Place of women in the army | The Chief of Staff denounces the remarks of the Secretary of Defense designate

(Halifax) Canada’s top general strongly rejected the idea of ​​removing women from combat roles – a position promoted by President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense – at a forum on security taking place this weekend in Halifax.

General Jennie Carignan, Chief of Defense Staff, was responding to Republican Senator James Risch’s comments made Friday regarding Peter Hegseth’s opposition to the presence of women in combat units.

Asked about Mr. Hegseth’s views, the Idaho senator told the nearly 300 delegates that the “jury is still out” on how to handle the “unique situations” created by the presence of women in combat. He added that it was ultimately up to the U.S. military to decide the matter.

M^me Carignan took a few minutes to respond to comments at the start of a panel on how Western militaries are responding to the challenge posed by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. His audience included a number of women in uniform.

“I would not want anyone to leave this forum with the idea that women are a distraction to defense and national security,” the general said.

Mr. Hegseth, a former military officer who is a regular Fox News commentator, has said in his book and in interviews that he believes men and women should not serve together in combat units.

On November 7, he said on a US podcast that the presence of women in combat roles did not make units more effective or more deadly, and “made fighting more complicated.” Mr. Hegseth also said women had a place in the military, but not in special operations, artillery, infantry and armored units.

Mr. Hegseth’s position was raised during Friday’s “conversation” between Mr. Risch and Democratic Party Sen. Jeanne Shaheen during the conference’s opening panel. Mr. Risch is the most senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and said during the panel that he considers Donald Trump a friend.

M^me Shaheen took a different stance than Mr. Risch, explaining, “If women believe they cannot fully participate in our U.S. military and assume combat roles, that will impact the women who join our army. »

Commander Anna Novak, a member of the Ukrainian armed forces who heard M^me Speaking Saturday, Carignan explained that women play a vital role in her country’s combat units.

The head of logistics of a motorized brigade, who also served in combat units, said: “I know women who very successfully carry out their combat tasks,” adding that she knows at least 50 women who operate drones against Russian invaders.

“A lot of women get involved because they want to protect what matters most in their lives,” she said in an interview.

During other panel discussions, several speakers said the world had become a more dangerous place as authoritarian states united to support Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

In her opening speech, Mélanie Joly, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, explained that Russia’s ability to invade Ukraine existed “only thanks to material support from China, missiles and drones from China. Iran and the troops of North Korea.

The recurring theme of the meeting is that if Ukraine fails to win against Russia, other states will be emboldened to violate the territorial integrity of democracies, whether through China’s threats against Taiwan or through growing territorial claims by China and Russia in the Arctic.

At a roundtable discussion on the Arctic, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair noted that Chinese ships were mapping the seabed and gathering intelligence in Arctic waters.

During the same session, US Coast Guard Commander Admiral Linda Fagan explained that there had been “a sea change” in the Chinese and Russian presence in the Arctic.

“Until last summer, only one Chinese research vessel was expected to be in the Arctic; last summer there were five.”

The conference also heard from advocates who have tried to resist repression in non-democratic countries.

The day’s opening panel discussion was moderated by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarus’ exiled opposition leader, who described her struggles four years after a 2020 presidential election widely denounced as fraudulent.

The Eastern European country has maintained many restrictions and policies dating from the days of the Soviet Union and is often referred to as the continent’s last dictatorship. M^me Tsikhanouskaya said she estimates nearly 500,000 Belarusians are currently living in exile.

She added that the pain felt by her people drives her to fight on their behalf, and that after years of knocking on the doors of Western democratic leaders, she sometimes achieves success.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya cited the example of Lithuania, which agreed in September to bring charges of crimes against humanity against the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.