Operation GLOBE 20-01

International Operation Name: N/A

International Operation Dates: N/A

Mandating Organization: Government of Canada

Region Name: North America

Location: CFB Trenton and Cornwall, Ontario

Canadian Operation Name: Operation GLOBE 20-01

Canadian Operation Dates: 2020/01/31 - 2020/04/15

Mission Mandate:Operation GLOBE (Op GLOBE) is part of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) commitment to active engagement abroad. These deployments give CAF members the opportunity to work alongside personnel from other government departments and other nations.

In response to the emergence of COVID-19, the CAF was tasked to support a whole-of-government approach through the facilitation, arrival, screening, and onward movement of Canadians from severe virus-affected regions abroad and safely back to Canada. Working with lead federal agencies and the province of Ontario, the CAF responded to an approved request for assistance (RFA) during Op GLOBE 20-01.

Mission Notes:

On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) received notifications about new cases of pneumonia in Wuhan City, People’s Republic of China. A strain of coronavirus was identified as the cause for newly reported illnesses by Chinese authorities on 7 January 2020. The first reported cases of COVID-19 in North America were also in January 2020.

Assistance from the CAF was requested on 31 January 2020 to support Government of Canada (GoC) efforts to receive and temporarily accommodate Canadians returning from Wuhan, China. In February and March 2020, CAF supported the return of Canadians from cruise ships Diamond Princess (in Japan) and the Grand Princess (in San Francisco, USA) following outbreaks of COVID-19. The CAF response to GoC-assisted return efforts were led by Task Force PARATUS (TF PARATUS).

TF PARATUS was primarily built around a CAF Immediate Response Unit (IRU) deployed from Petawawa to Trenton, Ontario, in February 2020. The task force was augmented by reservist personnel, as well as command and support staff from 8 Wing Trenton under the command of Col R.G.Deming (8 Wing). A total of 190 CAF members (the operation’s peak for personnel) were deployed on Op GLOBE 20-01 by mid-February 2020. Reporting to Commander Joint Task Force Central (JTFC), BGen C.J.J. Mialkowski, in Ontario, TF PARATUS supported GoC efforts to facilitate, receive, screen, and move Canadians returning from regions abroad affected by the emerging threat of COVID-19.

About 700 Canadians were successfully repatriated from Wuhan, China, Japan (Diamond Princess Cruise Ship), and San Francisco (Grand Princess Cruise Ship) following mandatory isolation periods in Trenton and Cornwall, Ontario, between early February and mid-March 2020. The first flight from Wuhan arrived in Trenton on 7 February 2020. The fifth and final return flight arrived on 10 March 2020. Op GLOBE 20-01 concluded in mid-April 2021. Many of the CAF personnel involved with this domestic deployment would go on to support Op LASER, the named CAF response to the global COVID-19 pandemic thereafter.

The content of this webpage was prepared by the Operational Records section within the Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH).

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