Chief of The Defence Staff (Canada) - History

History

Until 1964, there existed a Chief of the Naval Staff, as head of the Royal Canadian Navy, a Chief of the General Staff, as head of the Canadian Army, and a Chief of the Air Staff, as head of the Royal Canadian Air Force. A position known as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee existed, which had a loose coordination function, although it lacked the command and control responsibilities of the later position of Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS).

The position of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the positions of the three service chiefs were abolished in 1964 and replaced by the position of CDS. This change was based on a white paper initiated by Paul Hellyer, Minister of National Defence in the Cabinet headed by Lester B. Pearson. Following the tabling of the white paper, the minister introduced legislation that took effect in August 1964. The newly established Chief of the Defence Staff was to "head all of Canada's military forces, backed by a defence headquarters that was integrated and restructured to reflect six so-called functional commands, replacing eleven former service commands. 'Functional' described a command that was non-geographic and beyond any particular service or traditional arm." In May 1967, Bill C-243 was passed by parliament and was effective as of February 1, 1968. The law dissolved the three armed services and created the Canadian Forces under the command of the CDS.

In 2011, three functional commands—namely Maritime Command, Land Force Command, and Air Command—had their original names—Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force, respectively—reinstated. The heads of the three services, the Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, Commander Canadian Army, and Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force report to the CDS, rather than to the Minister of National Defence, as occurred prior to 1964.