Paul Smith

Early Life and Education

Paul Smith attended elementary schools in North York and graduated from York Mills Collegiate Institute in 1986. He played basketball throughout school, a sport he continued during university and his naval career. Between high school and university, he worked as a bank teller.

Naval Career

In July 1986, Smith enrolled in the navy’s six-week summer youth employment program at HMCS York, the Naval Reserve Division in Toronto, as a combat information operator. He completed his basic military qualification the next summer at CFB Halifax and was promoted leading seaman (now known as sailor 1st class). Smith moved to Halifax in 1988 to study sociology at Dalhousie University and left in 1991 to pursue a full-time career in the navy. Smith went on to serve in several reserve training vessels. In 1993, he was posted to the Halifax-based minesweeping auxiliary vessel HMCS Anticosti as a junior radar operator. Three years later, he was promoted to master seaman (now know as master sailor).

In 1998, Smith was promoted to petty officer second class and a year later was commissioned sub-lieutenant. In 2000, he earned his bridge watchkeeping certificate and was promoted to lieutenant (navy). At the time, he was serving in HMCS Kingston, one of 12 maritime coastal defence vessels in the navy, which are largely crewed by reservists. Smith served in each of the six east coast Kingston class ships in several positions, among them executive officer (second-in-command) in HMCS Summerside and Moncton in 2009 and Shawinigan in 2010.

Smith completed several naval courses, including maritime warfare, mine warfare, coastal operations and Arctic operations. He also served in shore appointments in Halifax. He was deputy mine warfare officer at Fifth Maritime Operations Group from 2004 to 2006, Canadian Fleet Atlantic Port Security Unit operations officer in 2007 and executive officer of Minor Warship Sea Training from 2010 to 2012. During the last appointment, Smith was promoted to lieutenant commander in 2010.

A History-Making Command

In July 2014, Smith returned to the Halifax-based HMCS Kingston as its commanding officer, becoming the first Black captain of a warship in the history of the RCN. While in command of Kingston, his ship participated in the search for HMS Erebus and Terror, the ships of the lost Franklin Expedition in the Canadian Arctic.

In 2015, Smith took command of another ship in which he had served, HMCS Summerside, also based in Halifax. During his time as commanding officer, he participated in several deployments on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In 2016, Summerside conducted exercises in the Mediterranean Sea with the Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group and participated in multinational counterdrug patrols in the Caribbean Sea as part of Operation CARIBBE. During that operation, Summerside intercepted almost $11 million worth of cocaine. Smith also had the opportunity to visit Jamaica for the first time in nearly two decades.

Smith served as task force commander from 17 February to 2 May 2017 for what was initially a training exercise off the coast of West Africa. The exercise retroactively became Operation Projection?West Africa once its scope was fully known. This operation marked the RCN’s first deployment to the Gulf of Guinea region in more than 10 years.

After command of Summerside, Smith returned to several shore appointments. He was senior staff officer analytics and readiness at Naval Force Readiness in Maritime Forces Atlantic Headquarters in Halifax in 2018; two years later, he became senior staff officer Europe, Africa and Middle East on the Maritime Component Commander’s staff, also in Halifax. In 2020, he was appointed commandant of the Naval Fleet School (Atlantic). Smith was promoted commander in 2021 and returned to his naval roots in Toronto. On 2 October 2021, he took command of HMCS York, in the process becoming its first Black commanding officer. York is the largest of 24 Naval Reserve Divisions across Canada and was officially commissioned as a ship in 1941.

Personal Life

Smith met Mary Leppard, his future wife, in Halifax in 1993; the couple have two sons, Colin (born 1996), and Matthew (born 2001).

Honours and Awards

• Canadian Forces Decoration (1998), 1st clasp (2008), 2nd clasp (2018)
• Operational Service Medal – Expedition (2016)
• Meritorious Service Medal (Military Division) (2018)
• Special Service Medal with Expedition Bar (2020)
• Officer of the Order of Military Merit (2023)