Commanding Officer biography

LCol Henry Gourdji, CD

Canadian Grenadier Guards Commanding Officer.

Born in October 1962, LCol Henry Gourdji joined the Canadian Grenadier Guards in 1981 as a Guardsman (GDSM) and served one summer in the Ceremonial Guard performing public duties while completing his basic infantry qualification. He returned to his Home Station where he served as a GDSM in the rifle company and completed his Winter Warfare qualification before being accepted as an Officer Cadet in 1982.

LCol Gourdji completed Phase 1 to III of the Basic Infantry Officer Course and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1984. As such, he served three years as a Platoon Commander for the rifle company. After completing the Militia Officer Staff Course he was promoted to Captain and held various positions within the CGG, namely Operations Officer, 2nd-in-Command of Number One (Rifle) Company, Company Commander of Number Four (Recruit) Company and finally Company Commander of Number One (Rifle) Company.

LCol Gourdji completed his Army Tactical Operations Course followed by the Dismounted Company Commanders Course in 1993 and was promoted to the rank of Major in 1994 where he continued to command the rifle company until the summer of 1995 before leaving the primary reserve in order to further his civilian career in the field of aviation outside the province.

Always maintaining his affiliation with his regiment and having returned to Montreal for his civilian career, Maj Gourdji returned to the Canadian Grenadier Guards in 2004 as officer in Command of Four Company. He attended the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College where he completed the Primary Reserve Army Operations Course in 2007 and was appointed Senior Major in the Fall of 2007.

LCol Gourdji is a senior secretariat official with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. He has performed over eighty UN missions and is currently the Chief of the ICAO Safety Oversight Audit Section, responsible for the implementation of the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP). He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics and holds a Canadian aircraft maintenance and engineering licence for airframe and power plant maintenance and is an active pilot with a multi-engine rating.

LCol Gourdji is married to Joelle Fefer with whom he has three daughters, Audrey (18 years), Kelly (16 years) and Eva (13 years).