Defence Team News Interview with Lt(N) Thomas Ionson, on Ex TRILLIUM RESPONSE
Video / March 15, 2023
Transcript
Lt(N) Thomas Ionson: We've got to be strong at home. And we like to lead with our reservists. So, this is a way of preparing the Army Reserve throughout Ontario to respond to crises.
Genevieve Germano: We're in Toronto at the Denison Armoury, where Exercise TRILLIUM RESPONSE is being conducted. Today, I'm joined by Lieutenant Navy Ionson to tell us more.
Genevieve Germano: So, can you tell us a little bit about the exercise?
Lt(N) Thomas Ionson: This is part of our TRILLIUM series of exercises. It's designed to help our Army Reserve members throughout the province of Ontario prepare for domestic response and emergencies within the province. It builds off of another exercise that we had called TRILLIUM DRAGON, which we held in the Fall. There we had, kind of the H.Q. elements go through a planning cycle and determine how they would employ their Response Companies in response to an ice storm. This one sees those companies executing that plan through a computer-assisted exercise. So, providing kind of the typical tasks we would see during a major ice storm. Some route clearance, wellness checks, delivery of critical supplies to people in need.
Genevieve Germano: And this is a real-life simulation that's really meant to provide a challenging scenario for the members of JTFC. What kind of challenges are they up against?
Lt(N) Thomas Ionson: So, there's a tonne of challenges they're going to be facing. One of the big ones is how do they integrate with the response efforts of the provinces that are ongoing. We're always operating in support of the province, so they've got to figure out how best to fold themselves into the provincial plan to achieve the greatest effect. They're also… like everybody, short on resources. So, a lot of times, the list of requested effects exceeds the capacity that they have. So, they have to work with the province in order to prioritize the requests, so that they assist the most vulnerable first.
Genevieve Germano: And there's obviously a lot of moving parts to this exercise, and key players as well. What are their roles in that, and who are they?
Lt(N) Thomas Ionson: Well, we've got our number one partner in the province here: Emergency Management Ontario. We work with them on every emergency that we support within the province. And we have some of their field officers here today to help provide some realism into our scenario and to help us. We draw on their knowledge, and experience through past operations, in order to help us forecast what would be the most likely things we would encounter during a real operation.
Genevieve Germano: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Lt(N) Thomas Ionson: Yah, I'd like to give a shout out to the reservists throughout Ontario who come out to support domestic operations. Over the last three-to-four years, we saw a lot of them, and we had a huge amount of support from the Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, and the Canadian Rangers in particular. Those Canadian Rangers provided pandemic support, vaccine support, and flood and forest fire support in our remote First National communities in Ontario. They're members of those communities themselves, and they do great work every year.
Geneviev Germano: Thanks so much for chatting with us.
Lt(N) Thomas Ionson: Thank you!
Related Links:
Exercise TRILLIUM RESPONSE confirms JTFC’s ability to support Ontario during natural disasters
Page details
- Date modified: