Commanding Officer

Commander Scott Van Will

Cdr Scott Van Will was born in St. Thomas, Ontario and spent his youth touring Canada and the United States as an Army brat.  He joined the Canadian Forces in 1988 as a Naval Cadet at Royal Roads Military College in Victoria.  On completion of his BSc in Computers and Space Science he was commissioned as an Acting Sub Lieutenant in 1993.  He was posted to Halifax in 1994, where he was promoted to Sub Lieutenant and received his Bridge Watchkeeping Certificate in 1995 on board HMCS GATINEAU.

Having completed both the Destroyer Navigating Officer Course and the Deep Draught Navigating Officer Course he was promoted to Lieutenant (Navy) and successfully navigated HMC Ships MONTREAL, PROVIDER, ATHABASKAN and PRESERVER, including a stint as the Staff Navigator for CSNFL between 1999 and 2000.  A portion of this deployment included time in the Adriatic as part of Op ALLIED FORCE, NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War.

On completion of the Operations Room Officer Course in 2002 he served as the Weapons Officer and, when promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 2004, the Combat Officer of HMCS FREDERICTON.  During this time frame he spent a 6 month deployment in the Arabian Gulf in support of Op APOLLO, Canada's military contribution to the campaign against terrorism.

Between 2004 and 2006 he served as both Weapons Officer and then Combat Officer of Sea Training Atlantic.  In the summer of 2006 he was posted to the Canadian Forces Naval Operations School in Halifax where he filled the positions of both the Team Training IC as well as the Senior Tactics Instructor.

In 2007 he attended the CF Joint Command and Staff Programme in Toronto achieving his Masters in Defence Studies. Upon graduation in 2008 he was appointed as the Executive Officer of HMCS ATHABASKAN.   He followed up his time in ATHABASKAN with a tour as Executive Officer of Sea Training Atlantic.

In the summer of 2010 he was promoted to Commander and posted to the Current Operations Directorate of the Strategic Joint Staff in NDHQ Ottawa, having areas of responsibility that included all CF Operations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, including our operations in Libya under Op MOBILE, Canada's military response to the crisis in Libya. 

The summer of 2011 saw him move to the west coast to attend second language training prior to taking over Command of HMCS OTTAWA.  Cdr Van Will is very happily married to Paula, his wife of 12 years, and together they have two beautiful children, their 10 year old son Noah and 7 year old daughter Leah.

Date modified:

12/8/2011

Side navigation (left column)