Joint Task Force 2

Joint Task Force 2 (JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2) is a Canadian special operations unit mandated with protecting Canadian national interests, combating terrorism threats both domestic and abroad, and hostage rescue.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 serves under Canadian Special Operations Forces Command of the Canadian Armed Forces and is typically compared to American Delta Force and SEAL Team Six, and the British Special Air Service and Special Boat Service. Most information concerning JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 is classified and is not usually commented on by the Canadian Armed Forces or the Canadian government.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2's team of assaulters specialize in counterterrorism, direct action raids, hostage rescue, maritime special operations, special protection, and special reconnaissance often employed in complex, classified and dangerous missions against high-value targets backed up by specialized teams of supporting personnel.

History

File:Canadian general bids adieu to Fort Bragg.jpg

Major-General Nicolas Matern (right, in 2010), former commander of Joint Task Force 2 and deputy commander of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command

In 1992, Deputy Minister of Defence Robert Fowler announced he was recommending to Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn that he disband the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) and create a new military counter-terrorism group. The decision was made largely because the Canadian Forces offered a greater pool of recruits for the program than civilian police forces, and it stemmed the public uproar about police being taught to use primarily lethal means.<ref name="book">Template:Cite book</ref>

In early 1993, the unit was activated with just over 100 members, primarily drawn from the Canadian Airborne Regiment and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.<ref name="book"/> They were given the SERT facility on Dwyer Hill Road near Ottawa as their own base of operations, and permanently parked a Greyhound bus and a DC-9 aircraft on the grounds for use in training.<ref name=book/>

Its first scheduled action was Operation Campus, the protection of highways and water treatment plants around the Oka reserve while a police force tried to "crack down on smuggling" on the native reserve, immediately following the Oka crisis. However two daily newspapers in Quebec revealed the operation just days before it was to go into action, and it was cancelled.<ref name=book/> The federal budget of December 2001 allocated approximately $120 million over six years to expand unit capabilities and double its size to an estimated 600 personnel, as part of the overall plan following the attacks of September 11, 2001.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On September 13, 2024, new buildings are undergoing construction at JTF 2's Dwyer Hill headquarters to modernize their facilities with older buildings being scheduled to be torn down, which is contracted to EllisDon Corporation.<ref name="DW">https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/construction-of-new-buildings-underway-at-ottawa-special-forces-base</ref> A bridge will be constructed to Franktown Road, which will only be used by JTF 2 to transport their equipment.<ref name="DW"/> It's expected to be completed by 2027.<ref name="DW"/>

Operations

Bosnia

JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 forces were inserted into Bosnia, operating in two- to four-man<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Unreliable source? teams hunting for Serbian snipers who were targeting UN forces at the sniper alley.<ref name=book/> They were scheduled to free approximately 55 hostages in Operation FreedomTemplate:Nnbsp55, but the mission was cancelled as the Bosnian Serbs released all the prisoners voluntarily.<ref name=book/>

Haiti

In 1996, JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 deployed to Haiti to advise the security forces of President René Préval on methods to repel the revolutionary army, train local SWAT teams and raid weapons smugglers in Port-au-Prince.<ref name=book/>

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 was also in Haiti at the time that Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted from power in 2004. They protected the Canadian embassy and secured the airport.

War on Terror

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the American declaration of a War on Terror, approximately 40 JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 soldiers were sent to southern Afghanistan in early December 2001 to be part of Task Force K-Bar, under the command of Captain Robert Harward. The Canadian public was not informed of the deployment. However, in Sean M. Maloney's book Enduring the Freedom, it was reported that JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 was secretly deployed without Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's permission in early October 2001.<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="fritz">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=afghanistan2005>Template:Cite book</ref> Under Task Force K-Bar, JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 worked extensively with the U.S. 3rd Special Forces Group; one of their first missions in Afghanistan was what Harward described as "the first Coalition direct action mission since the Second World War." The joint operation with a team of Green Berets targeting a Taliban command node almost ended in disaster when a Chinook carrying JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 operators was forced to make a hard landing near the target site.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> While serving with Task Force K-Bar, Harward also stated that the JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 team under his command was his first choice for any direct action.<ref name="Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau">Template:Cite news</ref> JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 was based at the time in Kandahar Air Field.<ref name="OC">Template:Cite news</ref>

Several months later, The Globe and Mail published an image on its front page showing operators in distinctive forest-green Canadian Forces combat uniforms delivering captured prisoners to the Americans. This prompted an outcry in Parliament as MPs were never informed these operations were underway. Vice Admiral Greg Maddison was called before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs to address claims that Minister of Defence Art Eggleton had purposely misled the public and the government, even failing to inform the Prime Minister that JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 had been operating in Afghanistan.<ref name=fritz/> Segments of the Canadian media made much of the special forces handing over detainees, particularly those who may have been sent to Guantanamo Bay. In January 2002, JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 deployed reconnaissance teams to the series of caves discovered in Zhawar Kili, just south of Tora Bora. Airstrikes hit the sites before SOF teams were inserted into the area. A platoon from SEAL Team 3, including several of their Desert Patrol Vehicles, accompanied by a German Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) element and a Norwegian SOF team, spent some nine days conducting extensive site exploitation, clearing an estimated 70 caves and 60 structures in the area, recovering a huge amount of both intelligence and munitions, but they did not encounter any al-Qaeda fighters. In March 2002, JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 reconnaissance teams took part in Operation Anaconda; they also conducted close protection tasks and participated in numerous direct action missions, allegedly including the siege at Mirwais hospital in Kandahar, where a US Army Special Forces operational detachment-A (SFODA) killed a group of al-Qaeda terrorists hiding in a hospital ward; JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 also carried out numerous operations with the New Zealand Special Air Service. JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2's first rotation was completed when they returned to Canada in May 2002, to be replaced by a second, shorter term, deployment until October 2002.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 2004, an estimated 40 members of JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 serving with Task Force K-Bar were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation by the U.S. government for service in Afghanistan.<ref name="Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau"/> Very little is known on JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 operations in Afghanistan, but during a conference the former Chief of Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier, stated that JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 was in "high demand" and that they were considered to be "world class". He went on to say that the unit was providing direct support to the Afghan government and was targeting the Taliban leadership in southern Afghanistan. He stated that "trying to help neutralize those leaders is a key part of their role and that's what they will continue to do."<ref name="OC"/>

On 26 November 2005, members of the terrorist group Swords of Righteousness Brigade – a small offshoot of possibly Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI), Ansar al-Islam (AAI), Army of Islam, or a cover name for their abduction cells, or freelance cash criminal abductors – kidnapped four members (two Canadian, one British, and one American) of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Baghdad, Iraq. In response, Task Force Knight — the British special forces task force in Iraq — initiated Operation Lightwater; spearheaded by B Squadron, 22nd Special Air Service Regiment (SAS), the aim of which was to find and recover the hostages; a small team of JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 and Canadian intelligence experts joined the task force for the operation whilst the United States provided technical intelligence to the operation. Together the force carried out relentless raids across the city, building up a picture by exploiting intelligence in the search for the hostages, eventually on the 23 March 2006 the three remaining hostages were rescued by the SAS.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Pentagon and the British Foreign Office both commented on the instrumental role JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 played in rescuing the British and Canadian Christian Peacemaker Team that were being held hostage in Iraq. Involvement of JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 was not confirmed by Canadian officials.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

There has been much speculation in the Canadian media on possible JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 operational deployments. As of 2001, the unit had 297 members, but by the end of the year, with the War on Terror becoming a reality, the federal government announced their intentions to increase it to 600 members within four years.

As of 2014, the unit was believed to be in Iraq as training personnel, under the Canadian Operation Impact which is part of Operation Inherent Resolve.<ref name="Jtf2 Iraq">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="National Post JTF2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Surprise Attack">Template:Cite news</ref> The Canadian government has not denied or confirmed JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2's involvement.<ref name="Feds Deny">Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2017, it was reported that a JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 sniper in Iraq had shot and killed an ISIL fighter from a distance of Template:Convert, setting a world record for the longest confirmed kill. The shot was taken from a high-rise building using a standard Canadian military issued McMillan Tac-50 rifle, a .50 caliber (12.7×99mm) anti-materiel rifle commonly used by snipers in an anti-personnel role. The Canadian Forces designation is the C15 Long-Range Sniper Weapon (LRSW).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Other actions

Vice-Admiral Dean McFadden also confirmed that JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 would take a role in securing the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Template:Dead link</ref>

JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 has also acted as bodyguards to Canadians travelling abroad, notably accompanying Lieutenant-General Maurice Baril and Raymond Chrétien to Zaire in November 1996.<ref name="book"/> When photographs provided to the media were revealed to show the faces of JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 forces, they were redacted and reissued with the faces removed.<ref name=book/> In 1998, they accompanied General Roméo Dallaire to Tanzania where he was due to testify against a Rwandan Hutu official accused of complicity in the 1994 genocide.<ref name="book"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> They similarly accompanied war crimes prosecutor Louise Arbour into Kosovo.<ref name="book"/> In early November 2000, Conservative Defence Critic David Price stated that JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 had been deployed to Kosovo, however, this was denied by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Defence Minister Art Eggleton.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The unit was believed to be operating with the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service in Operation Mobile, the Canadian operation in the 2011 Libyan civil war.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In August 2021, JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 and CSOR operators were deployed to Afghanistan to evacuate staff from the Canadian Embassy in Kabul.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In May 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Ukraine to show solidarity and to witness the war for himself, alongside members of the cabinet. As part of the security detail, they were accompanied by members of JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In October 2023, JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 and other CANSOFCOM elements were deployed to Israel to help with security at the Canadian embassy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In March 2024, JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 operators were deployed to Haiti to protect the Canadian Embassy and staff.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Unit accountability

On 21 December 2006, a Federal Court judge rejected a request to proceed with a court martial against an unnamed JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 officer, accused of assaulting and mistreating a subordinate. Because court martial requests require that the accused be named, the judge suggested that they explore other avenues to proceed with the court martial.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 has acknowledged the death of one member. Master Corporal Anthony Klumpenhouwer, 25, died on AprilTemplate:Nnbsp18, 2007, after falling off a communications tower in Kandahar, Afghanistan.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2010, the investigation into Klumpenhouwer's death was completed, and revealed that he had been knocked unconscious by a surge of electricity.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Equipment

Operators use a range of weapons including:

• SIG Sauer MCX
• Colt Canada series of rifles: C7, C8,<ref name="domisiewicz2007" /> and C8SFW<ref name="Nevilleguns">Template:Cite book</ref>
• SIG Sauer SIG 716 G2 designated marksman rifle <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Heckler & Koch MP5 (A2/A3/SD) submachine gun<ref name="domisiewicz2007">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• FN Herstal P90 personal defence weapon<ref name="Ottawa2005" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• SIG Sauer P226 sidearm<ref name="book"/><ref name="CASRSmallarms" /><ref name="domisiewicz2007" />
• SIG Sauer P320 sidearm<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Remington Model 870 and Benelli M3 shotguns<ref name="CASRSmallarms">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="domisiewicz2007" />

• FN Minimi C9A2 light machine gun<ref name="domisiewicz2007" />
• Accuracy International AWP,<ref name="domisiewicz2007" /> C14 Timberwolf, Heckler & Koch PSG1,<ref name="domisiewicz2007" /> M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> McMillan TAC-50 and Barrett M82 sniper rifles<ref name="domisiewicz2007" />

• M203 grenade launcher, Heckler & Koch GMG automatic grenade launcher,<ref name="Ottawa2005">Template:Cite news</ref> and Heckler & Koch HK69A1 grenade launcher.<ref name="Nevilleguns" />
• Rafael Spike-LR anti-tank guided missile<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Saab Bofors Dynamics AT4 anti-tank weapon.<ref name="domisiewicz2007" />
• Carl Gustaf 8.4cm recoilless rifle M4 version<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

JTFTemplate:Nnbsp2 uses the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) special operations version.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A replacement project was cancelled in 2010.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2016, the DAGOR (Deployable Advanced Ground Off-road) vehicle by Polaris Defense was awarded the Ultra-Light Combat Vehicle (ULCV) contract to provide 78 vehicles to CANSOFCOM.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

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External links

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