Senior Officer Biography
MAJOR-GENERAL COLLIN J.C. , OMM, CD
COMMANDER
Major-General Collin began his military career at Royal Roads Military College where he obtained his under-graduate degree in 1982. In the early years following graduation, he completed a variety of leadership and staff positions as an armoured officer working with both tanks and reconnaissance vehicles in Ontario, Germany, Quebec and New Brunswick.
In 1988, he returned to Germany for a second time; focusing on NATO's defense of Europe. In 1991, he was promoted to major, assumed command of a tank squadron, and was actually the last Canadian tank squadron commander to serve in Europe. Leaving Germany in July 1993, he then performed several different staff and instructional duties in Canada before returning to Europe as Chief of Joint Plans at NATO's primary operational headquarters, located in the Netherlands. In August 1999, Major-General Collin took command of the 12e Régiment blindé du Canada - an armoured regiment in Valcartier, Quebec.
Between 2001 and 2008, in the ranks of colonel and brigadier-general, he saw service primarily at the strategic level with positions as: Chief of Staff for Land Forces in Atlantic Canada; Deputy Special Advisor to the Chief of Defence Staff for Defence Policy Review and Homeland Security Issues; Commandant at the Army's Command and Staff College in Kingston Ontario; and Director General Plans, Strategic Joint Staff at National Defence Headquarters.
Major-General Collin assumed command of Joint Task Force (Central)/Land Force Central Area on 5 March 2008 and was responsible for all Army personnel, resources, operational readiness and activity in Ontario. He was also mandated to conduct all military domestic operations in the province and oversaw the entire cadet movement within Ontario. In July 2010, he was transferred to Canada Command in Ottawa where he served initially as the Chief of Staff before being promoted to his current rank and appointed as the deputy Commander of Canada Command in July 2011.
Major-General Collin has completed his staff college courses in Kingston and Toronto, including the National Security Studies Course, and has a Masters in Public Administration from Queen's University. He has also had the privilege of serving with the first Canadian contingent deployed to Bosnia, as part of the team responsible for opening the Sarajevo airport during the summer of 1992, and the first Canadian contingent to serve in Afghanistan during Operation APOLLO in 2002. More recently, he was the Commander of the Joint Task Force responsible for military assistance to the G8 and G20 Summits in June 2010.
