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“I have a lot of respect for Chris not only as professional officer but as a person. She is one of our best,” said Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Dave Fraser who has worked with Whitecross many times over the years. “What she will bring to the college in Rome is balance on the tactical and strategic level.

“This is great news for Canada because it gives us a strategic voice and strategic effect in the educating that is required for NATO’s future. This will be a great opportunity for her to demonstrate Canada’s value-based ethics that she epitomizes.”

A chemical engineer by academic training and an airfield engineer by military training, Whitecross has been in the air force for 34 years. During that time she has been posted to Yellowknife, where she oversaw Canadian military operations across the Arctic, as well as to Germany, the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan where, as a one-star general, she was one of the deputy chiefs of staff to the commander of the International Security Assistance Force.

Whitecross’s most recent progress report for the Canadian Forces Strategic Response Team on Sexual Misconduct was released two weeks ago in Ottawa, identifying 148 new reported cases of harmful and inappropriate sexual behaviour within Canada’s military ranks between April and June of this year. Those allegations had already led to criminal charges against seven soldiers with 30 others receiving “career impacting disciplinary and/or administrative actions.”

She will be the first Canadian to run the NATO school since Lt.-General (ret.) Richard Evraire held the post in 1992. Her appointment comes just weeks after NATO criticized itself and its member states for not doing enough to promote female soldiers within the alliance.