After more than 32 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineers, CWO João "John" Pereira, MMM, CD will retire on 1 Sep 2021. There will be a DWD ceremony on Friday, 20 August 2021. Unfortunately, given the current COVID-19 restrictions, attendance will be by invitation only.
Anecdotes or retirement wishes may be sent to CWO Donnie Matthews at Donald.Matthews2@forces.gc.ca

Chief Warrant Officer John Pereira was born in Viseu, Portugal and also lived in Mandimba, Mozambique in Africa. He immigrated to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1976. As a new Canadian citizen in 1988, he joined the CAF as an Infantryman with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada. As his last reserve duty, he was employed at CFRC Hamilton as a CAF Recruiter.
In 1998, CWO Pereira component transferred and changed occupations to Fire Fighter. Upon completion of occupation training, he was posted to 8 Wing Trenton as a Fire Fighter Crewman and Journeyman.
From 1999-2000 he would be employed at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Fire Hall assisting with emergency response operations and part of the last Military crew to do so. In 2000, it was time to serve with the West Coast Navy onboard HMCS Regina as a Shipboard Fire Fighter. While there, CWO Pereira completed a deployment on Operation Apollo in the Arabian Sea.
In 2003, CWO Pereira was promoted to Master Corporal and posted back to 8 Wing Trenton Fire Hall briefly as a Crew Chief and then was re-assigned to the newly formed Joint Nuclear Biological and Chemical Defence Company which would later become the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit. In 2005, CWO Pereira returned to the Fire Hall at 8 Wing and was promoted to Sergeant in 2006 holding positions of Deputy Platoon Chief and Platoon Chief.
In 2007, CWO Pereira would once again serve with Canada’s Navy but this time on the East Coast. As Senior Fire Fighter and Flight Safety Officer, he would serve onboard three vessels, HMCS Charlottetown, Toronto and St. John’s. His travels included deployments on Op Altair to the Arabian Sea and Horn of Africa in 2008 and Op Caribbe anti-drug enforcement operations in the Caribbean Sea in 2009.
In 2010 he was promoted to Warrant Officer and posted to 14 Wing Greenwood as a Platoon Chief, followed by a posting in 2012 to 12 Wing Shearwater as a Deputy Fire Chief. In 2014, a promotion to MWO would see a posting to 17 Winnipeg as Wing Fire Chief. In 2017, his next promotion to CWO would challenge him in the role of Fire Fighter Fire Fighter and Geomatics Technician Career Manager, the last CWO to hold this position. In 2018 he was the recipient of the Sovereign’s Medal For Volunteers for his contributions to Scouts Canada across 10 communities for over 25 years.
CWO Pereira would see his last posting at CFB Borden and was appointed as the Canadian Forces Fire and CBRN Academy CWO in 2019. While there he was inducted as a Member of the Order of Military Merit in 2020.
CWO Pereira will be retiring from the CAF after 32+ years of service and is looking forward to becoming a “Maritimer” in the Greater Moncton area making up for lost time with his wife Sarah and continuing with his passions of volunteering with Scouts Canada, being a member of the Portuguese Veteran’s League and when opportunities arise, represent the CAF as a veteran at Citizenship ceremonies. Of course, he is also looking forward to maintaining his connections with the friends he has met throughout his career in the CAF and those from his various walks of life that have supported him, something for which he is eternally grateful.