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Darin’s time as a military lawyer immersed him in military criminal law
and international humanitarian law, which saw him become an expert in
such things as the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions, the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and international human rights law.
He twice deployed into combat operations, first with the Canadian Army in
Kandahar Province, Afghanistan in 2008, and then as the senior legal advisor
and target authority in support of Royal Canadian Air Force operations
over Iraq and Syria in 2015. As a result of his background and experience,
Darin was also frequently called on to act as a training officer and mentor,
passing lessons learned on to more junior military lawyers and non-legal
personnel alike.
In 2014, Darin completed a master of laws degree at the Schulich School
of Law at Dalhousie University, focusing on the intersection of international
and Canadian constitutional law as it applied to Navy ships on the
high seas during contemporary operations.
Members of the Canadian Armed Forces are, generally, uncomfortable
with being called “heroes”. The true heroes of military life are the families,
and this is true in Darin’s case as well. Moved from coast to coast and school
to school at the whim of the Service, and notwithstanding his frequent
absences, his wife and children always kept things running smoothly on the
home front and excelled in their own lives at the same time. His wife owned
and operated a small alpaca ranch where he was often obligated to work as
an unpaid hand mucking out stalls and shearing animals. At the same time,
she built a textiles design and manufacturing company that sold garments
through the Hudson’s Bay Company across Canada. His three children also
excelled and became strong and independent individuals, both a blessing
and a curse, as each now lives in their own province of choice, which does
not yet include British Columbia!
Upon transferring back to the Reserve Force in 2016, Darin was for the
first time in almost 25 years faced with real civilian-life issues such as: “I
need to apply for a job,” “What province and city should I live in?” and “What
clothes should I put on this morning?” His first civilian role was as the director
of training for what is now the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and
Security, operating out of Dalhousie University. Working directly for former
senator and general (retired) Roméo Dallaire and the executive director of
the institute, he worked with international bodies including the International
Criminal Court and the United Nations International Children’s
Emergency Fund, as well as national governments, including those of
Canada, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. His objective in this position was to support
the protection of children affected by armed conflict, and more specifically
to prevent children from being recruited as child soldiers. During his