HMCS Calgary Witnesses Possible Violations of North Korean Sanctions on Patrol in Pacific

By: Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- The crew of a Canadian warship in the Pacific had front-row seats to potential violations of UN sanctions against North Korea during a recent patrol in the East China Sea -- but was under orders not to intercept any suspicious vessels, the ship's commander says.

HMCS Calgary - Halifax Class Frigate 

Crew members on HMCS Calgary instead took photos and collected other information, Cmdr. Blair Saltel said Tuesday.

"We saw several ship-to-ship transfers at sea and by the markings -- based on the intelligence that we had -- some of those were associated with ... potential violators of those sanctions," Saltel said.

"We maintained a (distance), and that's in (accordance) with the entire approach to the operation. We took pictures, we passed that information to the higher authorities and the expectation is that could be used for legal sanctions."

HMCS Calgary is the first Canadian military vessel to deploy to the area after the federal government agreed earlier this year to help the U.S. and other allies crack down on smuggling designed to subvert sanctions against North Korea.

Western security officials have previously accused Russia and China of exporting oil to North Korea -- or at least turning a blind eye as their companies do -- which would be a violation of sanctions. Both countries have denied the charge.

While the Canadian frigate did not intercept any vessels, Saltel said the mere presence of a Western warship was enough in some cases to cause the other vessels to turn tail and run.

"We noted in a few instances that the transfers would wrap up quite quickly and they would have to escape. So our presence disrupted several of the transfers. But we had no intention of actually doing something as forceful as boarding or blocking a ship."

The Calgary and the navy's interim support ship, MV Asterix, are wrapping up a six-month deployment in the Pacific off Asia, during which they also participated in several multinational military exercises and visited several countries.

One of the main objectives was to demonstrate Canada's naval presence in a part of the world that is growing increasingly important to Canadian prosperity and international security.

Saltel said the deployment has included being shadowed by Chinese naval vessels in the South and East China Seas, which has become routine for Western military ships operating in the area amid growing tensions over competing territorial claims.

The U.S., the United Kingdom and other allies have made a point of sailing close to disputed islands and through disputed waters claimed by China, prompting several close calls and tense moments as the latter flexes its muscles.

The situation in the South China Sea, in particular, has been compared to a powder keg, as Chinese and U.S. naval vessels have almost collided as the U.S. navy has conducted "freedom of navigation" operations.

Saltel said he was not directed to do anything like that, and while HMCS Calgary did sail near the disputed Spratly Islands, its course was intended to save fuel and not to send a message to China.

The Canadian officer said his Chinese "shadows" acted professionally and "never really came within a distance that I would have considered unsafe."

HMCS Calgary's recent deployment was also unique for being the first to involve the Asterix, a converted civilian vessel that the federal government is leasing from Quebec-based Davie Shipbuilding until permanent support ships can be built.

The Asterix is captained and crewed by civilians except for a small contingent of military personnel who are responsible for providing fuel and other supplies at sea. Saltel said it has conducted about 50 such replenishments with the Calgary and allies.

Is Canada a Security Threat to the US? No - Canadians Actually Help Keep US Safe.

By: Tristen Hopper, The National Post

It's been two days since President Trump called Prime Minister Trudeau 'weak' and a 'backstabber', and it’s been a week since the Trump Administration slapped Canada with steel and aluminum tariffs on the ground that reliance on our imports was threatening the “national security” of the United States.

If Canadians are particularly galled at this, it might be because no foreign country in modern times has done more to arm and equip the United States than Canada. “I would not be surprised if every single major aircraft or warship in U.S. military service today has Canadian components in it,” said Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

Below, a cursory summary of some of the Canadian stuff used by history’s most powerful military.

Landing gear

We’ll start with an entry that directly concerns steel and aluminum. Quebec-based Héroux-Devtek is the world’s third largest aircraft landing gear company, and some of that is thanks to a longstanding relationship with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. Specifically, Héroux-Devtek is in charge of landing gear repair and overhaul for several large U.S. aircraft, including the heavy-lift C-130 Hercules. Of course, landing gear is made almost entirely of steel or aluminum. So, thanks to these new tariffs, American military procurers are either going to start getting hosed on their Héroux-Devtek contracts — or they’re going to have start getting their landing gear overhauls from a U.S. company that isn’t their first choice.

Armoured personnel carriers

“Canada and the US have been building military equipment for each other since the summer of 1940,” David Bercuson, a military historian at the University of Calgary, told the National Post. “Literally billions of dollars of such equipment has passed the border since then.” The most obvious example is the Stryker. There are nearly 5,000 Stryker armoured personnel carriers in the U.S. military, and all of them were built in London, Ontario. Not only that, but the Stryker is even based on a Canadian design, the LAV III. Coming in at a rock bottom $4 million apiece, the Americans use Strykers for everything: Ambulances, firefighting, missile platforms, chemical weapons defence and mine detection. They even started rigging them up with giant lasers to shoot down enemy drones. Armoured vehicles happen to be a Canadian specialty. While the United States was busy throwing money at big ticket items such as tanks and attack helicopters, the shoestring Canadians have gotten very good at the much cheaper task of simply strapping guns and armour to oversized trucks. And if a U.S. diplomat found themselves touring Iraq in an armoured Toyota Land Cruiser, chances are good they were shielded from bullets and IEDs by Canadian workmanship.

Stryker in action. Trevor Robb/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency

Specialized aircraft

The United States Army Parachute Team leap out of a modified Twin Otter. United States Military

Here again, the United States has it covered when it comes to big ticket aircraft such as fighters or bombers. But the U.S. military will occasionally call up Canadian plane-makers when it needs something quirky. Bombardier has retooled some of its airliners and business jets to act as airborne radar platforms. When the United States Army Parachute Team appears at air shows, they’re jumping out of a Canadian-made de Havilland Twin Otter. De Havilland has also hooked up the Americans with some of its famously rugged prop planes for use in electronic warfare, remote cargo drops or simply moving National Guard troops around Alaska. All told, the U.S. military is flying more planes built in Canada than in any other foreign country.

The U.S. military’s only cargo drone (and it has the most Canadian name imaginable)
A U.S. special forces unit is pinned down on a remote Central Asian mountaintop. Surrounded by militants on all sides, it needs an emergency airlift of water and ammunition to even see daybreak. Enter the SnowGoose, an unmanned autogyro specializing in precision deliveries to special forces. The SnowGoose is the U.S. military’s only cargo drone, and it’s an all-Canadian creation. An emerging theme on this list is that Canada is great at building niche military hardware for cheap, and the SnowGoose is no exception. As the drone’s Stittsville, Ont. builders note, it can move cargo across a battlefield at a fraction of the price of other drones.

Nuclear Fuel

Uranium is a big part of the modern U.S. military. It has more than 100 nuclear-powered vessels in the navy, and there’s also those 7,000 atomic weapons it still has lying around. Canada has sold a whole lot of uranium to the U.S. military, going all the way back to the initial atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. However, the taps were somewhat shut off in the 1960s, when Canada started limiting uranium exports to “peaceful” purposes. Still, with Canada ranking as the United States’ top uranium dealer, we help keep their uranium topped up enough to have plenty left over for the military. With the Trump administration in the midst of a Trillion Dollor Nuclear Modernization plan, keeping Canada friendly is probably a good idea. 

Speaking of nuclear weapons, it might behoove the White House to remember that if a Russian or North Korean missile should happen to be fired in their direction, a Canada-based NORAD station will likely be among the first to let them know.

Making fighter jets last forever

This entry should fill thrifty Canadians with particular pride: We’ve gotten so good at squeezing every penny out of our CF-18s that we’re now globally renowned experts at fighter jet life extension. Among other things, Canada invented “robotic shot-peening,” a method of using robots to restore aging aircraft with a precision never before known. The technology has been exported to Europe, Australia and, in 2013, the U.S. Navy brought in the Quebec aerospace company L-3 MAS to give its jets a makeover.

A very old, but very well taken-care-of, CF-18. File

Battlefield communications
Tactical radios are another niche technology in which Canadian companies have a built a slow but steady reputation with the Americans. In a 2017 reporton Canada/U.S. military industrial cooperation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that the U.S. military has been using Canadian radios since the 1960s. Ultra TCS, headquartered in Montreal, remains a supplier of tactical radios to both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. And these aren’t just walkie-talkies; they’re hyper-advanced networks that can provide email, voice and even video hook-ups to American troops in battle.

Jeeps

That’s right. The Second World War-era Willys Jeep — one of the most American vehicles in history — was manufactured in part by Canada. Ford Motor Company of Canada churned out thousands of Jeeps after the Second World War. In 1952 alone, Canadian factories were making an average of seven of them per day. According to Ford Canada’s website, “these postwar Canadian-made Jeep were shipped to the United States, for the American military forces.”

A 1952 Willys Jeep similar to what Canada would have been manufacturing for the United States. file. 

Space robots

The space shuttle was initially envisioned as a vehicle to steal Russian military satellites, in which the Canadarm would have been critical. Max Harrold/Postmedia News

DARPA is the U.S. agency tasked with pursuing military so cutting edge that they occasionally veer into outright science fiction. Last year, DARPA signed a deal with Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates to design robots that could be dispatched into space in order to repair U.S. military satellites. And like most times Canada is brought in for U.S. military stuff, the robot space mechanic program is indeed intended as a cost saving measure. Canada has been a leader in space defence for some time. Our beloved Canadarm, in fact, technically qualifies as an early military space robot. Over the course of the space shuttle program 11 missions were sent up to perform classified work for the Pentagon. We still don’t know the specifics of what the Canadarm did for Uncle Sam on those missions, but the arm is a certifiable Cold Warrior.

Canada-Japan Sign Military Cooperation Agreement

The Canadian Press

Canada and Japan signed a military co-operation agreement ahead of Sunday’s G7 foreign ministers meeting where the North Korean nuclear crisis will be front and centre.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freelandand her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono signed an efficiency agreement Saturday night that will allow each other’s militaries to share equipment during joint exercises in Canada, Japan and elsewhere.

Freeland and Kono met last month in Tokyo where they affirmed their commitment to keep economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to end its nuclear program when they meet their G7 counterparts today in Toronto.

The gathering is part of the regularly scheduled run-up ministerial meetings ahead of the G7 leaders’ June summit in Charlevoix, Que., but its timing is giving foreign ministers a chance to discuss key developments in the North Korea nuclear standoff.

Their meeting comes days after North Korea pledged to suspend testing of its nuclear and long-range missiles and close its nuclear test site, and days ahead of this week’s historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae In.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who is also working on his own landmark meeting with the North Korean leader in the coming weeks, initially tweeted that Kim’s latest announcements are a sign of progress, though he tempered that assessment with a new tweet Sunday saying there is still a long way to go.

Freeland also wants the disruptive influence of Russia and the West to be a top agenda item, and has asked Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin to join part of today’s talks, going so far as to host him – along with other ministers – at her home for brunch.

Freeland views the clash of the forces of democracy and authoritarianism as a defining feature of our time and she has singled out Russian President Vladimir Putin as a major disrupter.

Later Sunday, Freeland announced that she and the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini, will co-host a meeting of women foreign ministers in Canada this September.

Freeland will be joined tomorrow by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale who will lead his G7 ministerial counterparts in talks on terrorism and cyber security.

© 2018 The Canadian Press

Canada & US Hold Joint Nuclear Exercise

By: Murray Brewster, CBC News

Canadian and U.S. officials quietly held exercises last spring to practise dealing with worst-case nuclear scenarios — running through simulated attacks on both sides of the border, CBC News has learned.

The training took place against the backdrop of federal officials in this country discreetly revising contingency plans, including one to reconstitute the federal government outside of Ottawa should the capital become "unviable" in an attack or natural disaster.

Exercises are done on an annual, or semi-annual, basis, but the latest came amid fresh urgency in light of the worsening international climate, particularly with North Korean nuclear and intercontinental missile tests, the latest of which happened Tuesday.

Related:
Canada sets aside two bunkers at military bases amid global uncertainty, North Korean threat

What is generally not well appreciated is how reliant Canada would be on the U.S. in the event of either a nuclear-tipped missile landing in this country, or some kind of terrorist dirty bomb.

Documents filed recently in Parliament, in response to a written question by the Conservatives, refer to a number of contingency plans, many of which fall back on co-operation with Washington.

A nuclear scenario was incorporated into a regular exercise, known as Staunch Maple, last spring.

It took place in both Ontario and Nova Scotia and involved Canadian CH-146 Griffon helicopters, an RCMP ASTAR-350 helicopter, and two American UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

The Department of National Defence acknowledged, at the time, that the training scenario involved a "security incident."

But a series of government officials, speaking to CBC News on background, confirmed the scenario was designed to test the reaction of officials to "a nuclear event."

Earlier iterations of Staunch Maple involved things such as earthquake response in B.C.

The Canadian drill, which took place last April, was conducted in tandem with a much larger U.S. exercise, known as Gotham Shield, which simulated a nuclear attack on New York City.

Much of the current political debate about the threat posed by North Korea revolved around whether the U.S. would defend Canada during a missile attack.

There has been little discussion about what the aftermath might look like and how prepared the country would be to deal with the consequences.

A spokesperson for National Defence said there are contingency plans that cover "a wide range of scenarios involving attacks on Canada, including a missile attack."

Dan Le Bouthillier said a series of contingency plans were reviewed as recently as last spring, but he added periodic assessments are made to ensure they stay current.

A senior defence official, speaking on background, said the issue of whether North Korea could effectively "hurl a hunk of metal across the Pacific and possibly hit us," has preoccupied defence planning in this country for a while.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the hazard in a recent town hall but suggested it relates more to be being caught in the middle, rather than being deliberately targeted.

"There are potential challenges for intercontinental ballistic missiles from North Korea passing over Canadian territory," he said in Charlottetown.
Assistance from Washington

The answer to the question of what would happen in the event of a missile strike would depend strictly on the warhead and where it landed, according a number of current and former officials, who spoke to CBC News on background.

Canadian decision-makers would be notified of a missile launch and its trajectory by Norad's warning centre. A decision about trying to shoot it down would be made solely by the U.S., because Canada is not part of its ballistic missile defences.

Much of the initial post-impact response would fall on local police and municipalities.

The responsibility, however, would be quickly passed along to the federal government and Public Safety Canada, which is in charge of emergency management.

Picking up the phone to Washington is among the very first things Canadian officials, both military and civilian, would do in the event that the missile was nuclear-tipped.

A non-nuclear blast, although devastating, would likely not require an immediate call to Washington for assistance. It is in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, even a small one, that Canada is vulnerable.

Members of the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit rappel onto the deck of the ship Strait Explorer. The unit would require help from the U.S. National Guard in the event of a nuclear attack. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

The country's military, mostly through the special forces, and the RCMP have the capability to help clean up contamination sites and treat irradiated victims.

That organization is known as the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit. But its capacity to carry out the dangerous work is limited by their size and they would require assistance of U.S. National Guard units.

A few years ago, the former Conservative government signed a memorandum with Washington to make it easier for each country's armed forces to operate on both sides of the border.

During the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, U.S. troops were quietly deployed in the event of a terrorist "dirty bomb" incident.

The commander of Canada's special forces, Maj.-Gen. Mike Rouleau wouldn't comment on the North Korean situation, nor contingency planning, but said the government's latest defence policy will allow him to increase the size of his nuclear, biological and chemical team by as many as 70 people.

The military and government officials may be well-prepared to make decisions in the aftermath of a worst-case scenario, but many experts question whether political leaders have wrapped their heads around such eventualities.

The general in charge of the country's joint operations command said cabinet ministers and the prime minister occasionally participate in exercises, and when they're not available an official will sit in their chair.

"The ideal would be everybody is available all of the time to be able to do this. That is not the world in which we live," said Lt.-Gen. Steve Bowes, who has sat in on many of the drills. "The important thing is to make sure the leader understands their authority, their responsibilities and accountability. It's not just about the individual, it's about the organization. We're much stronger in ways that don't think people appreciate."

Further Reading: 
Canada could be called on for troops in event of war with North Korea

Canada could be called on for troops in event of war with North Korea

By: Murray Brewster, CBC News 

Canada may be obligated as part of United Nations Command born of 1953 armistice

Should the tense standoff on the Korean Peninsula escalate into war, the United Nations could come calling on Canada for a military commitment.

But Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Friday the Trudeau government would prefer to focus its attention on diplomacy.
'This rogue regime in North Korea is a danger not only to the immediate region but the entire world.'- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

There are reports that China has put its air force units along the North Korean border on heightened alert, and South Korea has moved its military to a heightened state of readiness over the possibility that the regime in Pyongyang will conduct another missile test, following a failed attempt last week.

China quickly denied the reports on Friday, but the buildup, which multiple media reports say could also include Russian forces, comes as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike force now moves towards Korean waters.

Rear Admiral Jim Kilby, commander of Carrier Strike Group One posted the news on social media. Last week, the White House said the task force was on its way to Korean waters when it, in fact, was not.

Soldiers' lives 'at risk'

Canada fought under the UN in the Korean War and is part of an organization known as the United Nations Command, or UNC, which came out of the 1953 armistice that ended three years of brutal fighting between North and South Korea.

There was never a formal peace treaty and the two nations have remained technically at war for over six decades.

"Diplomacy is the one thing we need to focus on first, because at the end of the day you could be putting soldiers' lives at risk," Sajjan said from Mumbai, India, in a conference call with reporters in Ottawa.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently expressed concern about what North Korean leader Kim Jong-un might do next.

"We are worried about the dangerous and unstable North Korean regime — period," Trudeau said on April 10 while in Normandy, concluding visits to Canadian First and Second World War battlefields.

A U.S. Army tank takes part in a military exercise in Paju, near the North Korea- South Korea border on April 14. (Ahn Young-joon/Associated Press)

"This rogue regime in North Korea is a danger not only to the immediate region but the entire world," Trudeau said.

Sajjan said he has been in close touch with U.S. Defence Secretary James Mattis and they spoke specifically about the escalating tensions in Korea.

If the shooting starts, the United States-South Korea Combined Forces Command would take the lead in the initial stage of fighting, but policy documents prepared for former defence minister Peter MacKay in 2010 say reinforcements could be assembled using the existing, decades-old UN framework.

"The UNC structure would be used as a means of force-generating, and receiving and tasking any contributions that UNC sending states may choose to contribute in the event of a crisis," said the document, originally obtained and published by The Canadian Press.

The Department of National Defence confirmed on Friday that Canada remains part of the organization because it was one of the original 17 countries that took part in the fighting.

No binding treaty obligation

Six members of the Canadian Armed Forces are currently serving with the UNC.

But unlike NATO, there is no binding, clear-cut obligation for Canada to join a potential military action in Korea.

Sajjan said National Defence has, regardless of the situation, "done prudent planning" for possible crises.

"Our military will always play a responsible role, and the responsible role right now is to allow diplomacy to work," Sajjan said. "And, I'm very happy to see China, who has significant influence over North Korea, is actually taking concrete efforts in this regard."

Over the past few weeks, in response to the rising rhetoric of U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese media has suggested Beijing has the option of halting crude oil shipments to North Korea — something that would put enormous pressure on Kim's regime. But a major Chinese newspaper said on Friday that China, by itself, cannot force North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

Trump ratcheted up the pressure on China with a Tweet Friday morning that read: "China is very much the economic lifeline to North Korea so, while nothing is easy, if they want to solve the North Korean problem, they will."