In this April edition of our Military Family Life podcast - in honour of the Month of the Military Child - we are focusing on Military children.  Kayla Lamrock has experience as a military child, a military spouse and working at an MFRC with children and youth. In this episode Kayla talks about her experiences of deployments and postings from the perspective of a military family member.  She also talks about what it is like to support a loved one with an operational stress injury, and the work she does now to support youth navigating the challenges of military family life.  Fina ..read more

In this month's episode we are speaking with Lt(N) Wendy Duguid, a Regular Force Military Chaplain. Wendy has been serving at Garrison Petawawa since 2019.   She was previously the Chaplain for the medical units, and is currently supporting the Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD) and 2 Signal Squadron. In this conversation we chat with Wendy about: the day-to-day life of a Military Chaplain and the supports they provide; what it was like to join the Reg Force as a second career; the importance of self-care; and how families can be more resilient in challenging times. Contact us: We would l ..read more

This month we are talking with three former MFRC Executive Directors who have  recently retired from their positions in Goose Bay, Greenwood and Shilo. Our co-host Claudia Beswick also added some insight, as she too recently left her position as the ED in Petawawa to take on a different role supporting military families. With all of this experience and collective knowledge, we talk about: how life has changed for Military families over the last twenty years their proudest moments at their MFRCs why families being posted to Shilo Goose Bay, Greenwood and Petawawa should be excited about ..read more

This month we are talking two members of the Canadian Wives Choir in Petawawa.  They tell us about how the choir helped them to connect with new friends in the community, their best memories performing with the choir, and their advice for people who are thinking about joining their local choir. About our guests: Melissa Perry-Biezing has been a military spouse for 18 years. Originally from Newfoundland, Melissa moved to Ontario as a child.  She moved to Montreal, Quebec once she finished Nursing school, where she met my husband. Melissa has been a Registered Nurse for almost 20 year ..read more

Our Guest this Month Ainsley Christensen is the curator at the Garrison Petawawa Military Museum and has worked at the museum in some capacity or another for the last 20 years. Ainsley was born in Manitoba -moved to Petawawa in 1995 and haw been here ever since  -  minus a few years to attend post-secondary school in Kingston, ON).  Ainsley is a military spouse with three very active children ages 12, 10 and 9. As a result she I spends most of her time outside of work driving to activities and watching do all the things they love to do (hockey, volleyball, horseback riding, socc ..read more

About our guest: Andrea Nauta is a military spouse - her wonderful husband Dustin has been serving in the military since 2007. They have two beautiful girls who are 11 and 9.  Andrea and her family have moved back and forth between Comox and Petawawa, and they are currently happily settled in Comox where Andrea works as a support worker at a local school.  Andrea is an accomplished baker.  She started baking when she was 8 with simple cake box mixes and making cupcakes for her family.  Her passion grew year by year – and she dedicated herself to learning more  through ..read more

In this episode we talk about all things deployment with our guest Sandra Pinard.  Topics include: what are the things families can do to prepare for a deployment, some suggestions for items to include in a morale mail package and tips for re-integration. We also have an interesting discussion about the differences between Army and Navy deployments.  About our guest: Sandra Pinard has been associated with the Military for her entire life so the answer to the question “So where are you from?” is more complicated.   Sandra was Born in Halifax NS, and has lived in Shearwater NS ..read more

As many of you know April is month of the Military Child. It is an opportunity for our community to recognize the sacrifices and contributions made by the children Canadian Armed Forces members and Veterans. So this month we wanted to hear from some military kids about their experiences and lessons learned. Our Guests Kim Mills has been a military spouse for more than 20 years. She is the author of the military romance series The Way Home – She is public speaker who has talked to military family members at MFRCs and events across Canada. Kim is also the creator of the acclaimed She is Fierc ..read more

This month we are speaking with Trisha MacLeod, the Commanding Officer at 2 Field Ambulance in Petawawa and Champion for the Petawawa Defence Visible Minority Awareness Group.    Trisha is a lifelong learner whose current pursuits are centred around understanding, acknowledging and deconstructing systemic racism within healthcare settings and CAF overall.    Driven to serve, she has over 20 years of military service.  She has experience building partner capacities among domestic and international partners,    She is enjoying her current military assignment ..read more

This month we are talking with Crystal Donak about: the importance of being resilient taking risks (including her recommendation that everyone should travel alone at least once in their life); and  how her career and education journey lead her to create Kaper Kids. About Crystal: Crystal has been a military partner for 12 years.  In that time, she was the Vice Chair of the PMFRC Board of Directors for several years - and completed original research on how military families and MFRCs engage and communicate with each other. This original research resulted in the development of a co ..read more