Lindsay Groves, Corporate Services Manager
Lookout Newspaper

Here I am again: sitting behind a keyboard with a blank page on my screen. It always feels good to be here — at the beginning of something new. My career has taken me from local reporting to writing for global brands, and now I’m back in community news. Because I believe storytelling matters, it feels like the right time to introduce myself and tell a chapter of my story.

“I believe storytelling matters.”

I’m Lindsay Groves, the Corporate Services Manager for the Lookout Newspaper, part of the Personnel Support Programs (PSP) team. I joined the team in July 2025. My brother, Sub-Lieutenant (SLt) Nicholas (Nick) Groves, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in 2012. He was proud and ready. As a family, we celebrated his professional milestones throughout the years of service with memories of his graduation at His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Venture. We also celebrated his life with a ceremony at Venture as Nick proudly served on HMCS Ottawa until his death in 2017 after his battle with cancer.

There is a saying on the wall at Work Point’s Nixon Gym that reads, “A new undertaking to dare & not be afraid.’”

While I did not witness my brother in his naval environment, I knew him, and I was with him from his diagnosis to his death. To witness his strength, courage, and humour in the face of this impossible challenge remains a guiding light in my life. During his battle, Nick experienced an outpouring of care and support from this base. I can confirm that his experience, along with my family’s experience in caring for him, would have been extremely different with additional layers of difficulty if it were not for the morale, benefits, and support offered by this community. He would often tell me how grateful he was to be a part of this world. (His in memoriam announcement is featured in the Lookout’s Volume 62 Number 6.)

For me, joining the Lookout team is not about stepping into the past. It’s about carrying forward the values I saw in my brother and in this community: courage, connection, and resilience.

Lieutenant Commander (LCdr) Jenna Lawson (previously our Family Liaison Officer) emailed me on my first workday with a note, “Oh the JOY of seeing a Groves in the address book again.” It feels good to be here. I look forward to the journey ahead, to dare and not be afraid on this next adventure. I want to thank the incredible Lookout team and PSP team for the warm welcome. I look forward to bringing more stories that celebrate and strengthen the Defence community.

And thank you, reader, for being here.

Fun Facts

Q: What’s your favorite book?

A: Too many to pick one … but it might be Nick Cave’s Faith, Hope, and Carnage. My favourite book from 2024 was Ian Williams’ What I Mean to Say, while this year’s favourite book (so far) is Chloe Dalton’s Raising Hare.

Q: What’s a surprising skill you have?

A: Since moving to Victoria, I’ve read 306 books from the Greater Victoria Public Library — about 30 a year, saving me roughly $6,000. I’m happily (and fiercely) loyal to the library.

Q: What’s your favourite CFB Esquimalt memory?

A: My brother’s graduation at Venture. Flash forward eight years, I’m in the same building with the Lookout team at a Change of Command ceremony (CoC) for Base Administration (Base Admin). A poem from Commander (Cdr) Bruzzone is read during the ceremony with this verse: ‘We hold in hearts those gone before, their names still echo on the shore. Through sacrifice our freedoms grew; Their history now sails with you.’

It felt special for many reasons.

Connect with Lindsay at lindsay.groves@forces.gc.ca