Canadian military assembles ‘rapid reaction’ teams to help with pandemic response – CBC

Teams could deliver badly-needed medical supplies or render aid in remote communities

Mar 30, 2020

The Canadian military has mobilized 24,000 full-time and part-time members to respond to calls from provinces and northern Indigenous communities for help with pandemic measures, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Monday.

The military’s “rapid reaction” teams will be available for a range of missions, such as delivering medical supplies and supporting remote communities that may be vulnerable to COVID-19 outbreaks.

At least 10 regular force units on bases across the country have troops and equipment set aside to take action. At the moment, no formal requests for what’s known as “aid to the civil power” have been submitted to the federal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today during his daily press briefing outside of his home at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa.

The Department of National Defence has been in conversation with some northern communities about their pandemic needs, Sajjan said.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-forces-pandemic-covid-coronavirus-sajjan-1.5514922