Canada works closely
with Central American,
South American, and Caribbean
partners to enhance
regional security and
interoperability in the area.
To continue to grow
this international partnership,
the Operational
Support Hub - Latin America
and the Caribbean (OSH-LAC)
was activated
in Kingston, Jamaica
in August 2020.
The Commanding Officer
of the Hub Activation Team,
Lieutenant-Colonel Yves Lavoie,
and the Commander
of Canadian Forces
Joint Operational Support Group,
Colonel Daniel Smith
joins us today to discuss
the collaborative
work being done
as part of this
newly enabled force.
Col Smith, what is
an operational support hub
and why is this one so important
for the CAF and its partners?
Broadly speaking, an operational
support hub is a physical entity
through which
a hub-and-spoke distribution
and support model can work.
Its primary focus is
a location from which
support operations
can be conducted in the Latin
America-Caribbean region.
Principally, humanitarian
assistance disaster relief
operations but it can support
other operations,
exercises or activity
in the region.
LCol Lavoie, can you describe
some of the training
that has been done
with the Jamaican Defence Force
and why this is key
to the CAF presence in the area?
We stressed from day one
that we really wanted to have
the senior
leadership involvement
on the Jamaican Defence Force
site for us to be tactful
and insightful into where
the Jamaican government wanted
to develop the capabilities.
Having said that, we also did
focus on some hands-on training.
Simple matters,
such as pallet-loading systems
for aircraft equipment
movement and so forth,
was done more
at the operational level
and it was indeed
very well-attended.
What work has been done
in the last few months
to have the facility
operational?
The staff here have been working
on five-year plans
for OSH-LAC on what
do we need to do.
One of the things that's
important in that is
the partnership
with the countries.
In this case, of course,
we're specifically talking
about Jamaica
and the Jamaican Defence Force.
And we are actively working
to keep those partnerships open
and active because of the mutual
benefit to both of us.
What measures and considerations
is the hub taking
to address COVID-19?
So one thing that I have to say
on that from the get-go is
that we take public
health measures
in the Canadian (Armed)
Forces very seriously.
All the Canadian public health
measures standards were applied
pre, during and post-deployment.
For instance, before deployment,
we all had to conduct
COVID-19 tests.
Of course, the tests had to be
negative. We were in confinement
for three days at CFB (Canadian
Forces Base) Kingston
to make sure that we would
set the conditions
for the Jamaican Defence Forces
to be satisfied
with the application
of public health measures
in Canada and in Jamaica.
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