trevor greene
About Trevor
Covering issues that matter
Trevor Greene is a journalist, best-selling author and Afghan War veteran. He was a reserve infantry officer serving with the Canadian Army in Kandahar in 2006. On his 50th day in-country, he sustained a severe axe wound to the head when the Taliban ambushed his platoon.
He has written six books, starting in 2001 with Bad Date; The Lost Girls of Vancouver’s Low Track, the story of the missing prostitutes of the Downtown Eastside. Greene’s bestselling memoir, March Forth, was published in 2010. His most recent book is There is no Planet B; Promise and Peril on Our Warming World. Greene and his co-author, Mike Velemirovich are developing a documentary as a sequel with award-winning filmmaker and former classmate Mike Melski.
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Trevor Greene is a reliable source and storyteller who has been called upon to speak about trauma, recovery from traumatic brain injury, Japanese society and the military, He has been published in:
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Maclean's
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National Post
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Global News
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Toronto Star
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Ottawa Citizen
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Edmonton Journal
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Halifax Chronicle Herald
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Victoria Times Colonist
Honours & Decorations
From speaking about PTSD and trauma recovery, to serving on the Legion Veterans Village Research Foundation board, to establishing a foundation [Greene Family Education Initiative] to fund the education of girls in conflict zones to be teachers -- author, philanthropist and veteran Trevor Greene uses his past to create better futures.
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Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal awarded for an outstanding achievement abroad that has brought great credit to Canada.
King Charles III’s Coronation Medal awarded for an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada.
Governor General's Unit Commendation Pin awarded to a Canadian Armed Forces unit that has performed an extraordinary deed or activity of a rare high standard in extremely hazardous circumstances.
Minister of National Defence Meritorious Service Medallion
The Sacrifice Medal awarded to members of the Canadian Forces that were deployed as part of a military mission under the authority of the Canadian Armed Forces that were killed or wounded under honourable circumstances as a direct
result of hostile action.
Indigenous Veterans Meritorious Service Medallion
The South-West Asia Service Medal with Afghanistan bar awarded to Canadian Forces members deployed in operations against terrorism in Afghanistan.
Honourary Doctor of Civil Laws - University of Kings College
Honourary Doctor of Education - University of Victoria
Documentaries & media coverage
Ottawa Citizen: Documentary about Canadian Forces Soldier Trevor Greene Wins A Gemini Award
Peace Warrior, a documentary about Canadian soldier Trevor Greene, his fiancée Debbie Lepore and their struggle to recover from Trevor’s traumatic brain injury has won Canada’s top television honour, the Gemini Award for Best Biography Documentary ...
Documentary: The Perfume War
Perfume War is about two friends and their unstoppable fight for world peace. Captain Trevor Greene’s mission in Afghanistan ends violently with a Taliban axe in his head. Miraculously, he survives to see his best friend Barb Stegemann, a single mom carry on his peace mission with a new strategy - perfume ...
Toronto Star: Trevor Greene: My thoughts
It's really hard for me to forget that morning. That day. It altered me a number of ways. It began innocently enough. We sat around a campfire ...
CTV News: One-on-one with Canadian soldier Trevor Greene in 2012
Sandie Rinaldo sits down with Canadian soldier Trevor Greene about his journey of recovery after a brazen axe attack in Afghanistan ...
Ted Talk: Unleashing Potential Brain Power | Capt. Trevor Greene & Dr. Ryan D’Arcy
What if we rethink what's possible. Imagine if, to change an outcome, you just change your thinking.What if the potential in our brains is far greater than we know ...
Maclean's: Trevor Greene: Life After the Attack
The most important thing I've learned over the last 10 years is there's always a way. There's always a way to recover from severe psychological trauma and severe physical trauma ...
Documentary: Peace Warrior
​He went to Afghanistan to make peace. He came home fighting for his life after a horrific axe attack that shocked all of Canada. Peace Warrior is the exclusive, moving story of Captain Trevor Greene’s dramatic struggle to recover from the devastating injury and rebuild his life ...
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Philanthropy
When I was in workup training for Afghanistan, I read a United Nations report on children’s education in conflict zones and I came across an African proverb that resonates with me to this day:
"Teach a boy and you educate an individual, but teach a girl, and you enlighten a whole village."
When I was meeting with Afghan elders to assess the needs of their villages. I always asked if they had a school and if they were teaching girls. I would be diplomatically silent, but seething inside as they howled with laughter as if I were suggesting they educate a dog. I heard their cackles as a call to action. It was in one of these villages that I was struck in the head with an axe. The young man who wielded the axe was a poor, uneducated shepherd boy who could have been easily convinced by the Taliban that the Koran that the only way he could get to Paradise was by killing an infidel. Had he had a teacher, he would’ve been taught that the Koran, like the Bible, was full of parables about tolerance and love towards all other people. His axe blow ended my mission as a soldier but my belief in the African proverb has endured.
In 2010, I received an unexpected $100,000 bequest from a stranger, Vancouver property owner James Motherwell. I talked it over with my wife Debbie and we agreed to use it as the seed money for a foundation to fund the education of girls in conflict zones. Thus was born the Greene Family Education Initiative with a mandate to fund education scholarships for women in conflict zones to become teachers. And, to ensure that children have access to education to break the cycle of poverty that makes them beholden to their oppressors.
To date, we’ve funded the education of an Afghan girl to be a teacher, the construction of a teacher’s dormitory for an elementary school in Uganda and a university scholarship for a graduate of that school, the Canassist African Relief Fund, Bangladeshi and Palestinian education trusts, four C$1,500 education scholarships for girls in an orphanage in Haiti as well as over $10,000 for upgrades to security at the orphanage when the gang violence started in 2022.
Public Service
People have often written to me, saying what an inspiration I am to their recovery from a traumatic incident that has left them physically or mentally scarred. I want to do more than be an inspiration though, so for the last 18 years I’ve been searching for a new mission. I finally found it when the Legion Veterans Village was built in Surrey in 2023 and gave
me the honour of serving on the board of the Legion Veterans Village Research Foundation (LVVRF). The village offers accommodation in 91 affordable rental units exclusively for veterans and first responders. A 7,000-square-foot centre of excellence includes a number of mixed medical clinics as well as integrated research in several different areas of
clinical intervention for PTSD, including robotics and neuroscience, as well as plant-based therapeutics.
The LVVRF has become my new platform for advocacy and action. I am trying to channel my energy, passion and insights to spearhead initiatives that drive meaningful change. Through fundraising efforts, public awareness campaigns, and collaborations with healthcare experts and researchers, the Foundation is at the forefront of advancing clinical programs, innovative technologies, and evidence-based interventions.