Speaker Notes LAV III Monument Program

Speaker Notes LAV III Monument Program Launch
November 5, 2014 at Canadian War Museum
Check against delivery




Blake Goldring, Founder of Canada Company takes the podium
Bonjour à tous le monde. C’est un énorme plaisir de vous accueillir à cest événement historique.
Good Morning everyone, on behalf of Canada Company, I am very proud to announce a major new program for
the benefit of all Canadians.
Canada Company is a non-partisan national charity. We represent business and community leaders from
across our great land. Our motto is “Many Ways to Serve”. Our mission is to ensure that the Men and Women
of the CDN Forces and their families, receive the widest recognition, care and support that they deserve.
Key programs that we run include:
A $2 + million dollar Canada Company Scholarship Fund created to assist the children of our Fallen with their
post-secondary education. To date, Canada Company has awarded 67 individual scholarships to 23 fine young
people.
Une autre initiative digne de mention et qui connaît un grand succès est le Programme d’aide à la transition ou
le PAT.
Cette année seulement, nous avons aidé plus de 400 (quatre cents) militaires en transition à trouver l’emploi
sur le marché civil du travail.
Nous comptons 116 (cent seize) Employeurs partenaires qui sont prêts à embaucher des vétérans et plus de 2
600 (deux mille six cent) vétérans inscrits qui s’apprêtent à retourner à la vie civile.
But today, we are announcing an important new program where Canada Company and our partners, will
recognize the contributions of our veterans. The LAV III National Monument program will be made available to
communities throughout Canada.
The monuments are very special to our veterans as they are built from the vehicles that protected them from
harm’s way during their mission in Afghanistan. These vehicles are known as the LAV III or Light Armoured
Vehicle and as you can see from the prototype right behind me, a familiar sight!
There is another reason why these Monuments are special to Canadians. These LAVs are built in Canada by
Canadians for Canadians by General Dynamics Land Systems in London, Ontario. As you know, the LAVs are still
actively used by the Canadian Armed Forces today and we will learn how this unique program came to be in a
few minutes from John Ball of General Dynamics Land Systems.
J’aimerais prendre quelques minutes pour vous donner une idée du fonctionnement de ce programme.
Derrière moi, vous pouvez voir le premier monument du VBL III prêt à être livré dans une collectivité
canadienne. Notre plan est d’en fabriquer 250 que l’on remettra à des collectivités méritantes au Canada. Les
collectivités intéressées devront présenter une demande à La Compagnie Canada par l’intermédiaire du site
Web www.lavmoument.ca. Le Major général (retraité) David Fraser, un de nos, commandants de grand plus
renommé va vous décrire le processus de sélection dans quelque minutes.
Canada Company looks forward to working with the selected communities across our nation to implement this
meaningful monument program in honour of our veterans. For further information about participating in the
construction of the LAV III Monument program or sponsoring or assisting communities obtain a LAV
Monument, please go to www.lavmonument.ca for information to join the program.
Let me start with our roster of speakers by asking a leader from one of the communities interested in receiving
a LAV Monument to come up to the podium.
Tom Jenkins, is the Honorary Colonel of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada and is chairman of Open Text
Corporation, the largest software company in Canada. He is a longtime exemplary member of Canada
Company’s motto and is an embodiment of CC’s “Many ways to Serve”. He has been the driving force behind
this incredible and important initiative.
I would like to ask Tom to say a few words as to why a community would want a LAV monument.
Tom Jenkins, HCOL of Royal Highland Fusiliers
Thanks Blake, it is my privilege to be the Honorary Colonel of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada, a reserve
infantry regiment located in the Waterloo Region. My role with the regiment is to be the interface between the
soldiers and the community. In that role, we have been discussing for a few years now as to how we would
mark the contributions of our local veterans to the Afghanistan mission. The RHFC contributed almost 50% of
its total personnel strength during the mission. Three years ago, we began a discussion with the Canadian Army
about the availability of a piece of equipment that our soldiers used in Afghanistan as all the other monuments
that we have in Waterloo Region are from World War 1 and World War 2 and these of course are between 70
and 100 years old. The soldiers of today did not fight in or with these pieces of equipment. During our May 9
recognition event of the end of the Afghanistan Mission in Waterloo, General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada
was kind enough to provide us a LAV for our event. It was immediately apparent that the LAV was a magnet
when hundreds of people gathered around it with our veterans and families their families. That can be a
powerful aid to our veterans for years in the future and I hope that many communities throughout Canada take
advantage of this opportunity to recognize our veterans and their contributions. It is now my pleasure to
introduce John Ball, the Director of Canadian Programs for General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada to explain
to us how the LAV III Monument was built.
John Ball, Director Canadian Programs, GDLS-C
Good morning everyone, et Bonjour à tous, it is great to be here and tell you about how this first LAV III
Monument the one here today came to be. We at General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada built the LAVIII
vehicles that protected our soldiers during the Afghan mission. Three years ago, in 2011, we were awarded a
contract to upgrade the LAV III fleet based on lessons learned from Afghanistan. Nous savions que nous
pouvions améliorer encore davantage le meilleur véhicule blindé léger au monde. As a result of this upgrade
program, there are many components of the vehicle, including the complete hull, that are being replaced.
Under the contract, these components would be de-militarized and scrapped – which would be a shame. In
discussion with folks such as Tom Jenkins and David Fraser and LGen Devlin, who at that time was the
commander of the Army, it became apparent that there could be a better use for these remnant parts. Plus tôt
cette année, quelques-uns d’entre nous ont donc collaboré avec le gouvernement du Canada, Travaux publics
et le MDN pour déterminer une façon de créer un monument qui serait une réplique du VBL III utilisé en
Afghanistan. Nous allions nous servir de pièces récupérées des anciens VBL III mis à niveau et de reproductions
d’autres pièces. And the result of that effort is shown behind us and I hope that you agree that it is very close
to the original LAV III that was used extensively by the Canadian Army in Afghanistan. Now, we; General
Dynamics Land Systems- Canada are not in the business of building monuments, therefore partners were
needed to build subsequent replica LAV IIIs monuments. Discussions began with Militex Coatings and Fanshawe
College to discuss how a program could be created to have students and volunteers build multiple LAV III
Monuments from the remnant pieces. General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada is very proud we have been
able to support this important initiative.
To talk about the Fanshawe Contribution, it is my pleasure to introduce the President of Fanshawe College and
our former Commander of the Army, retired Lt. Gen Peter Devlin.
LGen Peter Devlin, President of Fanshawe College and former commander of the Canadian Army
Thank you John and good morning everyone. Merci … Bonjour tout le monde. C'est un grande plaisir d'être de
retour ici, à Ottawa, pour être au Musée canadien de la guerre et à être devant un symbole puissant de nos
soldats et de nos anciens combattants. It is a pleasure to be back here in Ottawa, to be at the Canadian War
Museum and to be standing in front of such a powerful symbol to our soldiers and to our veterans.
I believe that the LAV III vehicle is a symbol of pride, strength and confidence and these monuments are very
important for our soldiers, sailors and airmen and women. Recognition of their contribution by communities is
also meaningful for our veterans. At Fanshawe College, we are proud to be the first post-secondary institution
to work on the LAV III Monuments that were originally built and assembled in London, Ontario – the home of
Fanshawe.
Fanshawe is one of the largest post-secondary institutions in Canada. We have over 40,000 students who are
engaged in a variety of programs such as engineering techniques and welding which provide students with a
superb skills-based education leading to jobs in a number of industries. Fanshawe’s academic staff have been
working with GDLS Canada for months now to determine how we can seamlessly integrate the various steps
involved in generating parts for the monuments into our programs. In this way, our students are learning and
developing their skills for the workplace. There is no better and more motivating way to learn than to work on
the creation of these monuments.
In addition to preparing our students for the world of work, we believe that this program will also give us an
opportunity to explore involving our veterans through programs like Helmets to Hardhats in the creation of the
LAV monuments. The prospect of this union is both fitting and exciting.
J'ai maintenant le plaisir de vous présenter mon ami et ancien commandant de nos forces en Afghanistan du
Sud … my pleasure to introduce my friend and the former commander of our forces in South Afghanistan,
retired Major General David Fraser who will describe the community selection process.
MGen David Fraser, Chair of the Selection Committee and former Commander of Afghanistan South
Thank you Peter. Mesdames, Messieurs, je suis heureux d’être ici aujourd’hui pour décrire le processus que le
comité de sélection a décidé de suivre pour choisir les collectivités qui pourront recevoir un monument du
VBL III. As a veteran of Afghanistan, let me first start by thanking everyone that is here today and those
organizations and people that have been involved in the planning and construction of the LAV III Monument
program. I cannot begin to tell you how important and meaningful the LAV as a symbol of sacrifice to all of us
that have served our country abroad. These are the vehicles that we fought in and were the backbone of the
Canadian Army. The recognition of our sacrifices means a lot to today’s veterans. We as soldiers grew up
recognizing the sacrifice of previous generations at our cenotaphs and armouries throughout Canada.
Aujourd’hui, ces monuments sont d’une autre époque, et très peu d’entre nous ont servi dans ces véhicules.
Par conséquent, en rendant ces VBL disponibles à de nombreuses collectivités dans tout le pays, cela donne à la
génération actuelle d’anciens combattants l’occasion d’avoir un symbole fort, représentatif du temps et des
sacrifices qu’ils ont consentis pour notre nation. Et le fait d’être reconnus par leurs concitoyens, dans les
collectivités où ils vivent, il n’y a pas de mots pour décrire ce que cela représente! Je vais maintenant prendre
quelques minutes pour vous décrire brièvement comment nous allons choisir ces collectivités. The selection
committee will be made up of prominent Canadians from across Canada and the majority of which are veterans
of the Afghan mission. In fact, one of the members of the selection committee is here with me today and I
would like to recognize Army Sargent Major Wayne Ford is here. Wayne, would you stand up for a second.
Thanks Wayne. Interested communities are asked to submit an application that contains forms in which they
can fill out the information that we will use to evaluate whether a community qualifies to receive a LAV
monument. As you will find from the instructions on the web site which can be found at
www.canadacompany.ca/lav we are using several factors to qualify communities. En premier lieu, nous allons
demander aux collectivités de décrire quel est le lien de la communauté avec nos vétérans. Nous demanderons
aussi de quelle façon la communauté sera informée du rôle joué par nos vétérans dans diverses missions à
l’étranger, et au Canada. We will also ask for a description of how the community plans to locate and dedicate
the LAV Monument and how it will be preserved and maintained over the years. We have also designed this
program so that the cost is borne by each community and not the taxpayer. We estimate that the cost for any
community to transport and place a LAV III monument on a pedestal for about $10,000. Finally, I am pleased
to note that on March 1st, 2015, the selection committee will be selecting the first LAV III Monument that is
behind me here will be provided at no charge to the first community as a gesture of support from the
Government of Canada and General Dynamics. The deadline for this selection will be January 31, 2015. The
web site will continue to accept applications from now until all LAV Monuments have been distributed. We
estimate that there may be as many as 250 units available over the next 3 years and we estimate that the last
LAV Monument will be delivered on Canada Day of 2017 which of course marks the 150th anniversary of
confederation. Thanks for your attention and I will turn the podium back to Blake Goldring.
Blake Goldring returns to the Podium
Ladies and Gentlemen, that marks the end of our formal presentation and after we pause for 5 minutes to
allow some photos of our guests with the LAV Monument, we will invite you to come and inspect the LAV
Monument for yourself and we invite you to ask questions of our speakers as well as we ask the Media to meet
us over here beside the LAV for one on one interviews. For those of you on the phone, one of our speakers will
return to the conference call after the photos to answer any of your questions.
= 30 =