Annua Ceremonial Review

Commander Walter Moniz, OMM, MSc, CD

Commander (Cdr) Walter Moniz has served more than 30 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, 21 of them in the Regular Force and ten of them in the Naval Reserves. He was born in Toronto and raised in the Greater Toronto Area, gaining his first appreciation for our armed forces through the sea cadet program.

Cdr Moniz left the cadet program as coxswain of RCSCC Ojibwa, and began his military career in Kingston, Ontario, in 1992. He graduated from the Royal Military College in 1996 and subsequently pursued a career as a Naval Warfare Officer. After serving on both Oberon-class and Victoria-class submarines, he served a NATO tour on HMCS Halifax, one of our Canadian frigates, in 2000.

In 2001, Cdr Moniz transferred to the Public Affairs Branch and served as a public affairs officer for the Judge Advocate General, Canadian Special Operations Forces and ultimately ended his Regular Force military career in 2013 at the National Defence Public Affairs Office in Toronto. He served two tours in Afghanistan – and loved the dust so much he went back for three additional temporary duty visits! His time in Afghanistan earned him a post-secondary opportunity at the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California, where he finished as top student in the Master of Science program.

In 2014, Cdr Moniz joined the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve, and served as the Senior Public Affairs Officer, Operations Officer and Executive Officer of HMCS York, before being appointed as the ship’s Commanding Officer and promoted to Commander on July 4th, 2018. Upon completion of his command tour in the summer of 2021, Cdr Moniz was appointed as the senior occupation advisor for the Reserve Navy’s support trades. In the summer of 2023, Cdr Moniz assumed responsibilities as a liaison officer for Employer Support Programs under the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff.

When not engaged in Naval endeavours, Cdr Moniz serves as a Justice of the Peace in the Ontario Court of Justice in the Toronto Region, the culmination of a life-long dream to serve the city and province that has given so much to him and his family. Cdr Moniz is also committed to supporting numerous initiatives to assist Veterans and their families in his “off time.”