Planned results: Program 2.0: Defence Services and Contributions to Government

Program 2.0: Defence Services and Contributions to Government

Description

The Defence Services and Contributions to Government Program aims to support the delivery of Canadian Government safety and security initiatives and encourage recognition and pride in Canada and the Canadian military. This is accomplished through the provision of unique Defence services in support of other elements of Government or the Canadian public.

To encourage and share pride and awareness of Canada’s military heritage, contributions, and leadership, Defence provides unique services and opportunities for outreach, awareness, preservation and development. Defence unique services also include operations conducted to ensure or enhance the security, safety, stability and/or well-being of Canadians, or international populations in peril, in accordance with Canadian values and the interests of the Canadian Government, in situations where there may be a need to defend against armed threats but where this is not the primary focus.

The operations are delivered through the employment of force elements to achieve a desired effect within specific contexts through execution of tasks according to understood concepts, doctrine and standards. The force elements delivered by Defence are organizational entities which are composed of members of the Canadian Armed Forces and in some cases personnel from the Department of National Defence. Force elements have different sizes and compositions according to the capabilities they must apply during an operation.

Defence remains consistently ready to employ force elements under this Program; however, significant operations do not always occur every fiscal year.

Planning highlights

The Defence team will provide the Government of Canada with capabilities to meet our search and rescue obligations, and respond to natural disasters and humanitarian crises. We will also deliver training, advice, and intelligence, and help to build the capacity of our regional partners.

Through international engagement, we will continue to demonstrate Canada’s resolve to stand with partners and allies and make meaningful contributions to international peace and stability.

Respond to coalition needs to dismantle and defeat Daesh - Operation IMPACT

As a committed partner to the multinational coalition to dismantle and defeat Daesh, the Government of Canada will continue to contribute to a whole-of-government approach to security, stabilization, humanitarian and development assistance in response to the crises in Iraq and Syria, and their impact on Jordan and Lebanon.

We are committed to making a broadened contribution. We will continue to focus our efforts on training, intelligence and aiding humanitarian support in Iraq and Syria and we will respond to coalition needs on the ground to dismantle and defeat Daesh. Our contributions include:

• Provide a Special Operations Task Force dedicated to train, advise, and assist mission;
• Deploy Griffon helicopters to provide in-theatre tactical transport of troops and material and casualty evacuations, if required;
• Work with our partners to provide the right intelligence to protect our forces, anticipate future threats and contribute to the coalition; and
• Build capacity for our regional partners in Jordan and Lebanon.

Our contribution also consists of approximately 50 military personnel mandated to provide lifesaving medical and surgical care to support coalition forces. The CAF portion of this team includes command and control personnel, physicians, nurses, medical technicians, laboratory and diagnostic imaging technicians, a dental team, and a full complement of support staff. The CAF is leading this multinational team of clinicians that will bolster the coalition’s healthcare capabilities in the region.

As part of coalition operations in support of Iraqi security forces, our CC-150 Polaris and CP-140 Aurora aircraft will continue to conduct air-to-air refuelling and aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.

Operation IMPACT

Operation IMPACT is the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) contribution to the Global Coalition to dismantle and ultimately defeat Daesh.

Under Operation IMPACT, the CAF conducts air operations, training and assistance to the Iraqi security forces, capacity building capabilities to regional forces, and medical services to Coalition forces, and supports the Coalition with highly skilled personnel.

Support Ukraine to maintain sovereignty, security and stability - Operation UNIFIER

Canada’s support to Ukraine spans development, security, democracy, and humanitarian aid. As part of Canada’s response to requests from the Government of Ukraine, the CAF, with support from Global Affairs Canada, will continue to provide military training and capacity building to Ukraine forces’ personnel to support that country in its efforts to maintain sovereignty, security, and stability.

Our military training mission, Operation UNIFIER ¹³, occurs under the rubric of the Multinational Joint Commission, which includes Ukraine, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland and Lithuania. Under this operation, our primary focus will remain on tactical soldier training, also known as small team training, which consists of individual weapons training, marksmanship, reconnaissance, tactical movement, explosive threat recognition, communication, combat survival, and ethics training.

Other training activities will include:

• Explosive ordnance disposal and improvised explosive device disposal training;
• Military police training, consisting of use of force and basic investigative techniques courses;
• Medical training that provides casualty evacuation and combat first aid training;
• Chaplain training that promotes interreligious understanding and cooperation;
• Flight safety and language training; and
• Logistics system modernization.

Furthermore, the Defence Team is partnering with Ukraine under the auspices of the Military Training and Cooperation Program to provide staff officer training and military professional development opportunities at military learning establishments in Canada and partner facilities around the world.

Canada will also continue to host Exercise Precise Response at Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) Suffield, Alberta as part of the NATO Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) defence training. This training is aimed at further developing NATO’s capacity for the detection, identification, sampling and decontamination of CBRN agents.

Make a meaningful contribution to peace operations

Canada has renewed its commitment to the United Nations (UN) and international peace operations. Its increased support is centred on a whole-of-government approach, combining diplomacy, deployment, training, and capacity-building — and includes conflict prevention, multilateral-treaty compliance, mediation, peace operations, and peacebuilding efforts.

We will stand ready to deploy up to 600 CAF personnel for future UN peace operations. Options are being actively explored, through discussions with the UN and Canada’s partner nations, for how best our forces can make a meaningful contribution to peace operations as part of a whole-of-government effort. As recommended in the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence report entitled “UN Deployment: Prioritizing commitments at home and abroad”, the Government will seek bi-partisan and multi-partisan support through open parliamentary debate prior to confirmation and deployment of members of the CAF.

Through the Military Training and Cooperation Program, Canada conducts co-operative training and military professional development projects that help troop-contributing countries provide trained and effective personnel to multinational peace operations.

When called upon, we will provide our resources and skills — including trained personnel, expertise and specialized capabilities — to make tangible contributions to peace operations. Our contributions will be developed in consultation with the UN and partner nations taking into account our capacities.

Our military members will continue to support UN peace operations in the Middle East (Operation JADE ¹⁴), Africa (Operation CROCODILE ¹⁵, Operation SOPRANO ¹⁶) and Latin America (Operation HAMLET ¹⁷) as well as remain deployed on non-UN multinational operations in the Sinai Peninsula (Operation CALUMET ¹⁸) and Kosovo (Operation KOBOLD ¹⁹).

As per UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and other related resolutions, we are fully integrating gender perspectives into CAF planning and operations to address the differential impacts of armed conflict on men, women, girls and boys. Additional focus is being placed on bringing gender equality among Canadian soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen to peace operations, including more leadership roles for women.

Canada has further reaffirmed its commitment to the UN and ongoing dialogue on common defence, security and peace operation priorities. It will host the next UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial in 2017 and National Defence expects to play an important role. We also intend to deploy gender advisors and focal points to enable consideration of gender in the planning and execution of UN operations.

Work together to save lives – Search and Rescue

In Canada, Search and Rescue (SAR) is a shared responsibility among federal, provincial/territorial and municipal organizations, as well as air, ground and maritime volunteer SAR organizations. The Canadian federal area of responsibility extends over 18 million square kilometres of land and sea – an area one-and-a-half times that of Canada’s landmass. Due to its vast size and range of environments, our country relies on a diverse group of government, military, volunteer, academic and industry partners to provide overall SAR services to the Canadian public.

At National Defence, we will continue our focus on the CAF’s primary responsibility to provide aeronautical SAR and coordinate the aeronautical and maritime SAR system. We will deploy search and rescue response capabilities that can reach those in distress anywhere in Canada on a 24 hours a day, seven days a week basis. Our CAF resources may also assist in ground SAR efforts, medical evacuations and other humanitarian incidents if requested by the responsible provincial, territorial or municipal authority. The Canadian Rangers and reserve force members of the CAF, may be called upon to aid in ground SAR upon request in sparsely settled regions of the country.

CAF SAR squadrons are strategically located throughout the country to provide the most effective response to the greatest number of potential incidents. The CAF has the capability to provide aeronautical SAR services into the farthest and most remote locations in our Arctic region.

Through CAF sponsorship and funding of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA), civilian volunteers will continue to be trained and enabled to support activities related to CAF coordinated aeronautical search and rescue operations. CASARA’s aircraft and crews provide airborne search capabilities and conduct activities designed to increase the level of awareness in the general aviation community of both the Association and SAR response.

Enhance Canadian safety and security through Defence services

Substantial changes to our security environment, coupled with a rise in natural disasters, are increasing the need to invest in the domestic and global disaster preparedness, prevention, and recovery. Canada is dedicated to strengthening its ability to anticipate, prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from all kinds of hazards – natural, human-induced and technological.

The Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP), a federal program led by Defence Research and Development Canada’s Centre for Security Science, in partnership with Public Safety Canada, will continue to invest in science and technology projects that work to address the most pressing public safety and security issues facing Canada. The CSSP will solicit proposals and create opportunities for science and technology experts to work with partners from different public safety and security domains to support the development of knowledge, tools, processes and strategies essential to safeguarding Canada and its people, institutions, and infrastructure.

In the coming year, CSSP investments will support projects and activities within these focus areas: critical infrastructure resilience, seamless borders, operator capability and resilient communities – and the cross-cutting enablers of big data analytics, cyber security, interoperability, psycho-social, and emerging science and technology.

Ultimately, these investments aim to provide Canadians with a greater resilience to global and domestic public safety and security threats.

Foster pride in our Canadian military heritage

The 150^th anniversary of Canadian Confederation will be celebrated in 2017, a year that will be rich in Canadian military commemorations, ceremonies and events. Key initiatives to showcase and honour Canada’s history of leadership, contributions to Canadian society and commitment to building peace around the world are planned under Operation DISTINCTION. They include the 100^th anniversaries of the Battles of Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, the 75^th anniversary of the Dieppe raid and the opening of the Kandahar Air Field Cenotaph at National Defence’s new headquarters in Ottawa.

The Defence Team will provide support to these events as well as to the Invictus Games in Toronto. The Games will see more than 550 ill, injured or wounded servicemen and women from 17 allied nations compete in 12 adaptive sports. It is anticipated the CAF will provide support in promoting the Games and highlighting the participation of Team Canada and the power of the Games in rehabilitation. We will coordinate with other government departments and agencies to ensure a whole-of-government approach.

Invest in our youth

Our Youth Program is provided directly to Canadian youths and represents the largest federally sponsored youth program in Canada. In the coming year, we will seek to strengthen awareness and support for the Program; reinforce recent organizational changes; and prepare to close the renewal initiative for the Cadet and Junior Canadian Rangers programs. Our priority is to ensure that we continue to deliver relevant, effective and efficient world-class youth development programs in which youth gain the personal attributes to become responsible members of their communities as they transition into adulthood. We will continue to deliver on this priority by helping youth develop attributes of leadership and community-minded citizenship, encouraging physical fitness, and promoting the traditional cultures and lifestyles reflective of the remote and isolated communities of Canada where some of the youth reside.

Planned results

*Note: A new Program Alignment Architecture and Performance Measurement Framework were introduced in fiscal year 2014-15. Results for 2013-14 are not available. For more information on previous year results, see the applicable Departmental Performance Report available on our Reports and Publications ²⁰ web page.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

More information

Forecasted costs for major Canadian Armed Forces operations ²¹ and information on current and past operations ²² are available on our website.