Michael Norman Rouleau (born July 4, 1967) is a retired

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

officer who served as a

lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

in the

Canadian Special Operations Forces Command Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM; ) is a command of the Canadian Armed Forces. It is responsible for all special forces operations that respond to terrorism and threats to Canadians and Canadian interests around the world. C ...

. He was the vice chief of the Defence Staff from July 15, 2020, until June 14, 2021.

Education

Rouleau obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

. He would later graduate from the

Royal Military College of Canada The Royal Military College of Canada (), abbreviated in English as RMC and in French as CMR, is a Military academy#Canada, military academy and, since 1959, a List of universities in Canada#Ontario, degree-granting university of the Canadian ...

with a Masters in Defence Studies and a Master of Arts Degree in Security, Management, and Defence Policy.

Military career

Rouleau joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in 1985 as an artillery officer. In 1994 he became a Special Operation Assaulter with Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2) In 1999, he retired from the CAF and joined the ranks of the Ottawa Carleton Regional Police Service as an emergency response officer. However, he re-enrolled in the CAF in 2002 following the events of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

against the United States. Rouleau was appointed Commander of the

in February 2014. He was Commander of the

Canadian Joint Operations Command The Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC; ) is one of the two unified commands of the Canadian Armed Forces, the other one being the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. CJOC was announced in May 2012 as the result of the cost-cuttin ...

from June 2018 to March 2020 before being replaced by Lieutenant-General Christopher J. Coates. In July 2020, Rouleau was named Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. In March 2021,

Frances J. Allen Lieutenant-General Frances Jennifer Allen, is a senior officer serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force. On June 28, 2021, she assumed office as Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Military career Alle ...

was announced as his successor and he was named a strategic advisor to the chief of the Defence Staff on future capabilities, pending Allen's completion of service as Canada's Representative to the

NATO Military Committee The NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s Military Committee (MC) is the body that is composed of Member states of NATO, member states' Chief of Defence, Chiefs of Defence (CHOD). These national CHODs are regularly represented in the M ...

. He resigned prematurely from the role on June 14, 2021, after controversy over a golf game he played with former Chief of the Defence Staff

Jonathan Vance General (Canada), General Jonathan Holbert Vance (born January 3, 1964) is a retired Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Forces officer who served as a General (Canada), general in the Canadian Army. Vance was the Chief of the Defence Staff (Canad ...

during an investigation into the latter for sexual misconduct.

Honours and decorations

Rouleau has received the following orders and decorations during his military career:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rouleau, Michael Canadian generals Living people 1967 births University of Manitoba alumni Royal Military College of Canada alumni Vice chiefs of the Defence Staff (Canada) Commanders of the Order of Military Merit (Canada) Canadian police officers