thank you.

Good morning everyone. I’d just like to say personally thank you and I really appreciate this recognition. I also want to say that I feel very fortunate to work in the CAF as part of the Defence Team at this time. And I can see that there’s willingness and through hard work and action, we are willing to implement culture change, and we are continuously moving towards a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace. I’d also like to give a quick thank you to the team that I had the privilege to work with at CFMCOMP, especially Captain Emily Addicott, who herself is a champion of feminism and EEDI. And I’d like to say thank you to my chain of command. Firstly, for creating that climate, and encouraging us junior officers to draw on our experiences and come forward and speak truth to power. Thank you. 

Thank you for all of those kind words. I first want to congratulate the other award winners here with us today. It really is an honour to sharing the Liz Hoffman memorial commendation with you all. I’m also very grateful that we have a member of Liz Hoffman’s family with us here today. I very much look forward to learning about the person that our commendation is named after. Now I have a number of people to thank. And in 35 years, you have a number of people to thank. It takes a village to make a change in the military and this is no exception.

To get military women’s healthcare into the Minister of National Defence’s mandate letter and to the last federal budget took a lot of work from a lot of people. There is simply too many military peoples serving and retired to thank them all individually. Especially for those who are here today and hopefully able to watch on Zoom, or on the recording afterwards, you know who you are and just thank you for your help and support in this area. I need to specifically acknowledge though MCpl Gagnon, and Christine Wood, my nominator. It is on their shoulders that I stand here today.

And I really want to say thank you for all of the hard work that has been done by both of you. I also wanted to thank Veterans Affairs Canada and the Office of Veterans Ombuds for understanding that military women’s health impacts veterans too. I’d also like to thank the following people for always amplifying military women’s voices and issues: Jacquie O’Neill, Canada’s first ambassador for Women, Peace and Security, Beth Woroniuk, Women, Peace and Security Network Canada, Scott Taylor, Esprit de Corps magazine, Sayward Montague, National Association of Federal Retirees, and Dr. Maya Eichler, from Mount Saint Vincent University.  My last thank you is for the ongoing support of the medical community in Canada, the Canadian Forces health services, but also the Canadian Medical Association, College of Family Physicians of Canada, World College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Ontario Medical Association and the Federation of Medical Women of Canada whose immediate past president, Doctor Gigi Osler just got named this month into the Senate. I’m just so excited to see a woman physician in the Senate.

So, that’s all of my thank yous but I wouldn’t be a good advocate if I left it there and I didn’t leave you all with one call to action. And that’s to please remember biological sex matters. Sex matters. You should be able to remember that, right? So military women started working in many previously male only held jobs in 1989, yet we still have not done the occupational research to know for sure if there’s any sex specific health impacts of these new military occupational exposures for women. Does it change our rates of breast cancer, stress incontinence, pelvic pain, uterine prolapses, infertility, and adverse pregnancy outcomes? We don’t know. So it’s time. Let’s get on with finding the answers out to these important questions that impact recruitment and retention. So I thank you all again for this honour. Thank you.

Good morning everyone. I am truly honored and humbled to be standing before you here today. When I received the phone call notifying me that I was selected for the Liz Hoffman Memorial Commendation, I was completely shocked and surprised, partially because I was holidays at the time and had tried to start disconnecting a little bit from work. But it was a wonderful work call that I received that day. I want to thank Chief Warrant Officer Marc Boucher, the Transition Unit Manitoba Chief who nominated me for the nomination and the kind words that he has shared. Also Lieutenant-Colonel Andrea Keeping for her openness and leadership.

I owe a lot of credit to the mentors in my life who I’ve learned a great deal from. I’d like to thank my executive director, Regan Gorski. He has encouraged me and mentored me in a way that has allowed me to use my voice and advocate for others, and allow me to also follow my heart at the same time. Through Regan’s leadership, I’ve learned to bring solutions to the table when problems or challenges arise, to move forward rather than perpetuating a cycle. This has empowered me to speak up and be more confident in raising suggestions. I’d love to take a moment to thank my beloved grandmothers, Jean Calkin and Dulcie de Vos who both taught me to take things one day at a time, that positive attitude can get you through adversity, and that strength comes from handling difficulties with poise and composure.

To my parents and siblings, for your encouragement, and instilling values and skills that guide my moral compass across many domains in my life. I entered the field of social work having had experienced my own adversity and encountered challenges that tested and grew my resilience. Through resourcefulness, I learned to adapt and see barriers as a challenge to navigate rather than something to succumb to. To quote Fred Rogers, “When I was a child, I would see scary things in the news. My mother would say ‘look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ Look for the helpers is a perspective I like to reflect on when things may feel overwhelming. I’m a big believer in teamwork. Working within a multidisciplinary team, at times can be challenging, especially when there are many schools of thought that might be competing. During my PSW at Dalhousie, we had opportunities to practice working in multidisciplinary teams and this was a valuable lesson that I carry with me and continue to apply. When we can put our differences aside, we realize there are more commonalities than differences.

When we can pause and find common ground, perhaps it’s our goal towards helping others, we can make more of an impact, rather than working in isolation. Lifelong learning is so important to me and I believe in the Maya Angelou quote, “Do the best you can until you know better. And then when you know better, do better.” Additionally, I would like to thank the teams at the Moose Jaw MFRC and Transition Centre, as well as my peers and colleagues, past and present across the country.  We would all be here all day if I were to thank each and every person one by one. Lastly, I would like to thank my plus 1 for making the drive across country to be here today and also to my teenage and adult sons for holding down the fort while I am here. Thank you.

Major Hilary Forbes: I just want to thank everybody for the incredible honour of being included with such an incredible group of recipients year after year. It was not something that we started out expecting, when we started the RCAO. Our goal was just to make a difference in one person’s life and if we could do that, then we would count ourselves as a success.  If we could make somebody feel safer, make it more inclusive of an environment and so that they knew that they could trust and come forward with issues. We feel like we’re getting there.  We feel like we still have some work to do. But we wouldn’t be where we are now, we wouldn’t have had the progress that we have had, if we didn’t have the support of everyone around us. The RCEME Corps leadership, here today, let us push those boundaries. Let us think outside of the box. Let us find solutions that are not the typical leadership type of solutions that you would think of in an army centre environment. So, a big thank you to the leadership for allowing us to push those boundaries. And most importantly to us, we want to also thank the soldiers and technicians in the RCEME Corps for taking that last leap of faith to trust us just one more time, allowing us to hear their voice, allowing us to hear their concerns. Because without them and without that, we would not have been able to do what we’ve done and to be here today. So, thank you again.