Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you for the invitation to discuss the role of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces in the whole-of-government response to the evolving COVID-19 situation.
With me again today is Major-General Andrew Downes, our respected surgeon general.
When I last reported to you on the 5th of February, our team was poised to support Global Affairs Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada with the first assisted return of Canadians from Wuhan, China.
Mr. Chair, my colleagues have briefed you on the details of the assisted returns already, and in the interest of time, I will not repeat that information. As part of these assisted returns, your military has provided the following support to Global Affairs Canada, Canada Border Services and the Public Health Agency of Canada over the last several weeks.
First, we deployed multiple Canadian Armed Forces medical teams with each of those flights. These six-member elements were tasked to conduct health screening of returnees as part of the aircraft boarding procedures, and to monitor the health of returnees during their return flight to Canada. Two Canadian Armed Forces health professionals currently remain in Japan and are assisting Global Affairs Canada with the approximately 54 Canadians who remain in hospital.
At home here in Canada, Canadian Forces Base Trenton provided the logistical framework within which the Public Health Agency was able to coordinate public health measures, emergency social services and security services with the Province of Ontario for this period of the quarantine, as per the emergency order. That support included infrastructure for use by federal and provincial authorities for the conduct of their tasks associated with the quarantine period; ground transportation and accommodations; food services, which included the preparation and packaging of meals that were delivered by the Canadian Red Cross; and general duties support and limited augmentation to security services as contracted providers surged into Canadian Forces Base Trenton.
For the most recent assisted return from Japan, DND and CAF personnel provided the following additional support beyond the medical teams that I have already mentioned, and that support is ongoing now. We planned and conducted the road move of all returnees by bus from Canadian Forces Base Trenton to Cornwall. In addition to providing the buses and drivers, CAF provided returnees with personal protective equipment and medical support throughout their journey. In Cornwall, we're providing the architecture for a command and control node that's being used by our whole-of-government team, as well as continued general duties support.
In all, nearly 200 CAF personnel have been deployed to support this whole-of-government effort, with countless staff also committed at various echelons.
Finally, I will speak to some of our DND/CAF planning efforts that we're undertaking right now.
DND/CAF continues to support whole-of-government planning, which is being led by Health Canada. That includes efforts to contain, delay and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.
Internally, our planning is focused on ensuring that we remain postured to provide support to other government departments while putting in place measures to protect the force. This could include additional directives and advisories, changes to the posture of the Canadian Armed Forces, preventative health measures and the mobilization of additional materiel and personal protective equipment for our teammates. We are currently refreshing contingency plans for a larger domestic response and, of course, business continuity planning.
In closing, Mr. Chair, nothing is more important to DND/CAF than our “home game”. We remain poised to assist federal and provincial partners moving forward.
Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, Canada's surgeon general and I look forward to taking your questions.