Domestic Operations and Reserves

Brigadier-General Gerry Champagne was commissioned in 1977 and joined the Royal 22e Régiment. During his initial five years with the 2 Battalion R22eR, Quebec and the 1 Battalion R22eR, Germany, he had the privilege of commanding an infantry platoon, perform as a second-in-command of the reconnaissance platoon and also carried out the duty of unit intelligence officer. During his first posting to the Infantry School in 1982, he was employed as course commander on leadership courses, Company second-in-command for Tactics Company and Chief Standards Officer. When he returned to 1 R22eR in 1988, he commanded a mechanized infantry company for two years. In 1993, he had the opportunity to deploy to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Operation CAVALIER, Canadian Battalion (CANBAT) 2, as Deputy Commander 2 R22eR and Commander of UN forces in the enclave of Srebrenica. He subsequently deployed in Croatia on Operation HARMONY in 1995 also as Deputy Commander CANBAT 1. From June 1995 to July 1998, Brigadier-General Champagne commanded the Infantry School, the Infantry Corps Center of Excellence. He also had the privilege of commanding the 5 Area Support Group, Montréal, from 2006 to 2008. Brigadier-General Champagne also occupied a number of staff positions. He held the position of Career Manager for subaltern officers of the Infantry Corps in 1984. He also served successively as Staff Officer to the Chief Land Doctrine and Operations in 1991, Executive Assistant Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Intelligence, Security and Operations in 1992 and Executive Assistant Deputy Chief of Defence Staff in 1993. From 1998 to 2001, he performed as Directing Staff at Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College in Kingston. From June 2003 to July 2005, he assumed the position of Director Land Force Readiness (Army G3). In 2008 and 2009, he served as Director Current Operations, and, on promotion to brigadier-general, took over as Director General Operations at the National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. Deployed in June 2009 in Kandahar Afghanistan, he served as Chief of Staff and Director Future Plans of Headquarters Regional Command South (RC(S)) with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He will assume the Deputy Commander of Canada Command as of 9 April 2010. Brigadier-General Gerry Champagne is a graduate of the Combat Team Commanders' course, the Land Forces Command and Staff course 8602, the Canadian Forces Command and Staff Course 16 and the Advanced Military Staff Course 02. He also completed a Master's degree in Defence Management and Policy Studies in 2003.