New forces base could get anti-terror berm
OTTAWA • The Canadian military is looking at building a protective berm around its new special forces base in Trenton as a local farmer raises concerns about a rail line adjacent to the installation.
Frank Meyers, whose land was expropriated for the new base for Joint Task Force 2, has pointed out that the installation could be open to a terrorist attack because it will be built right beside a major rail line.
“This is the worst place you could put a major military base,” said Mr. Meyers, noting the rail line is regularly used. A train carrying flammable material could be exploded near the base.
The Department of National Defence says it is “studying the issue,” and spokeswoman Tina Crouse said those working on the special forces project “have developed a number of mitigation measures.”
“The construction of an earth berm is one of these many mitigation measures,” she said.
JTF2 is currently housed in Ottawa at Dwyer Hill. It expects to stay there for the next five years as the new special forces installation is constructed at 8 Wing/Canadian Forces Base Trenton.
Ms. Crouse said that “8 Wing takes very seriously its responsibility to secure the areas within its properties and this case is no different. While we cannot discuss specifics of security plans, 8 Wing has been and will continue to work closely with its partners and lodger units to ensure a secure site.”
CN Rail declined to comment on security around the Trenton rail line. But spokeswoman Lindsay Fedchyshyn said the company’s CN police force is present in the community and has links with local police forces, including military police.
Terror attacks have targeted passenger trains in London, Madrid and Mumbai over the last several years. Last year, the RCMP arrested two men in an alleged terror plot to derail Via Rail passenger trains running between Toronto and New York. The men were later charged with terrorism-related offences; police allege they had been in communication with Al-Qaeda operatives.
That plot prompted some security specialists to question the vulnerability of the rail network. “The rail system in Canada has never been regarded as a principal terrorist target,” Wesley Wark, a national security expert with the University of Ottawa, said at the time. “But it’s also a very vulnerable and classic soft target.”
The Conservative government expropriated Mr. Meyers’ 90-hectare farm in 2012. He wants his farm back, and says DND could instead build the special forces base on land it owns in nearby Mountain View. “They’ve got everything they need there and it’s more private than this (property),” Meyers said.
The DND Mountain View property has recently been upgraded with a parachute training facility.
JTF2 officers warned military leaders in 1996 the Dwyer Hill site was too small and the force should be moved. Any new base, they concluded, should be close to downtown Ottawa as possible, in case the unit was needed to immediately respond to a terrorist attack on Parliament Hill or at the numerous embassies in the city.
At Trenton, JTF2 would be located near another special forces unit, the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit. That unit deals with nuclear, biological and chemical incidents.
The other two units that make up the country’s special forces, the Canadian Special Operations Regiment and the special operations helicopter squadron, will stay at Petawawa, Ont.
DND says moving JTF2 to Trenton will provide it with access to the military’s strategic transport planes, allowing for a rapid response to domestic or international incidents.
Trenton is also located along Highway 401, allowing for rapid ground response to nearby major population and economic centres such as Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, it added.