Canadian soldiers are on the move a little over a week after Prime Minister Trudeau announced that Canadian Forces would be getting involved in the COVID-19 crisis, On Monday, 500 reservists from the GTA including Halton Region gathered at the Denison Armoury in Toronto for the trip to Camp Borden near Barrie, where they will be living in tents while awaiting deployment. These soldiers are part of the 24,000 troops that will be mobilized to respond to the pandemic, 6,000 of whom will be drawn from the reserve ranks.
"The crisis [usually] has to happen before we start to bring the reserves on. We're going to do it ahead of time here so we reduce our response times," said Chief of Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance in an earlier interview.
Under direction from the military command, Canadian soldiers have been expected to self-isolate over the last few weeks, and those practices are continuing at Base Borden. According to Lt. Ericka Palakovic of 32nd Territorial Battle Group: “Even departure times were staggered throughout the day to ensure maximum social distancing. For instance, on a 60 seat bus, we had about half that number. In each eight person-tent there will be four people instead of eight. We're following all the medical expertise, from the top on down,” she said.
As part of the Canadian Forces COVID-19 mobilization effort, soldiers currently employed part-time will be given full-time positions, and reservists will be offered contracts until the end of August. If requested to do so by the provinces, the military personnel would be available to provide support in mitigating the spread of the virus, and could help with community logistics and services, particularly in remote and First Nations communities that may be only accessible by air. The Quebec government has already requested the military's help in Northern Quebec, as have several First Nations in Ontario and Manitoba.
According to Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan, the Canadian Forces will have 10 reaction centres set up across the county (including Base Borden). “These immediate reaction units are ready to support any request for assistance. They can play a critical role in providing humanitarian support and delivering supplies, ready to support Canadians no matter where they live,” said Sajjan.
While the soldiers stationed at Borden could be sent anywhere in the country, they might also be called out to help with natural disasters like floods and fires, so they will undergo training in those activities as well. Reservists on this mission could be anywhere from 18-60 years of age, but many of these are younger people who have put their education on hold for the time being, according to Lt. Palakovic.
“I am impressed walking around the camp, they're eager to help, they're pleased to be here,” she said. “As I look out my window there are a couple of troops that are doing a ruck march and others are doing physical training between the tents. We're keeping fit, we're keeping healthy and morale is good. At the end of the day we're just a small part of the solution and we're happy to be doing whatever we can to help.”
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