Canadian Army restructures divisions to focus on domestic defence, major conflict preparedness

The Canadian Army has announced a reorganization of its divisions to focus more on domestic defence, preparedness to fight major conflicts, and administrative support.This marks the most extensive reorganization of the Army in over 30 years, shifting the Army's focus from regionally organized divisions to more modern, major conflict-focused divisions.Before this change the Canadian Army was divided into four regionally focused divisions.The old 3rd Canadian Division, based out of CFB Edmonton, will become the 1st Canadian Division, otherwise known as the Manoeuvre Division, and will act as Canada's primary fighting force, being focused on global deployment and major combat operations.The 2nd Canadian Division, based out of CFB Valcartier in Quebec, will be known as the Defence of Canada Division and will be, as the name suggests, focused on domestic defence and national security.The ten Army reserve brigade units, as well as the frontier-focused Canadian Rangers, will fall under the command of this division.The newly established Canadian Army Support Division, based out of Kingston, Ontario, will be focused on administrative and institutional support.Also based out of Kingston, the Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Centre will lead and control military training and education..The creation of these three new divisions is meant to not only restructure the Army into a more streamlined organization but also to refocus the Army away from the Cold War-designed, regionally limited structure it had previously to a modern and dynamic fighting force.The change also highlights the differing threats that Canada is facing, with the focus on national defence, i.e., defence of Canadian territorial sovereignty, becoming a larger and more prominent day-to-day focus for the Army."We are at a pivoting point in Canada and for the defence of Canada," said Major-General Stéphane Masson in an interview with The Globe and Mail about the restructuring.Doing away with regional commands will allow the Army to move and fight as a more unified force, a way of fighting that top military commanders stated would have been more difficult in the old structure.Maj.-Gen. Masson discussed how previous war games conducted by the Army showed that the new structure was an optimal and more efficient way to fight modern conflicts that Canada may be involved in. He added that this change may not be the only major change to the Canadian Army's, or Canadian Armed Forces', structure or organizations, as the military will be continually evaluating the new structure and will make changes if issues arise.

Canadian Army restructures divisions to focus on domestic defence, major conflict preparedness

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