Major Elizabeth Thebault
Captain Nichola Goddard Award Laureate 2025
The CDA Institute is pleased to
announce that Major Elizabeth Thebault has been designated as the laureate of the 2025 Captain Nichola Goddard Leadership Award.
An important objective of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute is to recognize deserving Canadians who strengthen our nation’s security, defence, and the Canadian Armed Forces. The Captain Nichola Goddard Leadership Award was established to honour a young Canadian innovator and trailblazer whose early- or mid-career contributions have meaningfully advanced Canada’s security and defence landscape.
Named in memory of Nichola Goddard, the first Canadian female soldier to make the ultimate sacrifice in combat in Afghanistan on May 17, 2006, the award reflects her legacy of leadership, courage, and quiet resolve in the face of adversity. Captain Goddard’s service reshaped national perceptions of women in combat leadership roles and stands as a testament to the character, inclusivity, humility, commitment, and valour that define exemplary service.
This award not only honours her vibrant spirit and enduring example, but also pays tribute to the sacrifice of all Canadian men and women who stand on guard for our country’s values at home and abroad.
This year’s laureate, Major Elizabeth Thebault, is a pioneering Royal Canadian Air Force pilot whose distinguished career reflects operational excellence, technical expertise, and steadfast leadership, all while serving as a devoted mother of two.
Joining the Canadian Forces in 2004, she graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada with a degree in Mechanical Engineering before advancing through demanding flight training on the Grob, Harvard II, and King Air aircraft. In 2010, upon earning her Wings, she was selected to fly the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III with 429 Transport Squadron in Trenton, becoming Canada’s first female C-17 pilot.
At just 25 years old, she deployed in support of operations in Afghanistan, completing eight missions into theatre and contributing to both the sustainment and conclusion of Canada’s 12-year engagement. She later supported Operation Impact and global air mobility missions across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Indo-Pacific, and Canada’s High Arctic.
She went on to serve in Operational Test and Evaluation at 434 Squadron, earning her Test Director Qualification before returning to 429 Transport Squadron as a Major, Flying Supervisor, and Instructor Pilot.
Throughout her career, Major Thebault has balanced high-tempo global operations with the responsibilities of motherhood, exemplifying resilience, professionalism, and an unwavering commitment to both her family and her country.
The impressiveness that she displays in her career now is true to who she is. She's always been that way. . […] She was one of those quietly, exceptionally competent, confident, exceptionally talented people from very early on. […] the way she's forged her path into combat situations reminds me of everything I know about Nicola.
Captain Nichola Goddard
Captain Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard, MSM (May 2, 1980 – May 17, 2006) was the first female Canadian combat soldier to make the ultimate sacrifice in combat, and the 16th Canadian soldier killed in Canadian operations in Afghanistan. Since her passing 17 years ago. Nichola has become Canada’s daughter and a permanent symbol of courage in the face adversity.
Born to British and Canadian school teachers in Madang, Papua New Guinea, Goddard spent most of her childhood in various locations, including Black Lake and Lac la Ronge, Saskatchewan. Her hobbies included cross-country skiing and running, and she had competed in biathlon events. She led a local Scout troop with her fiancé (later husband), Jason Beam, while they were officer cadets at the Royal Military College in Kingston.
Captain Goddard was serving with the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery of PPCLI as a forward observation officer. During a firefight in the Panjwaye District. It was part of a joint two-day operation between Canadian and Afghan troops, to secure Kandahar’s outskirts after a rumor of Taliban preparations to launch an assault on the city. As troops were moving into a mosque to capture 15 alleged Taliban members, several dozen hidden militants began firing from neighbouring houses. As a crew commander, Goddard was standing half-exposed in her LAV III, which was hit by two rocket-propelled grenades early in the battle.
The battle lasted most of the day on the 17th and into the night and ended shortly after an American B-1 Lancer dropped a 500lbs bomb. In the end, the two-day operation saw Goddard, an Afghan National Army soldier, and 40 Taliban killed, as well as approximately 20 Taliban captured, which early reports mistakenly said could have included Mullah Dadullah.
