Published April 29, 2014
Jean-François was born in Lachine, QC. In 1982, he joined the Canadian Forces and graduated Royal Military College (RMC) of Canada in 1987 with a B Eng. in Chemical and Materials Engineering. He then completed his training as an Army Engineer and was posted to Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, AB, as the Engineering Officer. In 1990, Jean-François was promoted to the rank of Captain and transferred to 5th Combat Engineer Regiment, Valcartier, QC. During that tour, he took part to United Nations missions in Cyprus and Cambodia.
In 1993, Maj Legault went back to RMC to obtain his M Eng. in Chemical and Materials Engineering and was subsequently appointed as Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Promoted to Major in 1999, he was transferred to the Directorate of Engineers, National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) in Ottawa, ON. In 2001, he was posted to the Directorate of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence, as project director responsible for the detection and identification of chemical and radiological agents. In 2005, Maj Legault worked at Canada Command as of one the lead planners for the Canadian Forces support to the Vancouver 2010 Games. Following this appointment he moved to ADM(IE) in 2007 as Assistant Chief Military Engineer 2. As of July 2008, Maj Legault is the DCO of the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit.
Among some of his ex-curriculum activities, Maj Legault has also been the nuclear, biological and chemical advisor to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Provincial Emergency Response Team since 2003. In 2008, he received the OPP Association Award for most outstanding auxiliary unit commander. During the same year he was also appointed as Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada for his contribution to the field of chemical engineering. He is a Black belt (nidan) in Yoshinkan Aikido.
“JF” is now moving on with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Emergency Management Division, in Ottawa.