Canadian Armed Forces respond to COVID-19

As the government’s reaction to the coronavirus pandemic has rolled out, there has been a very public, but measured response from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to help their fellow Canadians including, but not restricted to, the deployment of military teams to long-term care facilities in Quebec and Ontario. The CAF is and always has been the force of last resort during domestic emergencies. This is the principle around which the government has designed the CAF’s COVID-19 response. The military’s medical capacity is not limitless and must be able to deliver on their core task—the preservation of combat power delivered by healthy and resilient personnel. The reorientation of military members from their traditional defence responsibilities to those which were doubtless not on the minds of planners six months ago has stretched the CAF’s medical system. This should come as no surprise as the CAF’s medical focus is trauma care of relatively young persons in austere environments. The challenge of making the unprecedented switch to geriatric care (in many cases, end-of-life care), in a clinical setting with the added stressor of a lethal virus should not be underestimated. From a policy perspective, the CAF’s involvement is governed by Canada’s 2017 Defence Policy Strong, Secure, Engaged where the CAF’s eight core missions include “provide assistance to civil authorities and nongovernmental partners in responding to international and domestic disasters or major emergencies.” The COVID-19 crisis certainly qualifies as a major domestic emergency. For the most part CAF assets have been called out through the Emergency Management Act, under which a province may ask for assistance from the CAF. Thus far the CAF response has resulted in the lion’s share of support going to Quebec and Ontario. At 25 long-term care facilities (known by the acronym CHSLD) in Quebec and five long-term care facilities in Ontario, military teams have provided relief as such centres harbour the largest concentration of COVID 19 sufferers. In Quebec more than 1,000 troops and in Ontario approximately 250 personnel are engaged in direct on-site support. Teams of up to 50 personnel each have been deployed, working in shifts each composed of a register nurse, six medical technicians along with sufficient personnel to perform support duties (think orderlies). In these locales, the teams assist in preparing, serving, and collecting meals, feeding residents, assisting with personal hygiene, and providing hands-on labour as required. By all accounts the services rendered have done much to restore dignity to the residents and the implicated CAF members report a true sense of satisfaction despite the unique, taxing work conditions. Organizationally, CAF domestic operations are commanded from the Canadian Joint Operations Centre (CJOC) in Ottawa and directed on the ground by six regional Joint Task Forces (North , Pacific , West , Centre , East and Atlantic ). With the exception of JTF North, each of these JTFs would regularly have an Immediate Response Unit (IRU) of Regular Force members on short notice readiness to respond to domestic emergencies and a Territorial Battle Group made up primarily of reservists that can and has been activated. This organizational construct has been retained and reinforced resulting in the creation of Local Response Forces (LRF). The activation of community-based Canadian Rangers in Northern Saskatchewan is an example of LRF employment. In their patrol communities across the North, the Canadian Rangers are providing support such as wellness checks, helping with transportation and distribution of local supplies to community members, assisting in staffing municipal/community-operated command posts and emergency centres, and supporting community food security through hunting, gathering, and fishing. Additionally, in the Pacific HMCS Regina and HMCS Brandon and in the Atlantic HMCS Ville de Québec and HMCS Moncton have been prepared for support to pandemic response with isolation precautions having been made to avoid the virus being present among the crews. As well, early in the crisis the RCAF helped bring home internationally stranded Canadians and provided for their initial quarantine. In all, the CAF has some 24,000 members standing by to assist when called. While the CAF’s previous employment on domestic operations is generally recognized, in recent years there has been a noticeable uptick including support to recurring forest fires and floods across Canada brought on by climate change. These threats are front of mind for military planners even in the face of the unprecedented threat posed by the coronavirus. The accumulation of domestic challenges has prompted some to propose a comprehensive review of the domestic role for the CAF. The public discourse that follows on the heels of the current crisis will almost certainly shine light on the CAF’s possible future roles. Denis Thompson is a retired major-general with 39 years experience in the Canadian Armed Forces and a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. The Hill Times