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Virtual Fireside Chat:
Resiliency in the Canadian military -
lessons from leading women

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Date & Time:
October 8, 2020
12 p.m. EST

Military service comes with the inherent possibilities of physical and mental injury, relocation, separation from family, and potential challenges with civilian integration following service. Many who serve have successfully managed these realities and can offer valuable lessons on developing resiliency and coping through difficulties such as mental illness.

In recognition of Mental Illness Awareness Week (October 4 – 10), True Patriot Love hosted a live virtual fireside chat on October 8 that included unique and valuable insights into resiliency from inspiring women within the military and Veteran community.

The conversation was in honour of Captain Nichola Goddard, a brave artillery officer who at the age of 26 became the first women soldier to die in a combat role. Since her untimely passing, she has become a beacon of courage and resiliency, and the Captain Nichola Goddard Fund in her name benefits programs that support the health and well-being of servicewomen, Veteran women and their families. The chat also drew on the topic of resiliency discussed in the For Her Country podcast, which was established in Capt. Goddard’s honour.

This virtual event provided attendees with valuable lessons that are universal and applicable to our everyday lives, particularly amid a challenging global pandemic. Attendees also had the opportunity to ask a question in advance, with several answered during the live chat.

Moderator

Picture of Lisa LaFlamme

Lisa LaFlamme, Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor, CTV NATIONAL NEWS

As Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor of CTV NATIONAL NEWS WITH LISA LAFLAMME since 2011, Lisa LaFlamme leads the country’s #1 newscast where she has cemented her role as the face of news in Canada.

Never far from the heart of the story, LaFlamme brings Canadians an up-close look at the biggest stories unfolding across Canada and around the world. In May 2018, LaFlamme travelled to Windsor to lead CTV News’ live special of the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In 2017, she reported from the devastated flood regions of Texas and Florida, and travelled to northern France to lead CTV News’ special coverage of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Led by LaFlamme, CTV News delivered live coverage of the inauguration of Donald Trump from Washington D.C. in January 2017; reported on the death of Fidel Castro from Havana in November 2016; and broadcast live from Paris in November 2015 in the aftermath of the coordinated terrorist attacks across the city. Read full bio.

 

Panelists 

Click on the picture to learn more about each panelists.

  • Rear-Admiral R.L. Patterson
  • Captain (Retired) Mary Ann Barber
  • Marie-Andree Malette

Rear-Admiral Rebecca Patterson enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) as a critical care Nursing Officer in 1989 after obtaining a Niagara College Diploma in Nursing. A BScN/PCNP certificate (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Ottawa was soon accomplished, which was followed by an occupational transfer to Health Services Operations Officer. Rear-Admiral Patterson went on to qualify as a Certified Health Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders and then graduated from the CF Command and Staff College Advanced Military Studies Course.

Rear-Admiral Patterson has worked in a number of health care domains, which include providing direct patient care, delivering and leading CAF medical education and training, overseeing and directing national level medical planning in support of CAF missions at home and abroad and leading a large CAF primary care health centre. In 2012, Rear-Admiral Patterson was appointed Commander of 1 Health Services Group, followed by an appointment to the position of Deputy Commander, Canadian Forces Health Services Group in 2016. A subsequent appointment to the Director General Professional Military Conduct – Operation HONOUR (DG PMC-OpH) ensued in 2018. Rear-Admiral Patterson was appointed to the current position of Commander Canadian Forces Health Services in July 2020.

Rear-Admiral Patterson deployed as a member of Op SCALPEL with 1 Canadian Field Hospital during the Persian Gulf Conflict in 1991 (Saudi Arabia), Op DELIVERANCE in support of the Canadian Airborne Regiment in 1993 (Somalia), and Op ATTENTION with the NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan (Kabul) 2011-2012, where responsibility was granted for leading a multinational team tasked to assist the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police with re-establishing their medical education and training system. In February 2014, Rear-Admiral Patterson was recognized for contributions to the mission in Afghanistan and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada and was inducted as an Officer in the Order of Military Merit in 2018.

Rear-Admiral Patterson remains an active member of the College of Nurses of Ontario, the Canadian College of Health Leaders and serves on the Board of Directors for Soldiers Helping Soldiers. Rear-Admiral Patterson was named one of 12 Global Edmonton Women of Vision, was granted the Ontario Premiers Award for Excellence in Health Sciences for Ontario College graduates, received recognition for “Breaking Down the Barrricades” in Esprit de Corps magazine’s highlights on women’s contributions to the Defence community, and was presented with the Niagara College Distinguished Alumni Award. Named the CAF Defence Champion for Women in 2018, Rear-Admiral Patterson continues to serve in this capacity.

Captain Mary Ann Barber was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, On, and began her career in the Canadian Armed Forces under the Regular Officer Training Plan, enrolling in June 1997. Upon graduation from her BScN from the University of Ottawa in 2000, she was posted to Canadian Forces Base Edmonton where she began her career working as a new grad nurse in the ER and in a variety of military environments. Captain Barber went on her first deployment to Bosnia-Herzegovina as a Critical Care Nursing Officer where she assisted in the management of the Unit Medical Station in Velika Kladusa in September 2002. Upon her return in April 2003 she began working in the ICU, and completed her certificates in Emergency Nursing, Forensic Nursing and Critical Care Nursing from Mount Royal College in 2004.

Capt Barber deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan as the Nurse In-Charge (IC) of the Resuscitation department from January to July 2005. In 2006 she was posted from Edmonton to Kingston, Ontario, where she became the team leader for the Care Delivery Unit at the Royal Military College of Canada. In 2007 she deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan to the Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit (R3MMU) for 4 months, returned home for 6 months and then redeployed to Kandahar in January 2008 as the 2nd In-Command of In-Patient Services at the R3MMU. Following her return from Afghanistan in September 2008, she continued to manage the operations department at 33 Canadian Forces Health Services Centre in Kingston.

When she was not working on her year-long french course, or in the field, Capt Barber flew several medical evacuations from Germany to Canada, returning our critically wounded patients home. She was posted in August 2010 to Geilenkirchen, Germany where she managed the immunizations department until she returned to Ottawa in the fall of 2011. In Ottawa, Capt Barber was the department manager for Immunizations and the treatment room until she was moved in June 2013 to Canadian Forces Base Borden. At the Canadian Forces Health Services Training Centre, Capt Barber managed the Medical Technician Qualification Level 5 program, the Basic Medical Officer Course, the Primary Care Nurse Course and the Basic Nursing Officer Course.

She also taught on the Physician Assistant Course, and on all clinical courses conducted at the training centre. In the summer of 2017 she participated on the Douglas Expedition with True Patriot Love and paddled the Keele and Mackenzie rivers in the NTW. It was a life changing trip! In February 2018 Capt Barber was medically released and she finished her Masters of Nursing and Nurse Practitioner program from Athabasca University in August 2018.

Since graduating she has worked in a variety of locations as a Nurse Practitioner including The South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre in Wasaga Beach, in remote northern communities on Baffin Island in Nunavut, and for Interior Health in BC. She has also been hired with First Nations Inuit Health Branch in Alberta and Ontario. She continues to be an advocate for PTSD, especially within the health care community, and is featured in two documentaries, I Am War and Forged In Stone. Mary Ann moved to Vernon, BC in June of 2019 and when she’s not working, she is travelling, active outdoors in a variety of interests and spending time with her friends and family.

Marie-Andree is a Registered Nurse (RN) with a Bachelors Degree in psychology and criminology. She is the proud wife of a Veteran who battles Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) since 2005. Marie-Andree has two beautiful boys.

Marie-Andree has been doing advocacy work since 2013, sitting on one of the advisory groups from Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC). She and two other spouses have started Caregiver Brigade, which is an online platform, that provides information and links to families dealing with PTSD.

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SERVICES & RESOURCES

 

  • If you are a Veteran/military member and are in distress, call the Member Assistance Program at 1-800-268-7708
  • If you are worried about your family member, call the Family Information Line at 1-800-866-4546
  • Other resources: Family Force, Operational Stress Injury Support Services (OSSIS) or CAF's Mental Health Resources

Katrina Bolak

Katrina Bolak is an award-winning marketer and seasoned communications professional. She has a passion for podcasting that led her to executive produce two podcasts for The Globe and Mail and launch The Globe’s podcasting efforts. She holds an HBAA in Media Studies from the University of Guelph, a Diploma in PR from Humber College and an Executive MBA from the Ivey School of Business at Western University. Katrina lives in Toronto with her husband Dan, their rescue pup Parker and two cats Duncan and Vivica.

 

Shannon Busta

Shannon Busta is an award-winning digital journalist based in Toronto. Prior to joining The New York Times she worked at The Globe and Mail as a video producer and audience strategist. She holds an Executive MBA from Western University’s Ivey School of Business and a Master of Journalism from Ryerson University. She loves running, cycling and spending time outdoors with her partner Sam Riches.

 

Philip Grosch

 

Philip is a board member for the True Patriot Love Foundation and the sponsor behind the Captain Nichola Goddard Fund Podcast.

 

Philip is a passionate supporter of veterans with a focus on supporting their transition and success in post-military careers. In addition to his role on the True Patriot Love Foundation board, he is the President of Treble Victor Group (3V is a Veterans organization focused on supporting members in their post military careers www.treblevictor.org) . He has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition for his support of veterans.

 

In his professional career, Philip is a Consulting Partner at PwC, based in Toronto. Currently he is the executive responsible for the firm's global sales transformation program.

 

Philip has become a somewhat unexpected sponsor and joint-architect of PwC’s innovative and award winning leadership program targeted at top talent, mid-career women. The program started in 2013, when it became clear that although our entry level hiring was equal, we were losing top talent mid career women at a significantly higher rate than their male counterparts. In 2017, the program was expanded to include participants from other organizations. Today more than 400 talented women have graduated from the program. Our retention of talent is now close to 90%, and 21% of the PwC alumni have joined the executive (partner) ranks.

 

Philip is a 2016 Catalyst Canada Honours Champion in the Business Leader category, recognized for his exceptional corporate leadership and transformational contributions to advancing women and inclusion in the workplace. He is an Advisory Board Member for WNORTH and past advisory board member for WXN Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

Captain (Ret’d) Theresa Sapara, CD, MBA

 

Theresa joined the military as a private soldier before being selected for officer and university training, after which she worked for combat, special forces and combat-support units as a logistic officer, in Canada and in Haiti. True to her competitive and driven nature, she also qualified as a military parachutist and competed in the military Ironman competition.

 

Seeking further opportunities to develop and broaden the application of the leadership skills learned as a soldier, she left the Army and has quickly established herself as a mid-ranking commercial leader with a track record of changing business focus and processes to better exploit new strategic environments. This included working within the retail, mining and professional services industries before being appointed as a manager for Amazon Web Services based in Toronto.

 

Theresa holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business. In addition to spending time with her family, she volunteers as a Board Member for the Treble Victor Group (a Veterans organization) and UForChange (a youth arts program).

 

Lisa LaFlamme, Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor, CTV NATIONAL NEWS

As Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor of CTV NATIONAL NEWS WITH LISA LAFLAMME since 2011, Lisa LaFlamme leads the country’s #1 newscast where she has cemented her role as the face of news in Canada.

Never far from the heart of the story, LaFlamme brings Canadians an up-close look at the biggest stories unfolding across Canada and around the world. In May 2018, LaFlamme travelled to Windsor to lead CTV News’ live special of the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In 2017, she reported from the devastated flood regions of Texas and Florida, and travelled to northern France to lead CTV News’ special coverage of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Led by LaFlamme, CTV News delivered live coverage of the inauguration of Donald Trump from Washington D.C. in January 2017; reported on the death of Fidel Castro from Havana in November 2016; and broadcast live from Paris in November 2015 in the aftermath of the coordinated terrorist attacks across the city.

LaFlamme is known for landing exclusive interviews with leading global figures, including every Canadian Prime Minister since Brian Mulroney; sitting down to discuss international aid with Bill Gates at his headquarters in Seattle and at New York’s United Nations General Assembly; an in-depth conversation with Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai; an exclusive interview with former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on maternal and child health; leading CTV NATIONAL NEWS to Jerusalem for an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and to Shenzhen, China to sit down with Ren Zhengfei, reclusive founder of Huawei. Among her long list of primetime broadcast specials was a visit to Prince Harry at his home in London’s Kensington Palace.

Prior to assuming the Anchor chair in 2011, LaFlamme spent more than a decade on the road as CTV News’ National Affairs Correspondent, travelling to some of the world’s most dangerous locations to cover everything from wars to elections to natural disasters. She was in Rome to report on the death of Pope John Paul II; has reported from Sri Lanka on the devastation from the Tsunami that hit South Asia; was in New Orleans to cover the impact Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans; and has journeyed to Haiti several times to cover the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and political turmoil gripping the country.

One of Canada’s top journalists, LaFlamme is a trailblazer for women in Canadian news broadcasting, covering some of the biggest stories of the times. LaFlamme has covered every Canadian federal election since 1997, and anchored CTV’s non-stop coverage of the Royal Wedding of William and Kate, live from Buckingham Palace in 2011. Having covered every Olympics since 2008, she played an integral part of CTV’s national broadcast team at Vancouver 2010 as Co-Host of OLYMPIC DAYTIME, and helmed CTV NATIONAL NEWS from London during the 2012 Olympic Games.

From the heart of the G20 riots that shook Toronto in 2010 to the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and from the World Cup in South Africa to the miracle of the Chilean miners, LaFlamme has had a front row seat to some of the most compelling stories of a generation. She has covered every angle of the aftermath of 9/11 – from New York to Afghanistan, Iraq to Guantanamo Bay. Over the years, LaFlamme has reported extensively on the Canadian mission in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the humanitarian crisis facing the Afghan people.

A graduate of the University of Ottawa, LaFlamme began her broadcasting career in 1989 at CTV Kitchener (then named CKCO) in her hometown of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont. In addition to multiple awards for broadcasting and journalism over her career, she has received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater University of Ottawa, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. and the University of Windsor. She is the recipient of the Order of Ontario and was awarded the Distinguished Canadian Award from the University of Ottawa. On June 27, 2019, LaFlamme was named Officer of the Order of Canada (O.C.), one of Canada’s highest honours.

A passionate advocate of democracy in journalism, LaFlamme volunteers for Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) and has traveled with the organization to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2013 to mentor and train young journalists in Goma, in the heart of the conflict zone. LaFlamme also championed a program with CTV News to identify eligible and deserving staff journalists to participate in JHR missions around the world, and serves as honorary co-chair of the annual JHR Night for Rights event.

LaFlamme is also an ambassador of PLAN International, traveling to remote areas to promote child rights and to end poverty around the world, and volunteers with Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, which works to advance education and educational opportunities for Afghan women and their families.
She speaks English and French.

Career Summary:
• 2019: Named Officer of the Order of Canada (O.C.)
• 2018: Best National Newscast, Canadian Screen Awards
• 2018: Honorary Doctorate of Laws, University of Windsor
• 2017: Best National News Anchor, Canadian Screen Awards
• 2016: Appointed to the Order of Ontario
• 2016: President’s Award, Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA)
• 2016: Best National Newscast, Canadian Screen Awards
• 2015: Appointed to the International UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize Jury
• 2015: Best National News Anchor, Canadian Screen Awards
• 2014: Best National Newscast, Best National News Anchor, Canadian Screen Awards
• 2014: Honoured by the Women’s Executive Network as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women
• 2014: University of Ottawa Honorary Doctorate
• 2014: Daughters for Life, Industry Luminary Award
• 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012: Radio-Television News Directors Association Bert Canning Award for Best Newscast
• 2010: Appointed successor to Lloyd Robertson as full-time anchor of CTV NATIONAL NEWS
• 2006: Wilfrid Laurier University Honorary Doctorate
• 2003-2010: National Affairs Correspondent, CTV NATIONAL NEWS WITH LLOYD ROBERTSON
• 2001-2003: Co-Host of CANADA AM
• 2000-2001: Parliamentary Correspondent, CTV News
• 1998-2000: Prime News Anchor for CTV Newsnet (now CTV News Channel)
• 1997-1998: Consumer Reporter, CTV News
• 1997-1998: Weekend Anchor/Reporter for CTV Newsnet
• 1991-1997: Reporter and News Anchor for CKCO
• 1989-1999: Radio News Reporter for CFCA/AM109
• 1988: Joined CKCO as copy writer and script assistant