Lieutenant-General Yvan Blondin, a Montreal, QC native, enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1980. Upon completion of pilot training in 1982, he was assigned to VU32 Squadron in Shearwater, NS, to fly the venerable T33 aircraft.  In 1986, following the Canadian acquisition of the CF18 fighter aircraft, he was selected for conversion and posted to the newly formed 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron in Bagotville, QC.  Lieutenant-General Blondin would eventually serve with the two fighter squadrons in Bagotville, accumulating more than 3,000 flying hours in North America and Europe on various Canadian Forces aircraft.

As a staff officer, Lieutenant-General Blondin has served in various personnel related positions in NDHQ from 1993 to 2000.  From 2002 to 2004, he was part of the Canadian staff in NORAD Headquarters in Colorado Springs.  In 2006-2007, he deployed to Afghanistan as Director of Staff in NATO ISAF Headquarters.  Following his tour in Kabul, he was assigned as Deputy Commander Force Generation at 1 Canadian Air Division in Winnipeg.

Lieutenant-General Blondin has held many command positions throughout his career, including Commanding Officer of 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron in Bagotville from 2000 to 2002; Commander of the Canadian CF18 Operational Force in Aviano, Italy, supporting NATO Forces in the former Yugoslavia in 2000-2001; Commander of 3 Wing Bagotville from 2004 to 2006;  and Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division / Commander Canadian NORAD Region from 2009 to 2011.  In 2011 he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force and, one year later, Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Lieutenant-General Blondin left this prestigious position and retired from the Canadian Armed forces in July 2015.

He now lives in Hudson, Quebec, with his wife Jinny Lamoureux, a teacher at CEGEP de Valleyfield. He maintains links to the aerospace industry as a senior consultant and remains tied to his roots as Board President of the Quebec Veterans Foundation.

Lieutenant-General Blondin holds a BA Degree from the University of Manitoba and an MBA from the University of Phoenix in Arizona. He is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College and of the United States Air Force War College.