Mark Gendron

Full Bio

Mark Gendron was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. He completed his secondary education as a participant in the first French Immersion Program in Southern Ontario. He joined the Canadian Forces in 1982 and attended the Collège-militaire Royale de St-Jean until 1985. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1987 with an Honours Degree in History. In 1991, he transferred to the Reserve Force and attended Queen’s Law School. While attending Queen’s he also completed an MA in War Studies at RMC. He graduated with both degrees in May 1994. After two years of a doctoral program at the University of Toronto, he returned to the legal realm and completed his Bar examinations in 1997. After articling with a small plaintiff’s law firm in 1998, he was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in early 1999 and continued his brief foray into private practice.

As a reservist he taught during the summers at the Canadian Forces School of Administration and Logistics at CFB Borden. In 1995, he was appointed as the Admin O of 400 Helicopter Operational Training Squadron. When that unit moved to CFB Borden in 1996, he was appointed the Training Officer of 400 Tac Hel Sqn where he served until August 1999.

On 1 September 1999, Colonel (Ret’d) Gendron transferred back to the Regular Force as a legal officer in the Office of the Judge Advocate General. He was assigned to the Directorate of Law Training in Ottawa. In June 2000, he was posted to CFB Trenton to serve as the Deputy Judge Advocate for 8 Wing and CFB Kingston. He was promoted to the rank of Major in Jan 2001. From March until October 2001, he served as the Legal Advisor to the 3 RCR Battle Group serving on ROTO 8 of Op Palladium in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2003, he was posted to the Canadian Forces Grievance Authority in Ottawa. From April to October 2004, he served as the Op Palladium ROTO 14 Multi-National Task Force (North-West) Legal Advisor in Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina. In June 2005, he was assigned to position of Deputy Judge Advocate Colorado Springs where he served as the Canadian legal advisor to NORAD. Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in July 2006, he was employed as the Director of Law / Compensation and Benefits until Aug 2007. Then Lieutenant-Colonel Gendron deployed to Afghanistan from January to November 2008 where he served as the Legal Advisor to the Commander Regional Command (South). From January 2009 to July 2012, he served as the Legal Advisor to the Comd CEFCOM responsible for the legal advice provided on all expeditionary operations and the oversight of all deployed legal officers. After being the Director of Law/Military Personnel for 2012/13, Colonel (Ret’d) Gendron was assigned to serve as the Director of the Canadian Forces Military Law Centre in Kingston where he led the development and establishment of Legal Officer training qualification. In October 2014, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and appointed as the Deputy Judge Advocate General – Operations responsible for the legal advice provided on all domestic and international operations. In 2017, he became the Deputy Judge Advocate General for Strategic - Analysis and Review until he retired in August 2019.

Mark Gendron remains a member of the Law Society of Ontario. In 2020, he completed a Coding Certification through Durham College and a Mediation Certification through the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario. He maintains an engagement in these pursuits, as well as family genealogy.

Mark and his spouse Shaune share four children and six grandchildren.