Massive overhaul to build ‘war-fighting’ Canadian Army

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OTTAWA — The Canadian Army is undergoing a massive organizational shakeup, with changes one military expert says are long overdue — and potentially politically sensitive.

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On Thursday, the army transitioned itself from geographically-based divisions to ones that are purpose-driven and function-based — a move that defence expert Joe Varner describes as the right move in an increasingly dangerous world.

“I think that it’s a very good idea to prepare the Canadian Army to fight and win wars,” said Varner, who is also a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and policy advisor to defence ministers.

“People can debate the implications of the reorganization, but they can’t debate that the geostrategic environment has changed,” he said. “Russia is preparing for a confrontation with NATO, and we’ve got a brigade on the ground in Latvia. We need to be able to reinforce that brigade, we need to be able to reinforce NATO if there is a confrontation with the Russians, and to do that, we need a war-fighting division.”

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3rd Canadian Division officially stood down

On Thursday, the Canadian Army officially stood down 3rd Canadian Division — which covered Western Canada for nearly 40 years — and reactivated the historic 1st Canadian Division as the Army’s core “manoeuvre division.”

1st Canadian Division, headquartered at CFB Edmonton, will be Canada’s primary high-readiness combat division for major international military operations, NATO commitments and global crises.

2nd Canadian Division, headquartered at CFB Montreal, is in charge of homeland defence — including defending Arctic sovereignty, territorial defence and coordinating both primary reserve forces and the Canadian Rangers.

That’s in addition to the Canadian Army Support Division, and the Training Division.

The now former 3rd Canadian Division joins the 4th and 5th Canadian Divisions — once based in Toronto and Halifax respectively — in Canada’s roster of stood-down divisions.

The largest tactical and administrative formations in the Canadian army, divisions are made up of a number of brigades, which in turn consist of regiments and battalions.

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The new 1st Canadian Division will oversee six separate brigades — the three Regular Force mechanized brigade groups, plus three specialized support brigades.

Move could be politically sensitive

Varner warned that stretching 2nd Canadian Division’s command across the entirety of Canada presents major geographic challenges for command and control.

As well, the army is also forming up the 3rd Canadian Light Infantry Regiment, created by amalgamating the 3rd Battalions from Canada’s three regular army infantry regiments — the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, the Royal Canadian Regiment and the Van Doos (the largely-Francophone Royal 22e Régiment.)

This, Varner said, is the most politically sensitive element of the new formations.

“It very much sounds like the reestablishment of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, which the Chrétien government did away with in the fallout of Somalia,” Varner noted, referring to the 1993 incident where members of the regiment beat and murdered a 16-year-old Somali teenager, taking photographs of the assault as trophies.

The entire regiment was disbanded in 1995 after videos emerged showing regiment members taking part in violent hazing rituals.

“I think that that’s going to attract some political attention, but I think it’s a needed capability,” Varner added, explaining that paratroopers will be essential if Russia invades Canada’s Arctic.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

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