Gen. Maurice Baril stops in Yellowknife to get familiar with the Canadian Forces Northern Area
Darren Campbell
Northern News Services
NNSL (Aug 05/98) - Gen. Maurice Baril said he is here to look at, sniff and smell Canada's North.
The Canadian Forces chief of defence staff was in Yellowknife on Tuesday to visit the Canadian Forces Northern Area headquarters.
The 55-year-old Baril took charge of the forces in September of 1997. He said the visit, which also includes stops in Whitehorse and Alert, will give him a chance to learn what the Forces do in Canada's North.
"I'm coming here to look, sniff, smell and talk to people and see if we can improve anything," Baril told reporters.
"But to do that you have to feel it, meet the people who live here and hear what they have to say."
There are only 98 Armed Forces personnel serving in the Northern area. That number goes up to approximately 1,500 if you include the 56 ranger patrols in Northern communities.
Baril said the challenges facing the Forces in the North are the same as everywhere else in Canada --money and resources are tight.
"We're asked to do more with less. My view is we do better with less," said Baril.
He added that with cutbacks to defence budgets, the men and women in the Forces and their families have had a lot of turmoil in recent years. He said the challenge for the military's leadership is to still attract good people as money gets scarce.
The military has also been tarnished in the past few years by sex and violence scandals. But Baril said he thinks morale is good within and the bad press isn't hurting their operations.
"Look at our work during the Manitoba floods or the ice storms. It (the scandals) doesn't take anything away from the good people we have everywhere," said Baril.
Col. Pierre Leblanc, commander of the Canadian Forces Northern Area, said it is important for Gen. Baril to visit the North because it will give him a better idea of what their needs are.
"When my direct supervisor comes here and sees how I do things, it helps my work," said Leblanc. "So when we discuss issues of strategic nature he has a better understanding of what I want."
