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Lieutenant-Commander (Ret’d) Garry Best

Lieutenant-Commander (Ret’d) Garry Best
Garry Best was born and raised in Nunatsiavut, Happy Valley, Labrador, and served in various leadership roles as an Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy for more than 23 years, followed by a 17-year career as an executive in the federal public service. Garry was a senior adviser with Indigenous Services Canada as part of the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch. He is currently the President and CEO of the Nunatsiavut Group of Companies.

Videos
The CAF has come a long way in understanding and providing opportunities for people from Indigenous communities
I became disconnected from my traditions and culture
Reconnecting with Nunatsiavut and my Inuit traditions
The importance of traditional food
Recognizing culture through food
The stigma around reaching out for help
It is often necessary or easier to just bury trauma
Finding a balance
The impact of being in a high stress environment takes a toll
Missing my family life
The impact of my military career on my children
Spouses and children bear much of the pressures of deployment
My kids had many great opportunites because of my career
The positive aspects of a military career
I wasn't invited to share who I was
Joining the military was a massive culture shock
Veterans can replapse later in life
Being in uniform felt like a loss of culture
I felt guilty about not being there to care for my parents
We were all treated roughly at the beginning
My parents could not relate to the life that I had
The CAF gave me incredible opportunities but I also lost the connection to my home
Resilience
Strengths that came out of my military career
Looking back at my career and at choices I made
The impacts of being deployed
A military career can have devestating impacts on the second generation
Access to supportive services
Any military death is a shared tragedy
Processing the death of a colleague
On the ships we supported each other through struggles