March 25, 2026
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Kingston Police Services
705 Division St, Kingston
Colonel (retired), Nishika Jardine, Veterans’ Ombud
Colonel (Ret’d) Nishika Jardine served almost 37 years as an officer in the Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (RCEME). She enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in 1982 and graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada with a Bachelor of Science in Math and Physics.
She has served and led in Maintenance organizations with the Army in Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Gagetown, the Navy in CFB Esquimalt, and the Air Force at 19 Wing Comox. She commanded the RCEME School in 2008-2010. She was promoted to Colonel in 2014 and served one year as Director Armament Sustainment Program Management before her final posting as Deputy Commandant at Canadian Forces College. She completed her service in May 2019.
She has completed several important professional development courses including both the Army and the Canadian Forces Staff College programs. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College, and most recently earned the Chartered Director designation.
Other notable staff appointments include RCEME Officers Career Manager, Staff Officer to the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, Program Officer National Security Studies Program, Deputy Project Manager Medium Support Vehicle System, and the senior staff officer responsible for the strategic sustainment of the Joint Task Force for Operation ATHENA in Afghanistan.
Since leaving the CAF, she has served on the Board of Directors of the Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston, the Board of Governors of the Air Cadet League Ontario Provincial Committee, the Board of Directors of the Order of St. George, and the Board of Directors for the RCEME Museum and Heritage Foundation.
Corps of Commissionaires rep LCol (retired) Mike Voith
Mike enrolled in the Canadian Forces in 1979 and attended Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean from 1979 to 1981, and the Royal Military College of Canada from 1981-1983. Upon graduation and completion of his military engineer training his first posting was to 1 Combat Engineer Regiment (1CER). While serving in 1 CER he deployed to Cyprus in 1986 with the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment as the contingent engineer officer. Upon his return to Canada, he was posted to 8 Field Engineer Regiment in Edmonton as the Regular Support Staff Officer.
In 1989, Mike was posted to 1 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters in Calgary where he served for three years holding the positions of G3 Plans and G1. In 1992, he was appointed the Deputy Commanding Officer of 4 Engineer Support Regiment at CFB Gagetown.
Mike was subsequently posted to Land Force Command Headquarters in St Hubert in 1993 as G1 Personnel Policy 2. In January 1995, he was assigned for one year to the former Yugoslavia as the Force Engineer Operations Officer in the United Nations Peace Forces Headquarters. In August 1996, Mike was posted to the Director of Army Doctrine and in 1999 he was appointed Commanding Officer and Director of Administration of Land Force Doctrine and Training System Headquarters.
From 2000 to 2002, Mike commanded 4 Engineer Support Regiment at CFB Gagetown. During his time in command, he deployed his regiment to Eritrea/Ethiopia as part of Operation ECLIPSE responsible for the engineer aspects of theatre activation, mission close out and close engineer support to the Task Force.
From 2003 to 2006, Mike was the Engineer Advisor in the Canadian Joint Force Headquarters and Commanding Officer of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) at CFB Kingston. He commanded the Theatre Activation Team for Operation HALO in Haiti in 2004 and was the Commander of Task Force Colombo and Commanding Officer of the DART following the Tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka in Dec 2004. Mike was also the Commander for Task Force Plateau and Commanding Officer of the DART following the earthquake in Pakistan in October 2005. In January 2006, Mike was posted to the Strategic Joint Staff at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa.
From January to October 2008, he served in Regional Command South Headquarters in Kandahar Afghanistan as the Commander’s Planner. From October 2008 until October 2009, he was the Director of Army Doctrine.
In June 2010, Mike was promoted to Colonel (Acting While So Employed) and from October 2010 to October 2011 served as the Chief Engineer of 10th Mountain Division (US)/Regional Command South in Kandahar Afghanistan.
Mike retired from the Canadian Forces in May 2012 and commence employment on 14 May 2012 as the Chief Executive Officer for the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires Kingston and Region Division in Kingston Ontario. Mike was responsible for providing security guard services and for all aspects of running a $20M company with 500 employees. Mike retired as Chief Executive Officer in March 2022.
Mike and his family also operate a large family farm consisting of Black Angus cattle and Rideau Arcott sheep north of Kingston, Ontario.
Mike is a graduate of the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff Course and the Canadian Forces Command and Staff Course. He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Arts in Defence
Management and Policy and a Master of Defence Studies all from the Royal Military College of Canada.
Mike is a recipient of the Meritorious Service Cross from Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, the Sitara-i-Eisaar (Star of Sacrifice) from the President of Pakistan and the US Bronze Star Medal for exceptional meritorious service as the Chief Engineer of 10th Mountain Division (US) during Operation Enduring Freedom.
PLEASE NOTE
Theme: Update on Veterans’ issues by in-person speakers from Ottawa. Please continue to refresh this webpage because updates will be posted as more details become available.
Purpose: To strengthen the network of enablers assisting Veterans in the Kingston area, and to inform other agencies of the peer support systems available to other services who rush to danger
Doors Open: Doors open at 08:30 for icebreaker coffee
Venue: Hosted by Kingston Police Services in its Community Room just off entrance lobby. Seating is limited to 45 participants so please register below or indicate you wish to attend by contacting respect.ontario.coordinator@gmail.com
Parking: Please use this map to access free parking provided by Kingston City Police and the City Works Department so as not to congest its limited parking in front of Police headquarters. Attendees may park in the area denoted by the red rectangle. It may be accessed using the traffic light intersection at Barbara Ave. Please follow the blue arrow from the City Works parking yard to the front entrance of the Police headquarters (see the blue star on sketch). Carpooling is recommended as there are a finite number of spaces in the yard. Attendees may also be dropped off at the main entrance (blue star). The green box is for the guest speakers and out of bounds to attendees.
KPS Community Volunteers, guides and shuttle service:
Special thanks to the KPS Community Volunteers who will have 6-7 volunteers to assist with directing vehicles to the overflow parking area, act as greeters in the City Works yard, and operate a small shuttle to take people from the yard to the front doors (blue star on sketch above).
