National Defence and the Canadian Forces
www.forces.gc.ca
Common menu bar links
Backgrounder
Joint Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence (JNBCD) Company
BG-02.036a - March 22, 2005
Since 1976, the Canadian Forces (CF) has maintained an enhanced and deployable nuclear, biological and chemical defence response team (NBCRT) for support to the RCMP for domestic operations, based at the CF NBC School (CFNBCS) at Canadian Forces Base Borden, Ontario. Although capable of providing a wide range of NBC defence services, the NBCRT could only support one site or one incident at a time. The deployment of the NBCRT also meant that the CFNBCS had to sacrifice training activities in order to provide this response.
In 2001, the Chief Review Services Report on NBC Defence recommended that the CF increase the scope of its NBC defence capability. The events subsequent to September 11, 2001, emphasized that NBC defence is a critical element of domestic and international security and increasing the CF's capability was immediately given a higher priority. Therefore, the December 2001 Federal Budget provided $30 million specifically for enhancing this capability. As a result, the CF initiated the NBCD Services Project to enhance NBC defence capability across the military and establish the JNBCD Company as an immediate response unit.
The JNBCD Company is able to conduct a wider range of operations than the previous NBCRT including both the support of federal departments and supporting international operations for management of NBC emergencies. It maintains an initial response component on a very high readiness posture as part of the National Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Response Team and can be deployed by road or by air. By garrisoning the JNBCD Company at 8 Wing Trenton, Ontario, it is able to benefit from on-site military airlift in time of crisis.
The JNBCD Company is a truly “joint” unit with members coming from the army, navy and air force. It can conduct detection, sampling and identification of the full range of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards, and provide expert advice to incident commanders and senior officials. As a national resource, its employment is coordinated through the Government Operations Centre and authorized by the Minister of National Defence.
RSS DND/CF News (What is RSS?)
