Note to Readers

NOTE TO READERS Military Ranks and Titles In recounting events and reporting on testimony received, this report refers to many members of the Canadian Forces by name, rank and, sometimes, title or position held. Generally, we have used the rank and title in place at the time of the Somalia deployment or at the time an individual testified before this Commission of Inquiry, as appropriate. Thus, for example, the ranks mentioned in text recounting the events of 1992-93 are those held by individuals just before and during the deployment to Somalia, while ranks mentioned in endnotes are those held by individuals at the time of their testimony before the Inquiry. Since then, many of these individuals will have changed rank or retired or left the Canadian Forces for other reasons. We have made every effort to check the accuracy of ranks and titles, but we recognize the possibility of inadvertent errors, and we apologize to the individuals involved for any inaccuracies that might remain. Source Material This report is documented in endnotes presented at the conclusion of each chapter. Among the sources referred to, readers will find mention of testimony given at the Inquiry's policy and evidentiary hearings; documents filed with the Inquiry by government departments as a result of orders for the production of documents; briefs and submissions to the Inquiry; research studies conducted under the Inquiry's commissioned research program; and documents issued by the Inquiry over the course of its work. Testimony: Testimony before the Commission of Inquiry is cited by reference to transcripts of the Inquiry's policy and evidentiary hearings, which are contained in 193 volumes and will also be preserved on CD- ROM after the Inquiry completes its work. For example: Testimony of LCol Nordick, Transcripts vol. 2, pp. 269-270. Evidence given at the policy hearings is denoted by the letter 'P'. For example: Testimony of MGen Dallaire, Policy hearings transcripts vol. 3P, p. 477P. Transcripts of testimony are available in the language in which testimony was given; in some cases, therefore, testimony quoted in the report has been translated from the language in which it was given. Documents and Exhibits: Quotations from some documents and other material (charts, maps) filed with the Inquiry are cited with a document book number and a tab number or an exhibit number. These refer to binders of documents assembled for Commissioners' use at the Inquiry's hearings. See Volume 5, Chapter 40 for a description of how we managed and catalogued the tens of thousands of documents we received in evidence. Some of the references contain DND (Department of National Defence) identification numbers in lieu of or in addition to page numbers. These were numbers assigned at DND and stamped on each page as documents were being scanned for transmission to the Inquiry in electronic format. Many other references are to DND publications, manuals, policies and guidelines. Also quoted extensively are the National Defence Act (NDA), Canadian Forces Organization Orders (CFOO), Canadian Forces Administrative Orders (CFAO), and the Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Canadian Forces (which we refer to as the Queen's Regulations and Orders, or QR&O). Our general practice was to provide the full name of documents on first mention in the notes to a chapter, with shortened titles or abbreviations after that. Research Studies: The Commission of Inquiry commissioned 10 research studies, which were published at various points during the life of the Inquiry. Endnotes citing studies not yet published during final preparation of this report may contain references to or quotations from unedited manuscripts. Published research and the Inquiry's report will be available in Canada through local booksellers and by mail from Canada Communication Group Publishing, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0S9. All other material pertaining to the Inquiry's work will be housed in the National Archives of Canada at the conclusion of our work. Acronyms and Abbreviations This report contains many acronyms and abbreviations for government departments and programs and Canadian Forces elements, systems, equipment, and other terms. Generally, these names and terms are spelled out in full with their abbreviation or acronym at their first occurrence in each chapter; the abbreviation or acronym is used after that. For ranks and titles, we adopted the abbreviations in use in the Canadian Forces and at the Department of National Defence. A list of the acronyms and abbreviations used most often, including abbreviations for military ranks, is presented in Appendix 8, at the end of Volume 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On one level, public inquiries are temporary agencies of government with an official life of their own, reported in the media and identifiable to citizens as in our particular case, The Somalia Inquiry. On another level, they are organizations of expert personnel summoned to work together for a limited period of time. They have a life-cycle of birth, learning, productive maturity, and death -- somewhat untimely, in our case. The crisis that usually calls public inquiries into being, the urgency of the task and its difficulties, create an almost wartime atmosphere that demands great effort, close teamwork, and a tight focus on the ultimate goal. This challenge can bring out the best in men and women, as it did in our group. Public inquiries are identified publicly with their Chairs and Commissioners but they flourish or fail in large part according to the strengths or weaknesses of their staffs who work behind the scenes. Our excellent staff was led and was largely the creation of our Secretary, Stanley Cohen. A brilliant lawyer with deep experience and understanding of government, he was able to quickly assemble a core team in the spring of 1995. His skills as an administrator, counsellor, negotiator, and animator of our group were extraordinary and vital to our success. As have other inquiries in the past, we relied primarily on the work of legal and research components. Our Senior Counsel were Simon Noël and Barbara McIsaac who dealt masterfully with an overwhelming amount of documentary evidence, sometimes conflicting requirements of lawyers for the various parties, and the task of examining witnesses fairly and comprehensively during our televised hearings. They were assisted by Intermediate Counsel Ian Stauffer, Sylvie Roussel, and Thomas Conway, as well as Junior Counsel Hélène Dorion, Lynn Lovett, John McManus, Eloïse Arbour, and Jennifer Oulton. During part of our Inquiry we also benefited from the wisdom, wit, and courtroom experience of Hymie Weinstein before he was called back to Winnipeg by the demands of a public inquiry in his home city. François Daviault and François Lemieux also played an important role in our counsel group at different stages of our Inquiry. Our research group, consisting of lawyers and academics with varied and extensive experience, was under the able direction of David Pomerant: Glenn Gilmour, Janice Tokar, Holly Solomon, Laura Farquharson, Donna Winslow, Claude Bouchard, David Goetz, Ellen Margolese, and Robert Young. This team carried out the monumental task of reviewing, analyzing, and distilling thousands of pages of material related to our terms of reference and, under our direction, participated in the drafting of major portions of this report. Eric Myles served as Special Assistant to the Secretary and Chief Historian responsible for the supervision of the group of file analysts who organized, classified, summarized, and evaluated the massive documentation that we obtained from hundreds of sources (Judith Shane, Robert LeBlond, Stephen Bierbrier, François-René Dussault, Deirdre Hilary, Christopher Bolland, Pierre Léonard, Tom Clearwater, Deryn Collier, Karen Capen, Ella Heyder, Maureen Armstrong, Ouafaa Douab, Suzanne Alexander, Cheryl Ringor, Marcia Waldron, Sophie Boulakia, and Alain Laurencelle). Eugene Oscapella and Greg Rose also provided invaluable assistance to both the research and the file analyst groups in the final report writing phase of our process. Our military advisers brought a wealth of domestic and international experience to their role as our Technical Advisors: BGen (ret) Jim Simpson, LGen (ret) Jack Vance, LCol (ret) Doug Bland, Col (ret) Ted Nurse, and François Lareau. Their selfless service to our Inquiry embodied the true meaning of "fidelity to the military institution". Special investigations were the responsibility of Inspector Gerry Braun and Inspector Dan Killam on loan to us from the RCMP. Their tireless professional service was crucial to the success of our operation. Director of Administration, André Plante, managed our own personnel and resources efficiently, assisted by Management Adviser Maurice Lacasse. Some of the essential services that we depended on throughout our Inquiry, and which were always performed above and beyond the call of duty, were provided by Library Technician, Linda Cameron; Neil Blaney, Dennis Brook, and Stephen Charron in Network Support for our computer system; Gail Bradshaw in Information Management; Finance Officer, Hélène Berthiaume; Records Manager, Gilles Desjardins; and Jane Simms, our supervisor of document processing clerks. John Koh was both a member of our counsel group and Manager, Litigation Support. He, along with Michael Burn and Paul Harte, was of great assistance to us in organizing and gaining mastery over the enormous flow of documentation that we were obliged to process. Our interface with the public, through hearings and media exposure, was the responsibility of Hearing Co- ordinator, Françoise McNamee, and Communications Manager, Sheena Pennie, of Delta Media, who handled more than 100 media calls daily on occasion. During the hearings we relied on the experience and abilities of our Registrars, Linda Martel and Susan Fraser. We also wish to thank Denis Vezina, Marc Mayer, Michel Valiquette, and Gilles Franche who provided security and other support to us during our hearings. In writing this report we were fortunate to have had the assistance of a team of hard working and professional writers and editors, under the direction of Tom Gussman, Ian Sadinsky, and Pauline McKillop.

Load more