Art McDonald

Admiral Arthur Gerard McDonald, CMM, MSM, CD (born 1967) is a Royal Canadian Navy admiral who served as Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Forces from January 14, 2021 until February 24, 2021 when he voluntarily stepped aside pending an investigation by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service. In this position, while he retains his rank and commission, he remains off-duty.

McDonald previously served as Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy and Chief of the Naval Staff. He is Canada's first full admiral since Admiral John Anderson held the rank in 1993.

McDonald graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in military and strategic studies. He also holds a master's of defence studies degree from the same institution. McDonald is also a graduate of the 2003 Canadian Forces College (CFC) Command and Staff Course, the 2012 CFC National Security Studies Programme, and the 2014 U.S. General and Flag Officer Capstone Program at National Defense University in Washington D.C. A 2016 alumnus of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies, he is also a graduate of the Senior Executives in National and International Security program at Harvard University (2017).

In 2010, McDonald served as the Maritime Component Commander of Canadian Joint Task Force Haiti. He received a Meritorious Service Medal in recognition of his coordination of the disaster relief activities of HMCS Halifax and HMCS Athabaskan. He served as commanding officer of HMCS Halifax from 2007 to 2009 before taking command of Fifth Maritime Operations Group in December 2009.

McDonald was appointed Director General of Maritime Forces Development in February 2014, Commander of Maritime Forces Pacific in January 2016 and Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy in June 2019.

On December 23, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that McDonald would succeed General Jonathan Vance as Chief of the Defence Staff, with the change of command taking place on January 14, 2021.

Misconduct allegations

On February 24, 2021, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced that McDonald had temporarily and voluntarily stepped aside as Chief of the Defence Staff amid investigations on allegations of misconduct. Pending the results of the investigation, General Wayne Eyre is serving as Acting Chief of Defence Staff until McDonald is reinstated. While McDonald remains a serving officer with the Canadian Armed Forces during this period, and retains his rank of full admiral, he is unable to exercise the authority of the Chief of Defence Staff unless reinstated by the Minister of National Defence.

McDonald's personal awards and decorations include the following:

• By virtue of his position, he serves as an Aide-de-camp to the Governor General of Canada, and as such he wears the Gold Aiguillette to denote this.