Commander of the Canadian Army

History of the position

Prior to 1904, militia land forces in Canada were commanded by British Army senior officers appointed as General Officer Commanding the Canadian Militia. British regular forces in the Dominion had their own commander until the withdrawal of the last British garrison in 1906. In 1903–1904, Canada's Army embarked on a new period of modernization that included the creation of a new office of Chief of the General Staff. Eighteen officers held the position between 1904 and 1964. The last of these, Lieutenant General Geoffrey Walsh, officially stood down the appointment on 31 August 1964 following the official integration of the three armed services into a single Canadian Armed Forces. Following the unification of Canada's military forces in February 1968, the majority of Canada's land element was assigned to the newly created Mobile Command and the senior Canadian army officer was then known as Commander of Mobile Command from 1965–1993. The command was renamed Land Force Command and the senior Canadian army officer was known as Chief of the Land Staff from 1993–2011. In 2011 Land Force Command was officially re-designated as the Canadian Army, at which time the appointment was also renamed Commander of the Canadian Army to reflect these organizational changes.

Commanders

1. Lieutenant-General Sir E.S. Smyth 1875–1880
2. Major-General R.G.A. Luard 1880–1884
3. Major-General Sir F.D. Middleton 1884–1890
4. Major General The Rt Hon Lord Treowen 1890–1895
5. Major-General Sir W.J. Gascoigne 1895–1898
6. Major-General Sir E.T.H. Hutton 1898–1900
7. Major-General R.H.O. Haly 1900–1902
8. Major-General The Rt Hon Earl of Dundonald 1902–1904

1. Major-General Sir P.H.N. Lake 1904–1908
2. Major-General Sir W.D. Otter 1908–1910
3. Major General Sir C.J. Mackenzie 1910–1913
4. Major-General Sir W.G. Gwatkin 1913–1919
5. General Sir A.W. Currie 1919–1920*
6. Major-General Sir J.H. MacBrien 1920–1927
7. Major-General H.C. Thacker 1927–1928
8. Major-General A.G.L. McNaughton 1929–1935
9. Major-General E.C. Ashton 1935–1938
10. Major-General T.V. Anderson 1938–1940
11. Lieutenant-General H.D.G. Crerar 1940–1941
12. Lieutenant-General K. Stuart 1941–1943
13. Lieutenant-General J.C. Murchie 1944–1945
14. Lieutenant-General C. Foulkes 1945–1951
15. Lieutenant-General G.G. Simonds 1951–1955
16. Lieutenant-General H.D. Graham 1955–1958
17. Lieutenant-General S.F. Clark 1958–1961
18. Lieutenant-General G. Walsh 1961–1964

1. Lieutenant-General J.V. Allard 1965–1966
2. Lieutenant-General W. Anderson 1966–1969
3. Lieutenant-General G. Turcot 1969–1972
4. Lieutenant General W. Milroy 1972–1973
5. Lieutenant-General S. Waters 1973–1975
6. Lieutenant-General J. Chouinard 1975–1977
7. Lieutenant General J.J. Paradis 1977–1981
8. Lieutenant-General C.H. Belzile 1981–1986
9. Lieutenant-General J. Fox 1986–1989
10. Lieutenant General K. Foster 1989–1991
11. Lieutenant-General J. Gervais 1991–1993

1. Lieutenant-General G. Reay 1993–1996
2. Lieutenant-General M. Baril 1996–1997
3. Lieutenant General W. Leach 1997–2000
4. Lieutenant-General M. Jeffery 2000–2003
5. Lieutenant-General R. Hillier 2003–2005
6. Lieutenant-General M. Caron 2005–2006
7. Lieutenant-General A. Leslie 2006–2010
8. Lieutenant-General P. Devlin 2010–2011

1. Lieutenant-General P. Devlin 2011–2013
2. Lieutenant-General M. Hainse 2013-2016
3. Lieutenant-General P.F. Wynnyk 2016 to present