National Defence Committee on Feb. 18th, 2015

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Good afternoon, colleagues. We are gathered to continue our study of the defence of North America.

We have two witnesses with us today. Our first witness, from now until approximately 4:45, from the Department of National Defence, is Brigadier-General Kelly Woiden, chief of staff, Army Reserve. We will be joined later, also from the department, by Colonel Moritsugu, the commander, Canadian Forces information operations group, CFS Alert.

General Woiden, we will proceed with your opening remarks, please, sir.

[Brigadier-General Kelly Woiden, Chief of Staff, Army Reserve, Department of National Defence]

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you very much for the opportunity to appear today regarding your ongoing study of the defence of North America. I have a very few brief opening comments.

First of all, I'm here today as a member of the defence team, and I note that in your various other meetings you have heard and in the future will hear from a wide variety of military leaders and defence officials to cover this important and broad topic.

My role today, at your request, is to speak to one component of our overall defence posture in Canada's north, namely our Canadian Rangers, for which I am designated, on behalf of the Canadian army commander, as designated authority. It's called the Canadian Ranger National Authority. To that end, I will be happy to answer any questions you have on the Rangers from a force generation point of view.

Next week you will hear from General Loos on the operational or force employment perspective involved in northern sovereignty and the defence team as a whole. In March, Rear-Admiral Bennett will address the overall role of the reserve force throughout Canada.

The Canadian Rangers are a subcomponent of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve. They are organized into patrol groups to provide the military presence in sparsely settled northern coastal and isolated areas of Canada which cannot conveniently or economically be covered by other elements of the Canadian Armed Forces. While the Rangers do not provide a traditional defensive capability, they are relied upon to report unusual activities, to collect data of significance to the forces, and conduct surveillance and sovereignty patrols as required. They also execute tasks such as assisting ground search and rescue, community evacuations, flood and fire watch, and survival training for our defence team.

In addition, the Rangers provide a valuable cultural component to our operations as they provide direct linkages to the communities we visit, and to the people we encounter.

We completed our expansion to 5,000 Rangers in 2013 and are nearing completion of a project to modernize their distinctive uniforms. We are delivering new tents this spring and we are on track to replace the Ranger rifle, the Lee-Enfield, starting in summer 2015.

Much has been written about the rifle replacement and for clarity, I would like to stress that there is no current shortage of parts but there will be in the medium term, and that is the principal reason for the replacement program. It remains a robust, appropriate weapon for our Rangers, who use it for protection from predators while on patrol.

As a visible demonstration of Canada's dominion in the north, the Rangers are dedicated, knowledgeable members who provide self-sufficient, lightly equipped mobile forces in support of Canada's military sovereignty and domestic operations.

Mr. Chairman, that concludes my opening thoughts, and I'm happy to answer the committee's questions.

Thank you very much. Merci beaucoup.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, General.

We will begin our first round of questions with Mr. Chisu.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you, General, for your presentation.

I will go ahead with questions regarding the Canadian Rangers. The library's briefing notes state:

The Canadian Rangers have been the military’s “eyes and ears” in Canada’s North since 1947. According to DND, the Canadian Rangers “provide patrols and detachments for national-security and public-safety missions in sparsely settled northern, coastal and isolated areas of Canada that cannot conveniently or economically be covered by other parts of the CAF [Canadian Armed Forces].” This includes conducting surveillance and sovereignty operations in the Arctic. Currently, there are approximately 5,000 Canadian Rangers organized in 179 patrols across Canada. How important are the Canadian Rangers to the security of Canada’s Arctic?

I'm looking at in the context that in the Arctic, even though it is not perceived yet, there is a great threat from Russia. Russia reinforced extremely well their northern areas and became more aggressive in the northern areas. We need to admit that we have a border with Russia there. In this context, how will the Canadian Rangers fulfill this role of eyes and ears for us?

Also, what training are they going through? I was in the operation in Gjoa Haven on King William Island once, and I don't remember exactly when, but it was in 2001 or 2002. I saw that they are very good people and very eager to learn, but their equipment is outdated. Probably their Lee-Enfield rifles are from the First World War. What is their training? They will need some kind of training. What line of training are you using for that?

[BGen Kelly Woiden]

Sir, there are a couple of questions there, and I'll attempt to phrase them and put them together in context.

First of all, the Rangers are part of a larger, broader defence team. They are a component, as you mentioned. They provide observation and sovereignty presence patrols and presence within the Arctic, and not just in the Arctic but in the northern portions of our country and the isolated regions of our country. Our Rangers are not just in the Arctic. As I said, they are located along most of the northern portions of each of the provinces on each and either coast and in isolated regions across the country as well. As that broader part of the defence team, they provide the initial eyes and ears and are facilitators or enablers for the defence team.

We'll clarify a few things. One, they do provide north warning system facility inspections. For the northern warning sites, they go back and conduct regular, determined exterior inspections to make sure predators and weather conditions have not destroyed these facilities and to make sure they're intact. They—

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Excuse me. Do they have the technical expertise to do that?

[BGen Kelly Woiden]

They only look at the external component. I will go to the training and what the Rangers are and are not able to do, and what the expectation is of them.

First of all, just to go back to what a ranger does, a ranger comes in as a member of his or her community, and as a very experienced individual. We consider them trained upon coming into the ranger program. They are trained because they are able to exist and operate within the environment, the local environment, that they're from. Probably a good distinction is that they're local to their patrol area, not necessarily able to operate anywhere within North America, or certainly within Canada. It's a very important component. They're equipped, and lightly equipped, with the equipment that they have personally equipped themselves with because they bring that expertise, that knowledge to repair and maintain the equipment that they do have, whether it's boats, snow machines, or ATVs, again having that skill set that is not resident in many cases within the Canadian Forces to the same extent.

They're outstanding members within their communities, whether it's northern communities or across the rest of the country, the northern part of the country. What they are able to do most succinctly is bring those skill sets to be able to operate and endure, exist, within the regions in which they are. They help enable the Canadian Armed Forces when we deploy. Whether it's an Arctic response company group or an immediate response unit from the regular units that go out and conduct training in the north, they help facilitate that training, and more importantly, as well, help us to reduce the environmental and social impact of coming into some of the communities.

The last point, if you will, sir, is on the training. They are already trained. We consider them qualified and experienced to be able to do their primary mission, which is to observe and conduct normal patrols and sovereignty activities. We do conduct what we call the development period one and development period two training as a function of their ongoing training 12 days a year, which we pay them for. It's not a lot, but in many cases just to be able to get up to some of the regions is about all we're able to do in those communities because of the expanse of the AOR, area of responsibility. That DP one training is primarily just to show them how to wear their uniform, be able to conduct an interface with the military agencies that they're working for and other government organizations.

The last piece, development period two, is for their leaders, who have been elected within their groups to become patrol commanders and then do a little bit of planning and activity. Probably one of the key things to remember is that every Canadian ranger patrol group has a full-time component out at the Canadian ranger patrol group headquarters that goes out and conducts the training and supervises the training, and conducts that activity for the most part in the operations as well.

That's it in a nutshell. Basically, they come already trained, and we then utilize them and give them some additional training in order to be able to facilitate and interact with the other agencies.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

You were mentioning in your speech—

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

A very brief question, please, Mr. Chisu.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

—that you were delivering new tents. Are they the Weatherhavens or are they individual tents?

[BGen Kelly Woiden]

They are our patrol tents. We provide patrol equipment. One of the fundamental concepts of sustainment for the Rangers is that they come already equipped. They know best what snow machine, what equipment, what jackets and stuff work. It would be pretty hard to provide all of that in some of the communities we're talking about. What we do is we compensate them for the use of their equipment, so in many cases they're able to recapitalize over a period of time. But they are, in fact, compensated for the use of their equipment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, General.

Mr. Harris, for seven minutes, please.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you for joining us, General. I have an enormous number of questions about the reserves in general and the Rangers in particular. I wish we had you for a little longer.

I note that you're one of the longest serving, most senior, army reservists. As I mentioned to you earlier, you probably know a lot of retired people who are still waiting to get their pensions after that being announced in 2007. That's sort of outside your mandate. Would you care to comment on that, though?

[BGen Kelly Woiden]

There has been quite a lengthy delay that's on record as being a problem, both the pension and the severance activities. I can just tell you that the process itself is known and recognized. Admiral Bennett—and I don't mean to deflect this—at the policy side is working on this issue within the VCDS mandate and with the department to look at that. I believe you'll have a chance to chat with her later.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Okay. Maybe we'll leave it for someone else to deal with then.

On the Rangers, I know that they operate throughout the Arctic, but also in Labrador, and on the Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland, for example, as well.

You were talking about the paid training that they receive. I wonder if you could describe what the nature of the pay would be for a ranger. It seems to me that you have a very valuable reserve force here, who are essentially on standby, with the capability of operating where no one else can. Are they only paid for training days, or are they paid to be there and to be available and to be willing to take up the task that's assigned to them? Is there something more than just training days pay? I know reservists in cities get paid for their Thursday night or their weekend warrior stuff or camps and whatnot. These folks seem to me to be dedicated and available at call. Is there some extra pay for that?

[BGen Kelly Woiden]

Anytime they come out and conduct what we call force generation training, that constitutes three types of patrols. Types one to three are a routine patrol training exercise and the multiple patrol training exercise. That's what we call force generation. That's normal training, and that would be comprised of those approximately 12 days. Those are average paid days per Canadian ranger. That's our baseline funding.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Is that per year?

[BGen Kelly Woiden]

Per year.

Now I'll talk about the other three types of training. This has to do with force employment. That's through CJOC, Canadian Joint Operations Command.

CJOC, through the regional and joint task forces, can call out and task the Rangers to assist in other activities, for example, training activities such as Operation Nanook and Operation Nunalivut. That's extra pay and funding over and above that baseline 12 days.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

May I interrupt for one second.

You talked about patrol activities. Is there a routine? For example, if you have a ranger group in that particular area, do they do a surveillance patrol once a week, once a month, or once a year? Is there an actual patrol? They are there for surveillance. Do they go out and surveil the larger area in which they are living?

[BGen Kelly Woiden]

The basic concept is that when a ranger is out, not even when he's paid, he is acknowledging that fact, that he's providing observation. He's providing sovereignty just by wearing his hoodie, being out there and observing any unusual activities. That's been the premise of the ranger program right from its inception.

If they see or are aware of any suspicious activity, they would report it and it would come through the appropriate operations centre, and then an appropriate response would be done.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Do they have a role in search and rescue, for example, if someone is lost near the community in which they reside?

[BGen Kelly Woiden]

As a function of the domestic operations capability, they can, in many cases, aid the local government authorities—that may be the RCMP or any first responder organization—and may assist in ground search and rescue.

By the very nature of some of the very small communities, a ranger is very apparent and very prominent. In some cases, the local police will approach the Rangers. They will get authority to conduct a ground search and rescue, and it's coordinated through CJOC.

When they go on tasking, they are then placed on a category of service that we call class C service, which gives them full pay and benefits while they are on the search.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Are the Rangers typically leaders within their community, or would they be kind of rank-and-file members of the community who take this on? Do they come from the leadership group?

[BGen Kelly Woiden]

It's a combination from all spectrums.

In many cases, they are in fact leaders within the smaller communities. In many cases, they are very educated folk. They also, more than anything else, have a very clear and strong understanding of local community and their environment.

Many of them are individuals who have prominence. They can be an elder within the native community with their local Inuit or other tribes within the first nations peoples across the country. However, they could also just be rank-and-file folk because of their background and knowledge, for instance, the local snowmobile mechanic who has done well and he's the best guy.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

And he's clearly an expert.

In Labrador I met a ranger who told me that one of the functions of their unit was to do survival training for allied nations, other countries who want to have some capability of survival in the north.

How widespread is that use of Rangers as assistance to our allies?