After more than 28 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Military Engineer Branch, CWO S.J.L. Fortier, CD, (00381) will retire on 7 Aug 2025. A DwD reception will be held at the CMR St-Jean, Vieux-Mess on 31 July 2025 at 1300 hrs. Congratulatory messages, well wishes or anecdotes can be sent to MWO A.M. Lalancette: marc.lalancette@forces.gc.ca.
CHIMO!
CWO Sébastien Fortier enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces as a combat engineer in 1996 with the 3rd Engineer Regiment in the reserve. Subsequently, in 1998, he transferred to the regular force at the 5th Combat Engineer Regiment in Valcartier.
From September 2001 until April 2002, he participated in OPERATION PALLADIUM as the driver of the recce Sgt. In the summer of 2003, he completed the heavy equipment operator course at the School of Military Engineering, Gagetown, New Brunswick. Subsequently, CWO Fortier completed several courses, including the grader, excavator, and the basic leadership course. Promoted to the rank of MCpl and posted to CFB Suffield in the summer of 2006, he had the opportunity to perfect his knowledge as a heavy equipment operator.
In the summer of 2010, he was reassigned to 5 CER, Valcartier, where he began training for OPERATION ATHENA in order to deploy to Afghanistan from November 2010 to July 2011.
Upon his return from the mission, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. In July 2012, he successfully completed the section commander course at the Canadian School of Military Engineering. In July 2013, he was posted to the 1st Engineer Support Unit (1 ESU) in Kingston as the Operations Warrant Officer for 11 Engineer Squadron. He successfully completed the Soils Classification and Analysis Course at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in the winter of 2014 and the Arctic Building Inspection Training in the spring of 2014. In the spring of 2015, he completed the Advanced Force Protection course at the NATO school in Oberammergau, Germany.
In the winter of 2016, he returned to the School of Engineering to complete the Troop Warrant Officer course. Promoted to the rank of warrant officer in the spring of 2016, CWO Fortier successfully completed the Intermediate Leadership Program course at the Robert Osside Institute. In recent years, CWO Fortier has participated in several deployments, including OP IMPACT (Kuwait), OP BRIE (Belize, Central America), OP PROTEUS (Jerusalem) twice, and OP REASSURANCE (Latvia).
In 2018, CWO Fortier left the regular force to return to the reserve to occupy the same functions within the 1st Engineer Support Unit in Kingston. In the spring of 2019, CWO Fortier participated in OP PRESENCE (Dakar, Senegal) from April 2019 to August 2019 as the Plans Warrant Officer. In September 2020, he returned to the Robert Osside Institute to complete the Advanced Leadership Program. Promoted to the rank of MWO in 2021, he became the Project Coordinator of the 1st Engineering Support Unit and coordinated a portfolio of approximately 10 to 12 projects per year. In the summer of 2022, CWO Fortier deployed for his second mission, OP PRESENCE (Senegal), as Sergeant-Major of the Operations Support Hub in Africa from June 2022 to January 2023. In the spring of 2023, he returned to the NATO school in Germany and completed the Advanced Leadership Program in a multinational environment.
CWO Fortier was promoted to his current rank in the summer of 2023 and appointed as the new Group Sergeant-Major for the 2nd Canadian Rangers Patrol Group in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec. CWO Fortier will retire on August 7, 2025, and intends to take time to practice his golf skills and travel. He is married to Sgt Martine Fortier and they have two children, Mathieu and Lauri-Ann, as well as one Goldendoodle, Rio.
Chimo!