The Minister of National Defense and the Royal Canadian Navy commander welcomed home HMCS Vancouver and Winnipeg as they returned to Esquimalt, after successfully completing their deployments to RIMPAC 2022, the JMSDF fleet review and operations in Asia waters.

After RIMPAC, the frigates have carried out an ambitious schedule, which included port calls to eight countries, including HMCS Winnipeg’s port call to Cambodia – a first for a Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) ship – thereby strengthening Canada’s relationships abroad. Port visits also took place in Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand.

HMCS Vancouver, along with an RCAF CP-140, conducted a brief participation in multinational efforts to monitor sanctions imposed on North Korea by the United Nations Security Council.

The presence of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in the Indo-Pacific region demonstrates Canada’s ongoing commitment to enhancing military interoperability, cooperation, and relationships with our allies and partners, consistent with our objective to increase Canada’s contribution to stability and security in the region.

On this deployment, the ships conducted 38 replenishments at sea with multiple partner nations, including a first-time replenishment at sea with a Japanese Izumo-class helicopter carrier. This Japanese carrier resupplied HMCS Winnipeg and HMNZS Aotearoa resupplied HMCS Vancouver. Further, RCN ships participated in seven international exercises, including the signature binational exercise with Japan, KAEDEX (derived from “kaede,” meaning “maple” in Japanese). As well, for the first time, Canada had two frigates and a CP-140 aircraft participating in Exercise KEEN SWORD, which this year included approximately 36,000 military personnel.

During the appearance in BC, the Minister announced $490 million to reinforce Canada’s defense presence in the region, including by deploying a third frigate annually to the Indo-Pacific Region.

Official photo from Twitter