Brigadier-General D.C. (Craig) Hilton OMM, MSM, CD (Retired)

Colonel of the Regiment 2019-2023

Brigadier-General Craig Hilton joined the Regiment in 1979 and served for 35 years before retiring from active service in 2013.

During his service at regimental duty, he survived two years as Troop Leader in B Sqn and a year in the Mounted Troop before being posted to British Army of the Rhine, West Germany as exchange officer with the 17th/21st Lancers. Later he was Officer Commanding B Sqn during the conversion to Leopard tanks, and finally returned to the Regiment as Commanding Officer in 1998 until June 2000.

Post-regimental service, he was appointed as the first Commander of the Canadian Manoeuvre Training Centre, Wainwright, and on promotion to General Officer, as Commandant of the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.

His senior staff experience included positions as Chief of Staff of Land Forces Western Area, Director of Staff of the NATO Land Component Command (North) in Heidelberg, Germany, and Deputy Chief of Staff of NATO Headquarters, International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. He also served as the Canadian Forces Military Attaché to the United States of America at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC.

He is a graduate of the University of Manitoba and the United States Army War College (Class of 2007). He is both a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and a Senior Fellow of the International Strategic Studies Association. Currently, he is an Executive Board Director of the Canadian Forces College Foundation and the Chair of the Board of both Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) Regimental Society and the Ceremonial Mounted Troop Foundation.

Brigadier-General Hilton is married to the former Elizabeth Taskey of Edmonton, Alberta and they live near Harrowsmith, Ontario.