Michel Litalien, military historian

Dr. Michel Litalien is a leading authority on Quebec’s military history. He has dedicated his career to it: after university studies, he is now the head of the Canadian Forces Museums and Historical Collections. Also a former member of the Reserves, his career is inextricably linked to the Valcartier Base, where he lived in his youth. Here is an interview with a man who holds the base in Shannon close to his heart.

Canadian, Michel Litalien was born in Germany in 1964. He was a child of a military man, his father having joined the Regular Force. This is how he came to live on the Base Valcartier in his youth, between the ages of 4 and 12, until 1976. He discovered the military world.

In 1982, at the age of 17, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces. He went to Valcartier for missions, training, summer courses and weekends. It was during this period, when he was still a young reservist, that he wondered about "military life" before that of the men and women who preceded him at Valcartier. He wonders about "our history". The trigger was made