Thank you for the question. I will speak in English. My French is very rusty. Usually I like to say I need a glass of red wine to make it work better, but maybe not today.
First of all, I believe that the person in this position must be a veteran. In order to be credible in the veterans community, the person who occupies this job must be a veteran. What I bring to the table is that I have served in all three environments: with the air force, with the navy and with the army, although not in a combat unit, because when I joined the army, women did not serve in combat roles, so I missed that opportunity.
As an officer, I've led soldiers at all ranks, and I was privileged to have been given command of a unit, which is the pinnacle of service in the military, so I bring that understanding of command as well.
Also, as a senior officer I worked at National Defence headquarters in capital procurement and was involved in buying military trucks, and I served overseas in Afghanistan for almost a year. I've been out for so many years and it's been over 15 years since I deployed, but I had to leave my young son at home for a year while I deployed. I bring that level of experience.
I also went to military college in the third class that accepted women, so I have that experience of having served as a woman when women were not necessarily welcomed with open arms, shall we say.