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The Canadian Armed Forces (fr. Forces armées canadiennes), also referred to as the Canadian Forces or CF (fr. Forces canadiennes or FC), refers to the combined branches of the military forces of Canada, these being Canada's army, navy, and air force. The Canadian Forces are part of the Department of National Defence and are headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario.
The Canadian Forces are charged with providing a multipurpose, combat-capable military service that is ready and able to:
Canadian Forces also have a long history of leadership in multi-national peacekeeping and humanitarian relief efforts worldwide.
Defence is one of the few national institutions under Canada's constitution that is solely under federal authority; in fact it is against CF protocol for the flag of any province to be flown on parade unless all provinces are represented.
The Governor General, as the Queen's representative in Canada, acts as the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces, however the CF receives its political direction from the Minister of National Defence who represents the Department of National Defence in the government.
The military chain of command leads to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) while civilian personnel report to the Deputy Minister (DM) of National Defence - both the CDS and DM report directly to the minister and in actual military operations, CDS sometimes reports directly to the prime minister.
The CF Regular force currently stands at approximately 60,000 personnel (all ranks). CF operations are supported by 19,000 full-time civilian DND employees, which when combined with CF personnel, makes DND the largest federal government department in terms of employees and in terms of budget.
The structure of the Canadian Forces originated with a multi-service model based on British traditions. In 1968, an act of Parliament combined the army, navy and air force into a unified force under a single command. While the CF still act as a unified force, individual branches have regained much of their distinct structure and character.
The Canadian Armed Forces underwent a restructuring in 1975 which saw Training Command (TC) removed from the command structure. Additionally, in the 1995 restructuring, Communication Command (CC) or "signals" was removed from the command structure.
Canadian army brigades are administered through four geographically determined area commands:
In each command (except Atlantic), regular force troops comprising a mechanized brigade group (CMBG) are supported by reserve forces in nine brigade groups. Regular forces in the Atlantic command are based in the Combat Training School at CFB Gagetown.
Today, Land Force Command (army) consists of three field-ready brigades:
Each brigade contains one regiment each of artillery, armour, combat engineers and infantry (all scaled in the British fashion), as well as a service battalion (logistics), a field ambulance, a headquarters/signals squadron, a tactical helicopter squadron, and several minor organizations.
Major training establishments and non-brigaded troops exist at CFB Gagetown and CFB St. Jean. Well-known regiments in the army include Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in 1 Brigade, The Royal Canadian Regiment in 2 Brigade, and Le Royal 22e Régiment or the 'Van Doos' in 5 Brigade.
Canada's air force is deployed at 13 bases across Canada under the overall direction of 1 Canadian Air Division and constitutes the Canadian NORAD Region. Major air bases are located in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador while administrative and command-control facilities are located in Winnipeg and North Bay. A Canadian component of the NATO Airborne Early Warning Force is based in Canadian Special Forces
Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2) is the CF special forces unit. Personnel are recruited from all CF units for counter-terrorism and covert operations.
The CF Reserve Force is comprised of the following:
The primary reserve is comprised of citizen volunteer soldiers, sailors, and aircrew who train part-time and can be posted to regular force operations. Numbering approximately 15,000 (all ranks, all services), DND committed to an increase of the primary reserve to 18,500 in 2000.
The Naval Reserve has divisions (shore based training locations) located across the country. Periodic training is conducted at the two MARCOM bases and personnel frequently deploy on regular force missions to supplement crewing levels. The Naval Reserve also constitute the majority of personnel onboard Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels which are used for coastal patrol and minesweeping operations.
The Air Reserve is organized into flights or squadrons at locations across the country where personnel conduct training. Units are specialized in various areas of surveillance, engineering, and airfield construction. Personnel also conduct further training at AIRCOM bases and can deploy with regular force AIRCOM crews around the world in support of CF missions.
The Land Force Reserve, also known as the Army Reserve or Militia, is organized into under-strength brigades (effectively just for purposes of administration) along geographic lines. The militia is very active and has participated heavily in all Canadian army deployments in the last decade, in some cases contributing as much as 40% of each deployment in either individual augmentation, as well as occasional formed sub-units (companies). The militia contains many of Canada's most historic regiments, including the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's Own), les Voltigeurs de Québec, South Alberta Light Horse, and the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Reserve regiments have the theoretical administration capabilities for an entire battalion, while often only having the manpower of one or two platoons. They are perpetuated as such for the timely absorption of recruits during times of war.
The Communication Reserve was the primary reserve element responsible to the regular forces of the now defunct Canadian Forces Communication Command (now DND's Information Management Group), formerly known as the Canadian Corps of Signals. Communication Reserve units are organized similarly to the Militia with troops, squadrons and under strength regiments located across the country. Historically, "Sigs" reservists were involved in radio, radio-teletype, and laying land-line cabling but this is now evolving with support for cryptography and SIGINT activities.
The Supplementary Reserve, also known as the Primary Reserve List, is part of the CF Reserve and comprises a voluntary call-up list for former CF regular and reserve force personnel who wish to be considered for reactivation in the event of a national emergency.
The Canadian Rangers are part of the CF Reserve and provide surveillance and patrol services in Canada's Arctic and other remote areas and are an essential component to Canada's exercise of sovereignty over its territory.
CIC personnel are commissioned officers who are instructors in the various army, air and sea cadet corps across the country.
The Canadian Forces have a number of active installations across the country with some being branch-specific. There are also a number of facilities which have closed in various defence cutbacks since the 1970s - for further info, consult Canadian Forces Bases.
Air Command and CF Northern Area also maintain a chain of Forward Operating Locations at various points across northern Canada, capable of supporting fighter operations. Elements of CF-18 squadrons periodically deploy to these FOLs for short training exercises or Arctic sovereignty patrols.
Canadian troops in colonial times served as regular members of British forces and in local militia groups. After Confederation in 1867, Canada's forces remained under British command until the turn of the 20th century. Canadian militia defended their homeland in the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and in the Fenian Raids. A Canadian expeditionary force assisted Britain in the Boer War.
The Canadian Armed Forces date to the War of 1812 when Canadian militia units were formed to assist in defending British North America from the invasions by the United States. The Royal Canadian Navy was created in 1910 and the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1924.
Canadian soldiers, sailors and aviators came into their own through conspicuous service in World War I, World War II and the Korean War.
The Canadian Forces or its component regiments have fought in the War of 1812, the Fenian Raids (1841-1871), North-West Rebellion (1885), the Boer War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the First Gulf War, and have contributed to UN and other peacekeeping missions and undeclared wars, notably the Suez Crisis, Cyprus, Croatia, Bosnia, and the War on Terrorism (Afghanistan). Canada is a charter member of NATO and a member of the North American Air Defence treaty (NORAD).
Battles which are particularly notable to the Canadian military include the Battle of Vimy Ridge (World War I) and in World War II the Dieppe Raid the Battle of Ortona, Italy the Normandy Landings the Battle of the Scheld Estuary, Holland.
Since 1947, the CF has undertaken 73 operations worldwide. In 2002, nearly 3000 Canadian troops were on active duty in 11 additional operations including the international war on terrorism in Afghanistan and the NATO stabilization force (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Canadian regular and reserve troops are a visible and respected force at home as well. In 2001 alone, the Canadian Forces responded to more than 8,000 search and rescue incidents and helped to save more than 4,500 lives.
At the end of World War II, Canada possessed the third largest navy and fourth largest air force in the world, as well as the largest all-volunteer army ever fielded (conscription for overseas service was only introduced near the end of the war, and no conscripts actually made it into battle). Defence spending and personnel remained high during the early years of Cold War, but began to decline in the 1960s and 1970s as the perceived threat from the Warsaw Pact diminished. Throughout the 1990s, successive budget cuts have forced further reductions in the personnel, number of bases, and fighting ability of the Canadian Forces. Sizable Canadian air and land forces were maintained in West Germany under NATO command from the end of World War II until the early 1990s.
Unlike armed forces in Canada's closest allies - the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and New Zealand - the Canadian Forces is a single organisation with a unified command structure. "The March 1964 White Paper on Defence outlined a major restructuring of the separate services. The White Paper described a reorganization that would include the integration of operations, logistics support, personnel and administration of the sperate services under a functional command system."
On February 1, 1968 Bill C-243, The Canadian Forces Reorganization Act became law and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) were combined into one service - the Canadian Armed Forces. While unification was ostensibly undertaken for cost savings, it has also been suggested that members of the government of the day were not recognizant of the traditions behind each service (or didn't care) and that the new Canadian Forces (in Canada's post-war modernist fashion) was easily translated to French and removed inconvenient monarchist references during a contentious period in Canadian history.
The British-style service-specific uniforms (khaki, navy blue and sky blue) of the three services were abandoned in favour of rifle green. The traditional navy and air force rank names were replaced by their army equivalents, with naval-style rank badges for officers and army-style for non-commissioned members. Maritime Command has since returned to the traditional naval rank names (eg. colonel = captain) but Air Command did not retain its rank names (eg. major not squadron leader). Critics argue that unification had a terrible impact on the morale of the Air and Maritime Commands and accomplished little in cost savings. In an effort to restore morale (and international credibility among its allies - many of whom mocked the unification uniforms), Maritime and Air Commands were allowed to return to their traditional navy and sky-blue uniforms and headgear in the mid 1980s.
The unification also eliminated service-specific facility names. All RCAF facilities followed RAF practise by using the prefix "RCAF Station" or "RCAF Detachment" prefixes (see the list of RCAF stations). RCN facilities followed RN practise by using the prefix "HMCS" for any shore-based facility in addition to major vessel names (see the list of RCN facilities). The army used the prefix "Canadian Military Camp" or just "Camp" for short.
The new "Canadian Forces" opted for the generic-sounding "Canadian Forces Base" (CFB) or "Canadian Forces Station" (CFS) prefixes. This is starting to evolve. Although the CFB prefix is still the official name for the installation, service-specific names are beginning to appear. Several minor installations of Maritime Command which are already located on the two major navy bases are again prefixed with HMCS, and Halifax has maintained the historic HMCS Dockyard title (the RN's ex. HMS Dockyard). Recently, in the 1990s, Air Command reorganized its bases and squadrons into a classic "Wing-Squadron" structure and now major air force bases have changed how they refer to the facilities accordingly (eg. "CFB Shearwater" is now referred to as "12 Wing Shearwater"). In Land Force Command, army bases are beginning to see a use of the "Camp" prefix again, and in one specific instance, dollar figure: $9.801 billion (FY03/04)
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