19 Facts About Jean Boyle

General Joseph Edouard Jean Boyle, CMM, CD was born on November 23,1947 and is a former Canadian Chief of Defence Staff.

Jean Boyle resigned in disgrace less than a year after his appointment, when it was revealed he was involved in "almost every facet" of the attempt to manage the aftermath of the Somalia Affair, including the alteration of documents released to the media.

Jean Boyle spent his first year at school in Fort Champlain, sharing a room with Brian D Pashley, before moving on to spend his next three years living in the Stone Frigate; he participated in varsity football, handball and judo.

Jean Boyle graduated with his Honours degree in Economics in 1971.

Jean Boyle became Commanding Officer of the 4 Fighter Wing and Base Commander of CFB Baden-Soellingen in 1988.

Jean Boyle returned to the RMC as Commandant in 1991 and served for two years.

Jean Boyle was appointed the Chief of Defence Staff in January 1996, at the relatively young age of 48, being chosen ahead of more senior officers who were expected to be picked for the job.

General Lewis MacKenzie later described Jean Boyle's ascension, noting that he was "obviously out of his depth as [Chief of Defence Staff]".

Jean Boyle was accused of overseeing the release of altered documents to an Access to Information request from CBC reporter Michael McAuliffe.

Jean Boyle filed a court motion seeking to forbid the inquiry from reaching any findings that would discredit him, but was unsuccessful.

Jean Boyle was granted a $7,500 bursary with which to purchase a teleprompter and seven hours of verbal coaching from a civilian media expert on how to handle himself in front of reporters.

Jean Boyle was later recalled as handsome and confident, but criticised for appearing "tight-lipped and clenched" and providing "long and convoluted" answers to questions.

Jean Boyle was criticised for failing to take responsibility for any of his alleged actions, and instead "began to heap blame on his subordinates", angering other military leaders.

The inquiry eventually found Jean Boyle had "displayed poor and inadequate leadership" on three general allegations, that he had sought to provide misleading information on the military mission, that he had failed to take steps to support the inquiry's search for documents, and interact honestly with the liaison team set up to collect information.

When Collenette was forced to resign shortly afterwards, it was suggested that the government could not forgive Jean Boyle "for endangering the Minister" and would leave him to figuratively fall on his own sword.

Jean Boyle tendered his resignation in October 1996, shortly after making a high-level visit to Japan in his position as chief of the Canadian military.

In 2003, Jean Boyle spoke at a Freedom and Privacy convention hosted by BT Group, and gave a presentation on how a "bad [Freedom of Information] decision" had led to the resignation of both himself and Collenette and became an election issue; leading to a warning that the United Kingdom "will be at the same stage as Canada" within three years.

Jean Boyle currently serves as the Canadian head of the Spectrum Group defence consultants, and CEO of JEBtek, a Canadian business consulting group which is a lobbyist in Canadian government for Titus International Inc.

Boyle's father Jean-Edouard Zotiac Boyle was a graduate RMC.