Military support of civil anthorities: Lessons learned at Canada Command one year after becoming operational

Abstract

Canada’s military now treats its sovereign territory as a clearly defined theatre of operations under a single operational command, Canada Command. Under this structure, there are six regional joint task forces and one central joint operations and planning staff. These regional structures were achieved with relatively light investment by double-hatting existing operational-level military formations. While this presents some challenges in terms of competing requirements, these are outweighed by the advantages of the more coherent and focused domestic structure. The first 18 months of operations have demonstrated that an interagency approach is the key to achieving Canada Command’s mission. Numerous routine and several contingency operations, including support to potentially catastrophic flooding in western Canada, have generated a number of valuable lessons learned. On a daily basis, Canada Command works closely with its domestic partners in Canada, as well as its continental partners to the south, US Northern Command and the binational North American Aerospace Defense Command. While much work remains to be done in the evolution of its domestic role, Canada Command is now the ‘go-to’ organisation in the Canadian Forces for matters of domestic defence and security.