Donald Stewart Ethell

Donald Stewart Ethell

Donald Stewart Ethell, colonel, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (b at Vancouver 23 Jul 1937). Donald Ethell, a distinguished retiree of the ARMED FORCES, became Alberta's 17th Lieutenant Governor in May 2010. Ethell was born and raised on Canada's west coast. At age 18 he embarked on a career in military service, joining the Canadian Army (Regular) as a rifleman in the Queen's Own Rifles. In 1970 he joined the Princess Patricia's Light Infantry and in 1972 he was commissioned as an officer.

Ethell's military career was almost entirely devoted to PEACEKEEPING. He was involved in 14 peace support operations, including NATO duties in Germany, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, the Balkans, and Central America. He served in the first Persian Gulf War as the Chief of Staff/Deputy Force Commander with the Middle East-based Multinational Force & Observers, and from 1987 to 1990 he was Director of Peacekeeping Operations at the National Defence Headquarters. Ethell's last tour of duty was in 1992 during the Bosnian and Croatian wars, when he served as the Canadian Head of Mission to the European Community's military mission to the former Yugoslavia. He retired from service in 1993.

Following his military career Ethell acted as an advisor with humanitarian military projects. In particular, he worked with CARE Canada projects in which five refugee camps in Eastern Kenya and Somalia received humanitarian relief from Canada, and he was the Alberta director of the International Committee for the Relief of Suffering and Starvation (ICROSS), an organization that delivers aid to Africa.

Ethell has been involved in numerous philanthropic causes and has received several accolades and awards for his years of public service. He was a member of Veterans Affairs Canada and its Canadian Forces Advisory Council, and he has served on the boards of the Canadian Association of Veterans of United Nations Peacekeepers, the Gulf War Veterans Association of Canada, ANAVETS, and the Royal Canadian Legion. In 1987 he received the Meritorious Service Cross in recognition of his Middle Eastern peacekeeping endeavours, and in 2005 he was made an Officer of the ORDER OF CANADA.

On 11 May 2010 Donald Ethell was sworn in as Alberta's 17th Lieutenant Governor, succeeding Norman KWONG.