Gary McQueen - Royal Hamilton Light Infantry

Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1967, and spent his childhood growing up on a farm in Mount Hope, which is now part of the City of Hamilton. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces on 16 June 1988 as a Private with The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (Wentworth Regiment) (RHLI).  The following year, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and selected to command a platoon in B Company.  As a Lieutenant, Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen commanded a platoon in the Third Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment when the RHLI provided N Company for that unit.

Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen has held various RHLI regimental appointments over the years.  In addition to Platoon Commander, he has been the Training Officer, Operations Officer, Company Second-in-Command, Adjutant, Company Commander, Deputy Commanding Officer, and served as the 53rd Commanding Officer of the RHLI from 2013-2016.

Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen has also had several full-time postings throughout his career, most of them at Land Force Central Area (LFCA) Headquarters (now the 4th Canadian Division Headquarters) where he served as G3 Plans 2, Staff Officer to the Chief of Staff, G1 Operations, G5 Operations, and Acting G5.

In 2002, he received his first Commander LFCA Commendation for his leadership as Chief of Staff of the Transportation Department for the papal visit to Toronto.  During this event, called World Youth Day, he oversaw the daily activities of the department responsible for the transportation of 800,000 participants.

In 2004, Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen was selected to set up and command C Company of the RHLI, which marked the regiment's expansion into the City of Burlington under the Land Force Reserve Restructure program.  In recognition of his leadership and initiative in this endeavour, he was awarded his second Commander LFCA Commendation in 2007.

In 2011, Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan and was attached to 10 Mountain Division (US Army) as part of the Regional Command-South Headquarters where he earned a Canadian Joint Task Force Commander’s Commendation for his exemplary work as the Stability Operations Border Coordinator.  He was promoted to his current rank on 26 May 2013. 

After having served his term as Commanding Officer of the RHLI and 31 Territorial Battalion Group, Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen deployed in July 2016 as the J5 for Joint Task Force – Iraq, Canada’s contribution to the Middle East Stabilisation Force and the fight against DAESH.  As the senior planner for the Canadian conventional forces, Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen managed mission transition, provided theatre-level oversight for the stand-up on new capabilities, and produced contingency plans for threats to CAF personnel and resources in Iraq.

Following his return to Canada, Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen was selected for a second command appointment and on 13 May 2017 became the Commanding Officer of the 11th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, with Batteries in Guelph and Hamilton.

In civilian life, Lieutenant-Colonel McQueen is a director and management consultant at Vistara Consulting Ltd.  He holds a BASc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from McMaster University, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.