Who leads the Canadian Forces?
Canadian Armed Forces
The Armed Forces' 92,600 personnel are divided into a hierarchy of numerous ranks of officers and non-commissioned members. The governor general appoints, on the advice of the prime minister, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) as the highest ranking commissioned officer in the Armed Forces and who, as head of the Armed Forces Council, is in command of the Canadian Forces. The Armed Forces Council also includes the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, the commanders of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force, Canadian Joint Operations Command, Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, and other key Level 1 organizations. The Armed Forces Council generally operates from National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) in Ottawa, Ontario. The sovereign and most other members of the Canadian Royal Family also act as colonels-in-chief, honorary air commodores, air commodores-in-chief, admirals, and captains-general of Canadian Forces units, though these positions are ceremonial.
The Canadian Crown and the Canadian Armed Forces
While the National Defence Act continued to state that "[t]he Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada," the "royal" prefix was not bestowed upon the unified Canadian Armed Forces. The uses of "Royal Canadian Navy", "Canadian Army", and "Royal Canadian Air Force" were also replaced with "Maritime Command", "Mobile Command", and "Air Force Command", respectively, and a number of royally designated corps were lost into newly reorganized and designated services and branches. Not all the forces' links with the Crown, however, were lost; many of the regiments did retain their "royal" prefix, members of the Royal Family as their colonel-in-chief, and crowns on their badges and other insignia.