Jennifer Jane Bennett is a teacher, school administrator, women’s advocate, and senior reserve naval officer (born on August 11, 1958 in Hamilton, Ontario). Bennett was the first female rear-admiral in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the first woman to be appointed chief of reserves and cadets, the most senior reserve officer position in the Canadian Armed Forces.
She was the commanding officer of HMCS Malahat from 1995 to 1998, and Commander of the Naval Reserve from 2007 to 2011. She was named one of Canada’s 100 most powerful women in 2011.
Bennett was born into a Navy family. Her father served in the Naval Reserve and retired as a commodore, and her sister and brother also joined. Bennett earned a Bachelor of Physical Education degree from McMaster University in 1981, followed by a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University the following year. She earned her Master of Arts in Leadership and Training from Royal Roads University in 2005. Bennett worked as a teacher and administrator at public and independent elementary and secondary schools in Ontario and British Columbia between 1983 and 2008.
Navy Career
Bennett enlisted as an ordinary Wren in 1975 with HMCS Star, Hamilton’s Naval Reserve Division. She was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant on August 23, 1979, after becoming an officer cadet in the logistics branch in 1977. Bennett served in Kingston’s Naval Reserve Division, HMCS Cataraqui, from 1981 to 1982 while attending Queen’s University.
Bennett was promoted to lieutenant (Navy) in 1982. She attended the Canadian Forces Staff School in Toronto in 1985 and was promoted to lieutenant-commander in January 1987. In 1989, she attended the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College in Toronto.
Bennett was appointed executive officer (second-in-command) of Victoria’s Naval Reserve Division, HMCS Malahat, in 1991. Four years later, she was promoted to commander, taking command of the unit on January 1, 1995, and serving until July 30, 1998. Bennett later became the Naval Reserve’s logistics branch advisor in 1998. In 1999, she was appointed commanding officer of the Naval Reserve basic recruit detachment at CFB Borden and attended the NATO Defence College in Rome.
Bennett was promoted to Captain (navy) in January 2000 and assigned as director reserves in the chief of reserves and cadets division at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. She was appointed Director of Professional Development and Director of the Canadian Defence Academy’s Ottawa Detachment in 2003.
Bennett was promoted to commodore on December 1, 2007, and appointed commander of the Naval Reserve, a position she held until January 15, 2011. Bennett was promoted to rear-admiral on April 15, 2011, becoming the first woman to hold that rank in the Royal Canadian Navy. She was appointed chief of reserves and cadets (now chief of reserves and employer support) in May 2011, becoming the first female to hold that position. This made her the CAF’s most senior reserve officer and advisor on Canada’s reserves as well as two DND-sponsored youth programmes.
Bennett served as director of the general strategic response team on sexual misconduct from August 2015 to July 2018, supporting Operation Honour, the CAF’s program to prevent and address sexual misconduct. She went on to become the director general of litigation implementation, a position she held until December 2019. As such, she oversaw the implementation of settlements for former CAF members who were affected by the LGBT purge while serving in the CAF, RCMP, and federal civil service from 1955 to 1996.
Women’s Advocacy Appointments
Bennett has also served as an advisor, champion, and speaker on women in leadership and defence in Canada and around the world. In this role, she collaborated with NATO and UN members, as well as other countries, to improve women’s military integration and foster a more diverse and inclusive military culture. She was the first female Defence Champion for Women, representing women in the CAF and DND civilian employees from January 2013 to September 2018.
Bennett led the NATO Gender Key Leader Seminar in 2018 at Sweden’s Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations, becoming the first international officer to do so.
Bennett retired from CAF in December 2019. In retirement, she has held several volunteer positions with the Navy League of Canada, DND’s Defence Advisory Board, and the University Naval Training Division Association Board of Directors. She is a patron and member of the Advisory Committee at the Juno Beach Centre.