WRITERS
Stephen Sadler served with the Toronto Police Service for 30 years, retiring as the Sergeant in Charge of one of the two CBRNE teams in Toronto. Over the years, he was involved in a variety of investigative and tactical roles, and taught extensively in Search and Rescue, Public Order and Crowd Management, and Emergency Management programs. Stephen served a year-long tour in Afghanistan, working with EUPOL as a mentor and adviser for the Commanding General in charge of policing for the province of Badakshan. He retired to the corporate sector in 2018, as the Manager for Corporate Security for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
Hugh Segal joined the Canadian Senate in 2005 after four decades of public service which included Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, Associate Cabinet Secretary (Ontario) for Federal-Provincial Affairs and Policies and Priorities, Legislative Assistant to the Leader of the Opposition (Ottawa), President of the independent Institute for Research on Public Policy, Chair of the Special Senate Committee on Anti-Terrorism, and past Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. Senator Segal was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2003.
Presently serving as an Air Controller at the Trenton Joint and Rescue Coordination Centre, Capt Jacques Simard, CD, is an accomplished Computer Programmer/Analyst. He subsequently graduated from the Canadian Forces Air Navigation School in 1991 and was chosen to fly on the CC-130 Hercules. He then served on three consecutive flying tours as a Strategic and Search & Rescue Navigator. During his last flying tour at 424 Sqn, he left his position as Navigator Leader and Chief Check Navigator to volunteer for a six-month tour in the Persian Gulf as the CF Central Air Force Command Liaison Officer.
Major James Simiana is the senior Outreach (external communications and public relations) Public Affairs Officer for the CF/DND in Atlantic Canada. A 16-year member of the Canadian Forces who has previously served as a spokesperson with the Chief of the Air Staff and the Counter-Terrorism Special Operations directorate of the DCDS Group, his operational deployments include Croatia, Bosnia and most recently, Sudan.
Don retired in Queensland, Australia following a career in journalism, public administration and military. A professional speech writer, Don was onetime Managing Editor of the Base Gagetown Gazette, and has served in artillery, infantry and service units. Commissioned at Camp Borden, Don has edited and managed newspapers and journals in capital and provincial newspapers before joining the PR world. Don's articles have been published in Canada, UK, USA and Australia. Don rates his stay on the Bay of Fundy and Northumberland Strait as one of the high points in his life. Don is associated with Service groups such as the Royal United Service Institute and the Returned Services League in Australia.
Elinor Sloan is Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science, Carleton University, and is a former defence analyst with the Department of National Defence. She is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada (BA), the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton (MA), and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (PhD).
Douglas G. Smith is a researcher and emergency manager. From 2002 to 2016 he worked as a contractor for the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC). He operated in Myanmar, Haiti, West Africa and Peru. Back on Canadian soil since 2017, he currently studies the roles of military forces in disaster management.
Wolf is a first generation immigrant child of Russian-Jewish parents who sought asylum as refugees in Canada. He joined the Army at the age of 19 as an Artillery officer. He was severely injured during a training exercise in England, but a prolonged period of rehabilitation, volunteered to transfer to Infantry, and was posted to the Algonquin Regiment, where he served as a First Lieutenant in command of a combat platoon in N.W. Europe. While still in Germany, he was seconded to the Department of Veterans Affairs, in Montreal, as a special "Rehabilitation Officer", to facilitate the discharge procedure and transition to civilian life of the waves of returning soldiers. Pursuant to various health complications and needs, he became a Long Term Care Resident at Ste. Anne's Hospital, some five years ago, where, though bound to bed and wheelchair, he has become an agitator/activist on behalf of his fellow-Veterans.
Dave Spagnolo is currently the Vice President and General Manager of the Defence and Security operations of Thales Canada. Dave has held a number of positions with progressive responsibility within Thales for the past 15 years. Under Dave’s leadership, Thales has become a Premier System Integrator and Prime Contractor in Canada. The company has secured strategic positions in the areas of Army Command and Control, Force Protection, Communications, Mission Systems and Optronics.
A retired maritime barrister, Joe Spears is a principal of the Horseshoe Bay Marine Group (HBMG) in West Vancouver Canada. He has a long-standing interest in all aspects of emergency response, regulatory law enforcement and governance, and the growing impact climate change has on these issues in Canada, an arctic and ocean nation. Joe has acted as ad hoc civil agent for the Attorney General of Canada and has prosecuted federal offenses on behalf of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. He has developed and delivered a national investigation course for Transport Canada Marine Safety and Security. A graduate of Dalhousie University, with a Masters from the London School of Economics, London, England in Sea-Law law, Economics and Policymaking, he has acted for various private sector organizations and government departments as a legal, policy and training advisor (including commercial interests and insurers). A certified mariner and pilot, Joe is a frequent lecturer, commentator and writer both domestically and internationally on these issues. Joe has been writing for FrontLine since 2008.
A Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, Alan Stephenson holds a PhD from Carleton University, and is a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces. He has 3600 fighter hours flying third-generation CF-104 Starfighters and fourth-generation CF-18 Hornets. He has held senior appointments in National Defence Headquarters, NATO and NORAD.
Dr. Harold Stocker has been a Defence Scientist with the Directorate of Science and Technology Policy (DST Pol), Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) Programs since 2001. In his 25-year career, following post-doctoral assignments, including with the National Research Council of Canada, he held progressively senior mgmt positions with the Atomic Energy Control Board (now, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission), and the nuclear regulatory authority in Canada. Although trained as a nuclear physicist, his interest and attention with DRDC are devoted to the study, analysis and assessment of emerging technologies in the defence and national security domains.
Warrant Officer Storey was the CEFCOM HQ War Diarist and OPI for Op KEEPSAKE which oversees the repatriation of mementos, memorials and artifacts from Southwest Asia. Prior to joining CEFCOM HQ in 2008 as a Reservist, Ed had a 26-year career as a Geomatics Technician with Mapping and Charting Establishment in Ottawa where he served on UN, NATO and CF DART overseas deployments to The Former Yugoslavia, Central Africa and Central America. An avid collector of Canadian Army militaria, he has authored over two dozen magazine articles and a book on selected aspects of material history. He retired from the CF in 2012.
Col Sullivan joined the “family business” straight out of high school under the Regular Officer Training Program. After graduation from the University of Manitoba and classification training he was commissioned as a Signals Officer. He held a number of field positions including as Commanding Officer of 2 Mechanized Brigade Group HQ and Signal Squadron and as the CO of 21 Electronic Warfare Regiment. He later held staff positions in project management and gained experience at the operational level during his three years as the J6 with the Canadian Special Operations Forces. He has two operational deployments to Afghanistan. In 2014 he was appointed to the position of the Director Land Command Information/Army G6 in the Canadian Army headquarters.
