Transcript

(P) Welcome back to Defence Team News, I’m Lt(N) Phillip Henry.

(S) And I’m Shelley Van Hoof. Here are the headlines at Defence.

(P) The world’s largest maritime exercise, Exercise Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC 2018, concluded this month following an intensive multi-week program conducted in and around Hawaii and Southern California.

More than 1,000 Canadian soldiers, sailors, airwomen, and airmen participated in the exercise alongside approximately 25,000 military personnel from 24 other nations. Underscoring the RIMPAC theme of “Capable, Adaptive Partners,” the CAF contingent demonstrated excellence in complex land, sea, and air operations, while integrating with allied forces.

(S) An event honouring the life of Company Sergeant Major Francis Pegahmagabow recently took place at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa. As the most decorated Indigenous soldier of the First World War, he was an expert sniper and later became an active voice in the Indigenous Rights movement in Canada.

At the event, we spoke to Dr. Brian McInnes, Sergeant Major Pegahmagabow’s great-grandson, to learn more.

(B) This particular production of Sounding Thunder: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow is what I would describe as a musical collaboration, bringing together a lot of different types and styles of music, from classical orchestral symphony-like playing, to traditional Anishinaabe First Nations singing, with storytelling tradition, with digital narrative pieces, with this marvelous storyline crafted by Armand Ruffo that tells us some of the highlights of the military work and the post-war experience of Francis Pegahmagabow.

(P) Before we go, Defence Research and Development Canada Toronto is looking for Canadian Armed Forces volunteers between the ages of 25-35 to participate in a heat tolerance study.

(S) The study will examine the heat tolerance of CAF members returning to the field after suffering a heat-related injury or illness. If you’re interested in participating, visit the related links for more information.

(P) That’s it for us. Thank you so much for watching. See you next time…

(S)…for Defence Team News!