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Remembrance Day 2020 Rick Hillier Interview
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Mar 26, 2025
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View Video Transcript
0:00
i got to tell you for anybody who has not fished newfoundland
0:08
it's in a it's in a totally separate category and it's not just about the fish
0:16
but what really sets newfoundland apart is its people newfoundlanders are some of the kindest
0:21
most welcoming folks that you're ever going to meet
0:30
of course you're always a guest of honor when you're in the company of a celebrated canadian hero and i'm lucky to be here with one of
0:37
canada's greatest sons retired general rick hillier former chief of defense for the canadian
0:43
military and a card carrying new fee but this ain't just any how is you buy a
0:48
large hundred and stay where you're at and i'll cover you two runner the mill newfoundlander no this is general rick hillier highest
0:55
ranking newfoundland officer in canadian history chief of nato stabilization forces in bosnia
1:01
commander of the nato-led international security force in afghanistan a best-selling author a respected public
1:08
speaker chancellor of memorial university and one heck of a cod to boot
1:13
[Music] cod look at him hey what can i
1:18
say that cod chicken is my favorite sport of all my goodness
1:25
welcome to the show uh rick uh pleasure to have you here as gorgeous said before uh
1:30
um you know the day before probably i think you know in a lot of cases the
1:36
most important day in uh in canadian history and certainly the most important holiday if we can
1:41
call it that um and here you are uh what i believe is uh
1:47
the most important person on remembrance day uh you've done so much for the troops
1:53
both when you were leading them but the part that most
1:58
people don't know you've done so much work behind the scenes uh since then in making sure that uh
2:04
they get their just rewards and you're on the cusp of doing something even more spectacular than just about
2:10
anything you've ever done before for the troops we're going to talk about that here in a few minutes uh but uh it's an absolute
2:16
honor rather dapper i might add too yeah as i said you guys you know i just sit around
2:22
the house nighttime dressed like this right you know it is the day before
2:27
remembrance day it is a remembrance show uh your episode for for remember so i
2:32
thought it only appropriate to wear uh you know the decorations that my nation has awarded to me uh for that service and and as a
2:40
representative then of all those incredible sons and daughters who served our nation and you
2:45
know gord mentioned his father and his grandfather my goodness what a record of service in his family the battle of the psalm
2:52
you think about your terror and loss and and fear and fright and canadians served there and
2:58
excelled and learned lessons which then enabled them just six months later to be enormously successful taking
3:06
vimy ridge i mean that's where they learned the lessons on what they were going to do and what tactics to use and how to tie the
3:11
artillery to those tactics and and how to move and fire and movement as opposed to just stand up and walk and
3:17
how to get up close to the to the enemy by using those tunnels and so many other things they learned it at the battle of the
3:24
sovereign and you know and then to be a wireless gunner uh and communicator on
3:29
one of those aircraft you imagine going over enemy territory being fired at all the time by flat guns
3:35
night fighters writing waiting to come up and shoot you into little pieces and doing it night after night after
3:41
night after night yeah incredible what a legacy of service in his family and rick these were kids these were kids
3:49
that's the other part that blows my mind you know every time i read something or watch something of that era and who was representing us
3:57
and and and standing up for our freedom were kids these were young men young ladies they
4:03
weren't people our age they were kids well angel you know the first thing is people our age can't
4:09
handle that physical regime you just cannot do it you know i mean i remember one of uh
4:14
my regiment's leaders from the war talking about he said oh we said the guys in the fourth division
4:19
they were all old guys like they had the time commanders who were 27 28 years old
4:26
seriously seriously and the other thing is that you want young men and women because they're the ones who accomplish
4:31
things right and so i i said one time you know if you take a young platoon commander a man or woman commanding 40 soldiers
4:38
and and you take a 20 year old platoon commander and say you and your platoon take that hill and he'll take the hill or she'll
4:44
take the hill with their platoon and then once they get to the top they might look around and say hey that was stupid
4:50
if you say that to a 40 year old platoon commander that platoon commander will stand with the platoon at the bottom of
4:55
the hill and say hey that's stupid you want that not the ladder you want somebody who will do the job
5:01
and do it well and seize it who has no reverse and that's youth youth is the bloodline of an army for
5:06
sure i i don't know what gordy when rick was talking about
5:11
uh when gordy's ancestry people were in the in the wars and that and the good part
5:17
was to survive that gunner is a survivor he survived his grandfather survived whatever i bet you the worst part rick you know
5:23
all about this is all your friends around you have to try and think the same way but you lose a lot of those friends too
5:28
in that in that game right and in real war you're losing what you do and you know on remembrance day now you think about those
5:35
loss you know we we had the war in afghanistan uh we lost a young a lot of fine young
5:40
canadians there 158 soldiers killed there uh we we had more than 2 000 wounded
5:46
physically thousands more mentally and you think about those also throughout our history we have a at 120
5:53
000 of canada's sons and daughters who have given their life in service to canada
5:58
and to us and to all three of us and our families and everybody else wow and you think about those tomorrow and you go to those
6:04
those can british commonwealth cemeteries in northern france and belgium and you see those uh cemeteries and
6:11
they're so neat and orderly and dignified and respectful and serene and devastatingly brutal
6:18
because there's just one after another after another of the graves of our sons and in some
6:23
cases daughters and say hey they gave us this awesome country right and we should remember that because if we don't remember we're often
6:31
doomed to repeat the mistakes that that happened before we don't want to do that i've asked you
6:36
on there before this question rick uh alaskan of you again obviously we just
6:42
saw the outpouring of folks putting up messages on screen and how much respect they have for you and
6:47
and the canadian soldiers and and and all that stuff and i've asked you this before how are we doing as a nation though
6:54
on the global platform in terms of of respecting our veterans and and
7:00
you know maintaining that that sense of pride of of what these young folks did for us
7:07
how do we you know how do we match up to some of the other countries that had kind of the same history as we did
7:13
well i think first of all most countries most countries with whom we soldiered with which we soldiered uh the
7:20
australians the british the americans and the french and german certainly we've all had difficulty
7:25
in being able to give our veterans the same kind of support that our veterans gave us as a nation and you know they signed an unlimited
7:31
liability contract and they lived up to that contract sometimes losing their lives
7:37
sometimes being horribly wounded physically and other times as i mentioned mentally and they paid a terrible price
7:43
for that and we've not been particularly great at looking after them since we're improving every day
7:49
i believe i fundamentally believe that but we've still got a heck of a long way to go
7:54
and and and sometimes it's not just it is not just to care itself and the programs itself
8:00
it is the psychology of not feeling valued and i don't think we've had governments
8:05
or ministers of veterans affairs or organizations that have made those veterans feel like their service was
8:11
incredibly valued and you know and that then spreads throughout the veteran community
8:16
and you get people who feel smaller or feel they wasted their life in some respects and we try to convince them that's not true but you got to make them
8:23
feel valued we have not been successful at that to me it's a
8:29
no-brainer i don't i've told you this before i i don't understand any government or any official any politician
8:35
who would stand in the way of of giving every possible support
8:41
and that's available to us for our veterans and yet and yet it happens all the time
8:46
you just mentioned it now i i to me it's a no-brainer how can they close their eyes
8:51
how can they not it just it doesn't make sense well it takes leadership to change that
8:58
secondly it's the it's the the energy of everyday life that catches people up and thirdly as those veterans are far
9:05
from the eyes far from view of the normal canadian the normal canadian community most people don't
9:10
even know a veteran and if they hear of them it's occasionally right and so we've not really been good at
9:17
that you know rudyard kipling you know 100 and something years ago wrote a poem about you know during times of war god and the soldier are both
9:23
endured and during times of peace god and the soldier have both ignored well we're in times of peace the
9:29
soldiers are not out there putting their life on the line in most cases there are some exceptions and as a
9:35
result they've kind largely disappeared from the view of most canadians
9:40
unbelievable there is no constituency that supports those veterans by and large because they disappeared from view and
9:47
you know there are some good programs and organizations out there i i i do work with you know teen true
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patriot love uh to try and support soldiers and their families with some awesome programs
9:58
and and let them know that the love is there the appreciation is there but team rubycon canada that provides a way for veterans to come
10:05
back together into the kinds of teams they had in the military and then help other canadians or else
10:10
people around the world during natural disasters such as hurricanes or tornadoes or earthquakes or the fire in fort mcmurray
10:17
a couple years ago etc those kind of programs are worth their weight in goal like
10:22
like all charities i think in canada right now with the pandemic they're all suffering horribly from lack
10:28
of funds and a lot of them are close to disappearing and with that the support to those soldiers so trying to get those
10:35
uh those organizations on some kind of solid footing to go forward here because our veterans need them you know
10:41
pete you and i have been very fortunate that uh we've had some connection with
10:48
armed forces uh through the years through our programs and and whatnot and and i got to tell you i
10:54
i don't want to speak on your behalf you're more capable doing it yourself but some of the most touching moments uh
11:00
in my career in our careers uh here with fish and canada television
11:06
have involved our troops have involved soldiers haven't
11:13
whether whether whether you know it's veterans or or some of the kids who who are in it now every time that we
11:20
are in a scenario where there's a canadian soldier involved it's the most moving moment
11:27
imaginable these are special people these are these these are very special whether it's us
11:33
you know 18 year old kid at at me ford uh base training or or a
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veteran who's been through a couple of wars these are not ordinary
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people so how they can be ignored is still just and they and they treat us with the ultimate and respect right
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they're walking through where we work with any of these people it's unbelievable like yes sir no like it's uh it's a different world they are just
11:56
so good hearted people too as you know you know uh angelo impede that i had the privilege
12:02
and and delight throughout mine i was a soldier all my life i still think of myself as a soldier
12:08
just one not wearing a uniform anymore i guess and i had the privilege and the absolute delight of soldiering
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with the kind of people you're talking about here those sons and daughters of canada on an hourly daily basis and when i as a senior commander in
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later years in particular when i got worn down and when i was fatigued my my cure for
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that was to get out amongst those young men and women wherever they might be on a base in canada
12:34
somewhere in the north on on a post in afghanistan on a ship at sea or an airplane in the air
12:39
and i got fired up all over again if i was tired because of the you know the little bureaucratic battles
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in ottawa i'd go off and in literally hours i would be recharged and i go back
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to ottawa not only ready to to get into a battle but actually go back to ottawa so inspired
12:55
that i'd go looking for fights to get into so i could win them and it was because of those young men and women
13:00
and they fired you up they had no reverse on them right that's awesome they just believed in our nation like
13:06
nobody else they were proud of that maple leaf on their shoulder they looked after each other and it didn't matter then men or women are to
13:12
color your skin or or what your orientation your sexual orientation or your gender it mattered not you were doing your job
13:19
you were part of the team they'd look after you right to death store and you get inspired by those kinds of
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kids they built our nation right and they're so responding hey rick they're they're they're you know
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there's they're unassuming is the only way i can describe them they they're not looking for anything they're not
13:34
wanting a pat on the back they're they they're they're just great people and i'll bet i'll bet you the military
13:41
rick would be the guy to tell us about this the military has turned a lot of those people into that too because they might not
13:47
have been that way their whole life they might might not have been so respectful etc etc but the military showed them
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the way and all of a sudden they became such better people by doing that i'm sure rick you've seen hundreds of kids like that i remember
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one of our great sergeant majors one time talking to prime minister paul martin and prime minister martin was asking what kind of
14:03
canadian boy or girl were you looking for to be a soldier and he said you know sir uh we just want people with good values
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we'll do all the rest and and good canadian values and we'll shape everything else and
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we have what we call the boa constrictor method of socialization you know you put your arm around these young kids
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when they first join and and you tighten it a little bit more during basic training when you bring them into the ethos of what you're doing
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and the teamwork and then you send them to their regiments and that little arm gets tighter and tighter and tighter and after a year
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18 months 24 months you know 98 of them want to stay in the military for the rest of their life
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and as a result the military gets to pick and choose who they want and you have nothing but the best campers the best men and women
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in canada from which to pick and and and they develop they're proud they're confident which is you know what
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a lot of young men and women don't have because they've been through so much and they've succeeded because you run them earl through the
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training just to see what kind of stuff they're made of and you reinforce that strength each time each step
15:01
and and they're confident because they know they've conquered tough times they can get through tough things
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they know how to do it individually they know how to work with a team they know the importance of humor when
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you're tired and wet and cold and mosquitoes are flocking around you and they know how much it it means to be
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part of that you know that regimental family that military family and then if you should happen to support
15:23
just a little bit their families outside of that their personal families who stand beside them during the
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toughness of time man these folks want to be with you for the rest of their life and and it's their experience and they
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become the awesome canadians pete and angela that you just described
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we've we've had so many uh uh moments uh one of them i shared with you on that
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episode that we shot in newfoundland together rick uh about uh a young soldier that
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uh pete and i were doing a commercial some place in northern ontario and uh this this
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this brought me to tears the story that this guy told us was was just touching i think we've got the video of
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it here somewhere so rick we were um earlier this year we
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were shooting up in uh northwestern ontario and we're in this little town and doing
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a a promo in front of a like a general store and the sergeant came over and
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introduced himself and he said that he wanted to come over and
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thank pete and i because we were a great help to him
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in afghanistan i said what do you mean back in 2006 i was over in afghanistan
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and me and a few other friends uh of course we did a lot of time outside of kandahar and when we got
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our opportunity to get back into kandahar we'd watch your show and it gave us a lot of inspiration and
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they saw this episode that we shot on a little lake called hasty lake yep and he said to the other boys he
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says boys he says when we get out of this mess we've got to go to hasty lake and we did in 2007
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and it was september and it was just a wonderful experience and even though we did catch some nice
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fish i think it was just the fact that we were there floating around the same lake that you and pete were really made it special for
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us and i want to thank you and my friends do as well i'm sure and it moved me so much oh absolutely
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absolutely just completely floored people have to have something that they look forward to
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anticipate with eagerness you know love to wait to get to yeah and whether that's coming home to family they're coming home to go fishing
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or coming on to go skadooing or any of those things and when you do something which allows them to focus on
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it you make a difference in them and their lives and how they get to a mission like that and how they come back healthy
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and safe and sound insane and ready to get on and live the rest of their life a normal life if you will yeah right
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it's incredible you haven't had those things to focus on [Music] [Applause]
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well that uh that brings back memories that was yeah i forgot i not for the fishing but that was
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probably one of those the most memorable shoots that uh i've ever had the privilege and
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honor to be on and and i mean i'm not saying that because you're here with us now rick
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i tell this story all the time the fishing wasn't spectacular no it was not it was it was
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tough let's be honest about it but it is such a memorable experience
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and uh and i thank you for that because it was you you made it all happen it was uh
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and by the way peter i think i told you this guy's a rock star in newfoundland this guy is a rock star
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when people hear that general hilliar is going to be in town they start assembling
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it it was it was wild too you have to be a rock star if you dress like that every night
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at this time okay let's let's get talking a little
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bit about i want to know rick's uh history and fishing you know this obviously this is a fishing program and we know rick
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loves fishing tell the audience rick a little bit of your history i grew up here in newfoundland fishing right fishing up every pond and small
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lake in newfoundland and there are a million of them is teeming with trout uh salmon river runs right into the little
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community where i grew up where i am right now in campbell in newfoundland level two river here so grew up salmon
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fishing and grew up fishing for cod on the water and actually for a couple of years doing a little tiny bit of lobster
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trapping and and some of those other things i i was never a full-time fisherman obviously lots of people around here did that as a
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as a livelihood and i left home pretty young but started off here fishing here in newfoundland and so that's that's you
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know that's what i've now come back to actually those same ponds and lakes when i can get back here at the appropriate time of
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the year salmon fishing in that river and and of course cod fishing as we talked about
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right at the start there's that's that's a passion with me i love it we love it on the ocean every single day during the during the
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fishery season when it's open here and we're out there and every friend that we get to come visit with us we got them out on the ocean trying to
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catch fish and but i say to them when we go we go a long ways out in the ocean here and i
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say you know okay i just got to tell you one thing first right we're in the north atlantic here
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and the current's all going the next stop is kind of iceland or ireland so if we break down
20:34
just remember you're in the boat with general rick hillier and if i got on the the the net and said
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hey general rick hill you're out here we're broke down and we need a tow from the coast guard or search and rescue
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in in 10 minutes that would be right around newfoundland and labrador and i'd never live it down so i tell
20:51
everybody gets in the boat listen prepare to die if we break down okay we are not calling for help
20:58
oh that's awesome that is a great
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i said it uh earlier on uh we had a poll rick uh you know which which of our uh
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maritime provinces would you either like to fish in or half fished in and um newfoundland was was one of them
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and i and i said to people you know unless you've been there
21:24
fishing in newfoundland is is different it's different and i and i don't me i i
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don't even know how i mean that to be honest with you it's it's more about the experience there is
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so much more to it than just catching a fish when you when you when you're down
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there uh obviously the people the people are are the most
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genuine and open and friendly folks i say on the planet and i don't
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care where where you're from you're never going to find anybody uh that is kinder than a newfie
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uh they're humbly and respectful people and that adds to the fishing experience
22:07
it just it's all you know what i mean it just adds to it so it's not the fishing it's the really the entire package that makes it
22:14
well angelo i saw the pole and for those who want to fish in newfoundland we're quite happy to be
22:19
rated number three in the maritimes it leaves the rivers uncrowded for us obviously right here's what i would say
22:25
i love nova scotia and i love new brunswick and i love the province of pei but when you go there to fish you're
22:30
just dipping your finger into the population into the culture into the people when you come to newfoundland to fish you're jumping into the ocean with
22:37
them and you're jumping into the population and and the experience of that culture the music
22:43
the food the the generosity the friendliness the inquisitiveness of the people here because we want to
22:49
know everything about you if you come from outside of the province that's all part of the fishing trip and and you know that that's equal
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or or more in value than actually time on the water uh dipping your hook so to speak here so
23:02
it's a it's a full body experience it's a holistic experience here in newfoundland go fishing well if you know something
23:08
we're gonna change it now we've got the best advertising i think that you could possibly have for tourism newfoundland hospitality
23:14
newfoundland and you know phone john and come here it's it's wonderful uh and we're a little bit off the beaten
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track and that that's that is a little bit of a factor we know that we understand that but we'll get more
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are you open for business down there right now yeah i'm just thinking the same thing uh no i mean you cannot like we're part
23:32
of the atlantic bubble newfoundland you know there's a there's a very famous song in newfoundland thank god we're surrounded by water
23:38
we kind of like that about right now right now newfoundland is probably the safest
23:44
place in the world to be right now with the pandemic uh we got minuscule number of cases almost all
23:49
travel related so when you come in you have to either be a resident here a worker or home property here and when you come
23:56
here you come here to self ice lake for two weeks to start with but it feels very normal here yes
24:02
everybody's wearing masks yes people are you know social distancing and washing your hands and all those good things
24:08
but still the stores are open the gymnasiums are open you know people are doing things being
24:14
careful about doing things and we feel very safe here and we're not careless or complacent just safe
24:21
all right jackson yes i'm going to give you something you guys probably both know rick won't know this for sure but ange i
24:26
don't know if you know this or not i have never been to newfoundland in my life no i know i know i've never fished in newfoundland
24:32
in my life yeah and yet people mistake you for a newfie all the time everybody that's what i was going to say everybody asks ap where you're from in
24:39
iraq there hey my they all ask me that they think i worked with so many guys newfoundlanders in construction they all
24:45
said oh where are you from over there uh uh i'm from i was born in toronto but [Laughter]
24:51
you know we have a hundred thousand newfoundlanders they must have infected you just a little bit oh i'm
24:58
the best work partners the best work stories i can't go into them but the best partners by far in my life
25:03
were the newfoundlanders they we had a riot they made they made a workday go by real quick there you go right
25:09
there you enjoy what you're doing you have a sense of humor it doesn't go by quickly doesn't it oh yeah yeah
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by the way uh jack summers says he's going to newfoundland right after the pandemic and i'm headed with you so make
25:19
sure you uh let me know when you're going buddy hey listen you have you have to come in you have to come in a little earlier than
25:25
the last time you came a middle late august is a little late for the trout and and the salmon fishery the cod fishery is a
25:33
little bit more extended now but you know early august early august late july early august
25:38
great time to be here for the salmon a great time to be here for the trident and a great time to be here for the cod fishery and no
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no no reason not to partake in all three you know me rick i'm a straight shooter
25:49
okay there's a reason why i came in august i wanted to avoid those black flies
25:57
that means you have to come in january really that's not fun i remember i remember shooting on uh
26:04
i don't know whether you're familiar with it rick the little con river i think it's called beautiful i have never
26:11
it was great great fishery but i have never in my life encountered black flies
26:19
really oh beat they were the only way i could describe it was overwhelming it
26:24
was just over you couldn't even shoot and then the cameraman couldn't work they they were just
26:30
completely overwhelmed and that was early i think that was like i want to say june early june sometime
26:35
but we have black flies everywhere uh not to worry rick what's your what's your
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favorite fish to go to go for let's say around newfoundland and then a worldwide awareness
26:46
and it's only the ones around newfoundland i love salmon fish and atlantic salmon uh i've had a bunch of experiences at
26:51
the flying fishing cottages on the eagle river for example in park lake down in uh
26:57
labrador and oh my goodness you know i think three or four days three days fishing i had i think 48
27:04
salmon on and you're talking salmon you know 20 15 to 25
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pounds uh kind of sand the atlantic fresh and that's only about they were only
27:14
about like 10 to 20 maybe 25 kilometers in from the ocean so they're still invigorated their energy
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levels are way high so you hook a salmon like that it's the most thrilling fight on the river and and in those three days i
27:27
don't think i went more than maybe 200 meters along the shore of that river
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and that many fish so they've got to be that i love cod fishing i love being on the ocean yeah work kind of fishing but uh
27:41
hey we eat what we catch and i love being on the ocean and fishing and and like getting people introduced to it
27:46
who come to visit from obviously mainland canada friends of ours who come in i love doing that so i
27:52
enjoy that part of it and trout fishing is always just fun always just fun do you hand jig the cod still is that still the
27:58
normal way for newfoundland yeah you came hand line but i use a rod in real life i would say 95 percent of the
28:04
people doing now rod and reel 50 to 150 feet down and if you look on a
28:11
you know 20 pound converse at 150 feet down hey you got a job yeah you're going to
28:17
know that you've uh you're going to know that you hooked a 20 pound fish 100 foot 150 feet down when you get it in
28:24
is that all right is it still like a jigging use the jigs or is there different methods now with use a small sometimes with a
28:31
little bait on it something to attract more but a codfish is a predator so if they happen to be feeding and you
28:37
get in their feeding grounds they like to hang out around the slopes of the cliffs and of course every island
28:42
here in in the bay of notre dame bay for example where where we have our house and where we go fishing you know every island
28:48
slopes down like a like a steep mountain slide so hundreds of feet under water and if you can find the right uh niche
28:55
along the side there like i say in that magic 50 to 150 foot range
29:00
they like to hang out around the side here you get into the midst of them and you'll catch them if they're feeding and if they're not
29:05
you want you won't even come close you'll be out there all day so yeah it's always a challenge you don't find it where they are and and of
29:12
course you're on the ocean so you're drifting through the fishing ground so you know and you get five or six boats there and you're all close
29:18
together and everybody's talking and you know telling stories back and forth and hooking the fish and then you drift through the ground
29:24
one engine one boat will start up move back over to the fishing ground again upwind and then the other the other the other
29:30
we'll all move back up a little flotilla then you float back through and then you come together as boats and
29:35
people will pass fresh buns and sandwiches and tea and coffee and maybe that excess fish that
29:41
they have to help you out if you're down one and it's a it's a social community out there
29:47
it's wonderful we it's it's one of the most magnificent parts of the summer here that's fantastic
29:53
i hate to give back to the the the uh the uh soldiering thing but but i
29:59
said at the beginning of the program not that i hate to get back to i love the fishing stuff too but uh i said at the beginning of the
30:05
program that you were on the verge of of another program that you're working on right now that uh
30:10
that i'd like to um well actually i'd like to play the video if you'll let us uh rick please i i'd appreciate that
30:16
immensely ladies and gentlemen i'm general rick hillier i was canada's chief of defense
30:22
staff from 2005 to 2008. those were some of the proudest years of my life and they were also some of the
30:28
most difficult years during our war in afghanistan i was proud of our troops then
30:34
and i'm proud of them now everyone was a hero some more heroic than others and out of
30:40
those some 25 were awarded the star of military valor our nation's second highest award for
30:46
ballot not one of them however not a single canadian soldier who fought in afghanistan received
30:53
canada's highest military honor the victoria cross it's true canada created its victoria
30:59
cross in 1993 and as a nation we had decided it was time to celebrate our home except that we've never done it
31:07
we've never awarded canada's highest honor the canadian victoria cross to a canadian soldier so today i asked
31:15
you to join our campaign to award a canadian victoria cross to a soldier or soldiers who you judge
31:21
deserving we've identified 10 awesome heroes each of whom have won the star of military
31:27
valor for their incredible courage in the face of the enemy and over the next year we're going to tell their stories
31:34
and recommend that at least one of them be awarded a canadian victoria cross i'm asking you to join me in this noble
31:41
effort it will culminate on remembrance day 2021 a year from now when we will bring you a
31:47
television special that will tell their stories and allow you to judge whether one or more should be awarded at canadian vc
31:55
so please share this video like our facebook page and comment
32:00
we'll keep you posted and we'll share with you those incredible truly canadian stories
32:07
and now to all of those who are serving to those who have served i thank you for that service
32:12
to this great nation and to the 37 million canadians who call it home i thank you for that service and i
32:19
salute you we remember
32:29
nicely done well done thank you for playing it so so tell me about this i just i'm i'm
32:35
intrigued by it so in 1993 when this this medal came out if not
32:42
if not our soldiers who was it brought out for well it was brought for our soldiers and
32:48
and it took a step from what was you know the british empire to british commonwealth and the victoria cross and of course we
32:54
have just under just less than 100 canadians who have won the victoria cross
33:00
in the boer war uh world war one and world war ii nobody in korea and then in 1993 we
33:07
decided it should be the canadian victoria cross we got the medal from the guns that were captured at korea at
33:12
crimea in the 1860s we've made 10 of those victoria crosses
33:18
they're in the royal canadian mint we've not awarded one and we think maybe just maybe we
33:23
underscored if you will underestimated the the bravery the valor of some of our soldiers and and it's
33:30
worth a relook and we look at what our allies have done australia new zealand great britain have all awarded victoria crosses
33:37
during actions in in afghanistan the united states has awarded medals of honor for actions in
33:44
afghanistan and we have not and we thought maybe myself several young soldiers a couple of
33:50
producers got a great team put together to look at this and say we've selected 10
33:55
awesome heroes and we're going to tell their story and tell what their citation sums up in
34:01
you know one small paragraph about what they did on a certain day or days and why that got him to start
34:07
military valor and we're gonna say let's just dig into the facts here a little more let's interview some of the people who
34:13
were with them on that day let's you know interview some of their commanders and some of their allies who were with them
34:19
and let's hear that story and tell it and now you judge maybe that star of military valor
34:25
we aimed a little too low maybe it should be the victoria cross and and why could we not bring pressure to
34:31
bear to the government of canada to say we're going to relook those citations and and and have a fresh look
34:37
and perhaps award a victoria cross we think it's worth a criteria for that right like why is it nobody wants or awarded
34:44
it so far well first of all i i there are a bunch of reasons i believe and let's say i i am guilty i was the chief of defense
34:51
staff for you know 2005 to 2008 during that fighting in afghanistan uh number one was we were all new to war
34:58
i'll tell you that quite frankly we were all learning the from the most junior soldier in you know in combat to
35:04
commanders like myself to journalists you know who were covering the war to our politicians who were trying to
35:10
to understand how what we had to do their achieving we were all learning so perhaps we weren't as well prepared for
35:15
those kinds of things of of the recognition as we should have been or could have been or could be now
35:21
number two is it's really tough when you're into the middle of a fight to get the citations and the appropriate
35:27
write-ups for people's individual bravery and action and you really i mean you could perhaps understand it
35:34
you know something happens on on on day 27 of a six
35:39
seven month tour of combat and you're trying to you hear about an act of bravery it was incredible you're trying to extract the
35:45
information from the commanders and and the combat and meanwhile they're in the midst of one battle after another after another with
35:52
casualties and all the things that go with it it's really tough to get the citations and thirdly you're sometimes
35:58
perhaps i'll take this one i'll say maya calpa my fault maybe we were a little bit like that
36:03
infamous french figure skating judge who who confessed in the olympics that she kept her marks
36:09
for all the canadian skaters low so she could mark her own nation skaters higher maybe we were saving ourselves
36:16
for that great citation that showed up that never did and so there are a whole variety of reasons for it
36:21
i think no matter what the reason there's no reason we can't go back and just reassess this and say maybe we
36:27
undershot and maybe we can reassess and in our reassessment i actually think that the story would
36:33
change in one or two cases perhaps even more but one or two and we would see fit as a nation to award the
36:40
canadian victoria cross uh so i i i think it's a noble effort i don't think it's much the hassan government to do
36:46
we need the canadian population to be in support of it why do i have the feeling though that
36:51
even though it's a wonderful initiative and it should be getting a lot of support why do i get the feeling that it
36:57
might not be well listen uh my aim i you know i never admit failure here
37:03
my aim is that we're not going to give anybody a choice to say hey no we're not going to do that we're going to make the pressure so
37:09
intense that somebody's going to have to look at it one way or the other and ask the military to reassess the citations
37:16
and and come forward with new citations whether they're almost identical or not but to come forward with it i don't think
37:23
i don't think canadians wants to get a chance to hear those incredible stories i mean the story of young private jess
37:28
larochelle who was in his observation post and got hit with rocket-propelled grenades
37:33
on the flank uh of his company he's injured wounded some of his fellow soldiers are dead and
37:40
wounded the observation post their bunker is destroyed and he stays on the machine gun during
37:45
an attack by a platoon of taliban on that flank he brings fire the bear with the machine gun he
37:51
he fires single uh single-use rockets to keep the taliban at bay knocking them off and the company
37:57
commander told me afterwards he went bounding up the hill to that observation post he said it was destroyed and he thought
38:04
everybody inside was dead and then he could hear the machine gun going he got on his belly and crawled in
38:09
and there was jess larochelle you know covered in blood covered in dirt and grime with his buddies here and he was still
38:17
bringing fire to bear that kind of incredible individual about the star of military valor
38:22
wouldn't canadians like to hear a little bit more about that story and the other nine that we'd want to bring actually
38:28
goosebumps just yeah i just had shivers too i would love to see that story you know this is
38:34
this young show this young son of canada i think he was 19 at the time may have been 20
38:40
but honestly goodness he looked like a 13 year old boy i remember chatting with him we had invited him to dinner
38:45
actually at the governor general's residence and chatting with him and uh paulo actolini was there
38:50
uh one of the yakulini family who owns the vancouver canucks and the canucks were playing ottawa in the playoffs
38:56
here the next night and he said i got a couple tickets and i said i can't go but i said you know if you
39:01
want to give those to somebody really deserving there's this young guy here uh with his girlfriend and and so paula
39:07
called him over and i introduced him and he gave him the tickets and afterwards jess came to me said sir he
39:12
said i've never been to the to the uh i think it was the canadian tire center at the time yeah he said tell me are are the tickets
39:19
in the lower bowl are they good tickets do you think i said i said yeah man let me just tell
39:24
you you know the owner of the vancouver canucks has given you a pair of tickets to his team playing the ottawa senators
39:30
i guarantee you they're going to be good tickets for you and your girlfriend to go and you go and enjoy just an awesome young canadian he's had
39:37
some tough times because of his injuries because of what happened that day but what an incredible story and
39:43
canadians don't know it we want to tell those stories too and then we want to make this a pilot off
39:48
more shows to tell stories of smokey smith the victoria cross winner of padre john foote
39:54
who won the victoria cross at diet with such incredible incredible valor and courage and piper
40:00
richardson who during the battle of the psalm we talked about this earlier with gordon's grandfather you know who piked got up on
40:06
the trenches and piped this company into action by firing them up by playing the bagpipes and
40:11
several days later was killed while carrying wounded soldiers back to the the first aid post we want to be able to tell their stories
40:17
because canadians don't know who built our country and what incredible people they were and and could get inspired by them i think
40:24
that's what's most important yeah sure if you can't get inspired by
40:29
stuff like that there's no hope for you for sure and
40:34
that's one you know i call it a noble effort and and that's why we believe it is and i'll do what i possibly can here uh to
40:42
be able to tell their stories and we will i'd like to offer you um
40:48
our pine post production services if if you should lead them down the road
40:54
for this project uh please reach out to us i would like to donate our time and effort and our
40:59
people to uh to be a part of something like that it'd be fantastic so and well that's a generous offer
41:05
thank you because we right now we've got a we've got a vision we've got the incredible
41:11
wealthy stories to tell about those incredible sons and daughters and we have no money so let's hope we're
41:16
good we're going to need the third third pillar in that post here how how's that gonna change
41:22
how are we gonna change that well we've just started so we're reaching out to a variety of the organizations that do
41:29
documentaries we're gonna do that first what we want to reach out to foundations and to
41:34
canadians who are perhaps a little more affluent than others and who have been supportive of of good things for our nation in the
41:40
past and we're going to need people to give and then maybe we'll reach out to canadians at large and try a gofundme approach for some of the
41:47
money we're going to need quite a big idea once again if we can help in that area by all means uh don't feel like you're
41:54
you're a stranger you're part of our family and uh we would certainly like to uh to
42:00
help in this in this cause as we say in the army who up
42:05
right there brother can we uh can we just take i mean there's people asking all kinds of stuff can we just
42:10
take a few questions from folks uh mike if you want to just uh throw
42:15
some stuff up or uh for those of you viewing if you've got any questions for uh general hilliar
42:21
by all means we'll uh we'll keep this going for a few minutes more and um we'll take it from there
42:30
there's lots of comments and there's tons and tons of comments and they're all this you know basically
42:35
support 100 for support etcetera etcetera right so rick just while we're waiting do you
42:42
have a supporting visuals for these pieces yeah yeah we we have a lot and one of
42:48
the things we're going to do as we start literally two days ago we we kind of launched this right so we're still in
42:54
very very very nation stages here and so what we're doing is reaching out there's a lot of stuff in the combat
43:00
camera uh in the canadian forces a lot of video and footage and pictures from uh
43:06
from the fighting and from the war in afghanistan other individual photographers or news
43:11
agencies that were there also have a lot so we can get some of that but we're also going to reach out to a lot of our individual soldiers and we're
43:17
going to ask them for their videos and pictures uh for those tours because we know that you know there's so much of that out
43:23
there that's been on tap up till now and and and we want to be able to use that so
43:28
yeah we we we have access to a lot we know there's an enormous amount out there
43:35
uh the canadian forces will make the combat camera footage available for us and that that's most important we can't
43:41
do it without that but then we're hoping our troops will our veterans will pile in and and show some of their private stuff
43:47
well i think you're going to see some stuff coming out of the woodwork man i'll tell you yeah we're we'd be happy for that that's
43:53
for sure can you imagine like that the body cams up these guys or however the soldiers were out there wearing
43:59
their camera and getting that footage oh my god that would be yeah you see some of that when you go on to you know
44:05
youtube or facebook and those things and you see some of those things and we know there's a lot of footage
44:10
uh we want to be able to get access to what's important and i think at the end of it we'll find that we've got so much
44:16
that'll be just difficult to carve down into that small niche for each of the 10 stories that we'll have
44:22
to tell yeah yeah good friend wants to know how effective uh was
44:29
canada's mission in afghanistan overall how would you rate it well like
44:34
i don't have a rating that goes from zero to a hundred here's what i would tell you uh i think it was incredibly effective
44:40
in giving the afghans time when the taliban was certainly at
44:45
its strongest to actually not be uh not be intimidated by them
44:50
and to give them time to actually start building some of the only institutions in the country that they had destroyed over the previous 35 40
44:58
years afghanistan had been actually a fairly stable country a fairly peaceful company country and
45:04
compared to that south west asia area a fairly prosperous country all that got
45:09
destroyed over about 30 years and what we were doing i think was keeping the taliban off balance enough and that they could
45:15
actually start building and rebuilding some of those institutions and whether it was their their ministry of finance that could do
45:21
budgeting process their ministry of employment to actually try to rebuild some of the economy the
45:27
minister of agriculture to rebuild the agriculture industry that had been destroyed or building an army or building a police
45:33
force we gave them time to do a good part of that it's not finished work it's imperfect at very best but compared
45:40
to where they were in the year 2001 it's absolutely incredible the number
45:46
of children in school the number of girls in school for the first time in in decades the number of people have
45:51
gone to university and those kinds of things the number of women in government and i met the minister of health for afghanistan and it's a female
45:58
surgeon and she said she wasn't afraid of the taliban she carried a big knife and if they had dared touch her
46:03
she would have made them pay you know with their lives kind of thing and oh my goodness she inspired me so i
46:10
think we gave afghanistan and most importantly we gave afghans a chance to do
46:15
some of those things it's an ongoing work it won't be finished for 30 40 years
46:21
somebody get you know keep saying hey we want to get in and get out in five years come on we are 150 some odd year old
46:26
nation we're still imperfect we still have problems we still have corruption we still have
46:32
scandals and when we're curing it and so it's going to take them a few years longer than that i think we
46:37
were successful in giving the afghans a breathing space is what i would call it
46:43
good very well put uh ken johnson wants to know what networks will the show
46:48
be featured on you know any ideas yet no no but we've reached out already we've reached out to uh to chorus and
46:54
we've reached out to cbc and uh you know we want to see what what people come back with we think it's an
47:00
incredible proposition and we think you know hey if you're looking for canadian you know footage
47:05
and canadian shows this is as canadian as you can get right so who wouldn't want this and who
47:11
wouldn't want to support it financially so we're uncertain yet and that's what we'd like to resolve by you know january
47:18
get our script on that all put together january february march because we want to get that carefully done make sure we talk to the individuals
47:24
that we want to work with to see if they do want to be part of this and if not we'd have to we'd have to look elsewhere and then
47:30
film april may june july kind of thing get that all put together and be ready to go late august early
47:35
september maybe at the toronto international film festival or something like that and and then be ready to launch
47:41
formally on 11 november but you know hey i i want to do this for our sons and daughters in uniform i want to tell
47:46
their stories with this great team we put together and do it therefore for all canadians
47:52
nice that's an interesting question from richard um do you mind working with the usa
48:00
some of the greatest moments in my life the most positive experiences of all the things that actually made me
48:06
feel good was came while working with the united states of american americans i'll just give you this one example
48:12
canada was in great difficulty in southern afghanistan because i felt personally
48:17
and i know our government did but i felt personally that nato was not doing what it said would do in
48:22
southern afghanistan when we said we were going in as part of a nato force and in other words they were short
48:28
battalions in the south that should have been there that weren't and i unloaded at one of the meetings at
48:33
nato and you know everybody all the other chiefs of defense staff from the 28 nations were many of them were kind of
48:39
looking at the table and saying i wish he'd shut up or whatever and after i stopped the
48:45
it was silence in the room except for the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from the united states of america who
48:51
said the united states of america will not stand by and see our great friend and ally canada in
48:57
trouble in the south and the next day a battalion moved in from iraq to start working and give the extra
49:04
firepower literally in the south and additional resources started flowing into afghanistan
49:10
we fought side by side brother and sister with our american friends and allies and
49:15
it was wonderful in almost every circumstance and i think they'd probably say exactly the same
49:20
thing wow love brothers and sisters quite literally nice all right last one
49:28
uh russell wants to uh wants to tell you he's a father of three children in elementary school is there any future
49:36
education of new stories to help educate and let little people know
49:42
what a true hero is well russell that's what we're trying to do we're trying to tell those stories of
49:48
canadian heroes again padre booth you know a chaplain one of the most
49:53
mild-mannered people quiet as individual you'd ever meet in your life and on the 19th of august 1942 on the beach of the
50:00
yep with the royal hamilton light infantry he started carrying wounded to the shelter of a landing craft that had been
50:06
destroyed under open fire from the german machine guns and cannon on each side of the cliffs
50:11
he did that through the most of the day and then he carried those wounded when the tide came in and started threatening to drown them
50:17
he carried them through the tide through the water to the boats to take them offshore the last boat he got into himself his
50:23
commander said hey padre time to go where this is the last boat going back to england he got in the boat turned around and got
50:31
back out of the boat and said to his commander these pointing at the more than 2
50:36
000 prisoners of war canadian soldiers being taken by the germans these my flock here needs me more than
50:42
they do back in england and he went into a prisoner of war camp for the next three years to serve
50:47
the men that were taken as prisoners that day awarded the victoria cross for that for incredible bravery he came back
50:54
to canada served as a member of the legislative assembly for ontario uh you know in in in queens park in
51:01
ontario and i think he died in 1965 but an incredible hero
51:06
russell we want to tell their stories we want to be able to articulate them for canadians from three to
51:12
three hundred if people grow that whole when you hear stories
51:17
not to downplay it at all but it makes our current situation just a little more
51:23
easy to manage i mean those were those are stories that just uh oh they give you goosebumps if you if
51:29
you don't get emotional about them uh you know they they were asked to go ashore in the
51:35
face of fire and almost certain death at times we're being asked to stay home and sit on the couch i think we can get this
51:42
yeah well said buddy general hilliar i can't tell you uh how
51:49
honored we are that you took the time to join us here this the eve of of another remembrance day
51:56
shared it with us and um and uh we're thrilled to call you a
52:02
friend and as we said before anything we can do to help you in your cause you need but to reach out and uh
52:10
and and pete and mike also in the background here uh thanks so much thanks for having me on and uh
52:15
and thanks for continuing to be the supporters of canadian soldiers and veterans and their families that you are and thanks for the assistance of help i
52:22
guarantee you we will call upon you okay thank you take care rick hey rick
52:32
wow now you know why why i came back from that newfoundland
52:38
shoot i was i was just you spend you spent four days with a man like that in a boat
52:44
you know in a fishing scenario and the story that he told pete yeah the the because of course i would i
52:50
would be poking at him all the time you know like what was your you know freakiest thing what's what's like i was constantly
52:56
and the stuff he came out with just is he's such a storyteller too like he's
53:02
just that he is unbelievable when he talks it's just like oh my god i'm so clued to everything he says
53:08
and i'm not kidding you this man is a rock star everyone knows people line up people line up for
53:15
days and so he should be and so he's never treated her as a rock star you know what i mean i was i was absolutely humbled to spend
53:22
that time with him just a wonderful guy and i'll tell you what uh the troops have got as long as rick
53:28
is around the troops have got somebody looking after him oh yeah for sure he won't let that memory go
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