Construction of new buildings underway at Ottawa special forces base

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Construction of new buildings has started at the Canadian military’s special forces base at Dwyer Hill as part of a $1.4 billion modernization project.

Foundations have been laid for the first eight of 23 new buildings, National Defence spokeswoman Andrée-Anne Poulin confirmed to the Ottawa Citizen.

The first building should be fully completed by 2026 but the project is so extensive that all of the new facilities won’t be ready for another nine years.

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Older buildings at the installation will be demolished but that work has yet to start, Poulin added.

The construction project was announced in March 2023.

The Dwyer Hill Training Centre, or DHTC, is home to the Canadian Forces special forces and counter-terrorism unit Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2).

The project will meet JTF2’s long-term growth, training, and high-readiness operational needs, according to the Canadian Forces.

Work includes replacing 89 ageing and temporary structures with the 23 new facilities; renovating seven buildings; and upgrading the site’s utilities.

As many as 250 to 300 people are expected to be working on-site during peak construction periods.

The unit’s training and operations will continue on-site while the work is underway, according to the Canadian Forces.

New or renovated buildings will include modern office, operations and technical shop spaces, as well as a new range, training, warehouse, medical, accommodations, access control, kitchen, mess, ammunition, equipment and vehicle storage facilities.

The construction management contract was awarded to EllisDon Corporation of Mississauga, Ont., which will tender all sub-contracts and oversee construction work.

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The Dwyer Hill base, a former horse farm, was originally built for the RCMP’s counter-terrorism unit. It was taken over by the Department of National Defence in 1993 when JTF2 was created.

Poulin said a bridge will also be built across Franktown Road as part of the expansion. The 54-metre-long bridge won’t be open to the public, but will instead allow special forces to move equipment and personnel from one portion of the Dwyer Hill Training Centre to another situated across the road.

The bridge will span Franktown Road about 300 metres east of the intersection of Franktown Road and Dwyer Hill Road, Poulin noted.

That project will be completed in 2027.

The Canadian Forces had talked about the need for a new base for JTF2 almost since the beginning of the unit’s creation. In 1996, JTF2 officers warned military leaders that DHTC was too small and the force should be moved. Any new base, they concluded, should be as close to downtown Ottawa as possible, in case the unit is needed to immediately respond to a terrorist attack. Other options considered over the years were an expansion of Dwyer Hill or moving the unit to CFB Petawawa, where there are already special forces training facilities and installations.

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In 2008, the Conservative government announced that JTF2 would be moved from Ottawa to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton. To prepare for that relocation, the government expropriated a 90-hectare family farm in the area.

At the time, the Canadian Forces claimed that moving JTF2 to Trenton would provide it with access to the military’s strategic transport planes, allowing for a rapid response to domestic or international incidents. Trenton is also strategically located along Highway 401, allowing for rapid ground response to nearby major population and economic centres such as Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, it added.

But the Conservative decision to move the unit to CFB Trenton was controversial as some members of JTF2 were not keen to leave the Ottawa area.

In addition, there was pushback on the federal government’s 2012 decision to expropriate a 90-hectare farm owned by Frank Meyer for the new JTF2 installation at CFB Trenton. The farm had been in the Meyers family for more than 200 years. Meyers, who died in 2019, had argued the Canadian Forces already had large tracts of land, and instead could have built the base on property it owns in Mountain View, near Trenton.

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The military reconsidering the JTF2 move because of increasing costs and the need to keep the unit close to the nation’s capital in case of a terrorist attack.

In February 2020, the Liberal government announced it was no longer considering moving JTF2 to Trenton.

The Meyers farm is being used as a location for new ammunition storage buildings as well as training facilities for another special forces unit.

David Pugliese is an award-winning journalist covering Canadian Forces and military issues in Canada. To support his work, including exclusive content for subscribers only, sign up here: ottawacitizen.com/subscribe

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