Our Mission: To create a network among organizations who support CAF veterans, Emergency Responders and their families in meeting the array of challenges, such as: transition, mental health, and housing instability, by promoting collaboration that improves the delivery of services.
Presenters:
Gisele Fontaine – National Women’s Outreach Coordinator, Respect Forums
Michael Krause – Veteran’s Advocacy Program Supervisor, The Mustard Seed
Gisèle Fontaine, MStJ MSC CD RN CHE
Colonel (Retired) Gisèle Fontaine served nearly 37 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, beginning in the Reserves as a CELE Officer before transitioning to the Regular Force as a Nursing Officer. Over the course of her career, she evolved into a Health Services Operations Officer (HSO), shifting her focus from clinical nursing to operational planning and executive management of health services.
Her deployments include short operational taskings to Mogadishu, Somalia, and Kandahar, Afghanistan, as well as a year-long deployment to Kabul as a Colonel, where she contributed to rebuilding the Afghan Army and Police medical and dental education system. For this work, she was awarded the
Meritorious Service Cross.
Following her retirement in 2018, she supported the development of the CAF culture change strategy on sexual misconduct and the CAF victim support strategy as a senior consultant. The COVID-19 pandemic brought an unexpected return to clinical nursing for three years, allowing her to contribute directly to the National Capital Region response.
A lifelong advocate for service and wellbeing, she currently serves as President of the Military Nurses Association of Canada – Ottawa Unit and, since 2023, as National Women’s Outreach Coordinator with Respect Canada. Her husband, also a Veteran with 37 years of service, and their four children are all settled in the Ottawa region.
The Mustard Seed is a Christian, faith-based, not-for-profit organization that serves vulnerable and unhoused populations with emergency services, housing, health and wellness services, and wrap around supports in seven cities across three provinces. Launched in 2024 and funded by the federal government, the Veterans Advocacy Program provides these services to veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP who experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. The goal is to prevent and reduce veteran homelessness among those who have served by securing suitable, affordable housing and offering all the wrap around services required to stabilize that housing for the long term.
