In less than a week since leaving the friendly port of Yokosuka, Japan, the Canadian warship HMCS Ottawa has had at least three interactions with suspected Chinese vessels, the most significant during an exercise in international waters with Japanese and American allies.
On Wednesday afternoon, the heavily armed Chinese destroyer, the Luyang, closely followed the convoy of ships in the East China Sea, calling out repeatedly to the Canadians on maritime radio, and coming within just over a kilometre of the allied ships.
So close, the commanding officer of HMCS Ottawa called for his intelligence-gathering team to capture imagery of the vessel, to share with allies.
“They’re as curious about our behaviour as we are of theirs,” said navy Cmdr. Samuel Patchell from the command bridge as he peered out at the destroyer.
Crew is shown aboard a Cyclone helicopter that flies from HMCS Ottawa. (Lyza Sale/CBC)
Canada is among several nations increasing the frequency and number of ship deployments to the increasingly tense region. HMCS Ottawa is one of two Canadian frigates deployed for four months, along with MV Asterix, a supply vessel which refuels the frigates and other allied nations at sea to extend their operating ability.
CBC News has exclusive access with a team embedded on board HMCS Ottawa.
Wednesday’s encounter came just as China’s navy — now the world’s largest by number of ships — becomes increasingly assertive in the region, sometimes harassing military vessels transiting the Taiwan Strait or South China Sea. It claims portions of both as its own, while the majority of sea-going nations consider those areas to be international waters, where all vessels should have unhindered access.
In one major incident in June, a Chinese navy ship overtook a U.S. navy ship, then turned hard to cut it off, forcing the Americans to take evasive action in the disputed Taiwan Strait.
“China is trying to exert the same types of controls that countries do over national waterways,” said David Perry, of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, a Calgary-based think-tank.
“And if they can’t do that, they harass others that are going through those areas and make it uncomfortable for people to exercise the right of free passage on the open ocean.”
Just a day before the at-sea encounter with the Luyang, the Canadians were passed by the Dongjian, a new vessel used by the People’s Liberation Army Navy, the official name of China’s maritime force.
Its primary purpose is believed to be the detection of submarines at extremely long range, but it may also have electronic surveillance equipment intended to scoop signals from nearby vessels.
HMCS Ottawa, shown here in the East China Sea, is on a four-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region, intended to exert freedom of movement for all ships in international waters. China claims some of these areas as its own. (Lyza Sale/CBC)
It’s not clear if the ship was passing by chance — or design. But hours earlier, in the darkness, a small vessel used laser lights on HMCS Ottawa.
“I actually got hit with the laser itself,” Sailor 1st Class William Monkhouse-Beck told CBC News on the ship. “It can obviously cause permanent eye damage. What were they doing? We don’t actually know. That’s the danger of it.”
Lasers can be used to detect range. And China has used what appears to be fishing vessels as part of its maritime surveillance program.
The small Chinese vessel also launched a drone toward HMCS Ottawa, but kept it at a distance.
The Canadian ship is equipped by multiple weapons systems designed to detect, track and shoot down drones.
HMCS Ottawa on patrol in the East China Sea. (David Common/CBC)
Canada focuses navy on Indo-Pacific
When Canada announced the latest deployment of warships to the Indo-Pacific region last month, Defence Minister Bill Blair said in a statement that the region “is vital to global security, and its importance will only increase in the coming years.”
The deployment, he said, would help “to support a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific where international rules prevail.”
It was a not-so-subtle jab at China’s claims over waters in the region, particularly the Taiwan Strait, a body of water it would most likely use should it invade Taiwan.
China is contesting many areas, including Japanese islands and vast sections of water beyond China’s normal economic exclusion zone.
Chinese fighter jets have also flown at great speed toward HMCS Ottawa, before turning away more than 32 kilometres from the ship.
China’s Luyang destroyer gives way to the USS Ralph Johnson, a U.S. navy vessel, as it pulls away from an anti-submarine exercise with allies. (Lysa Sale/CBC)
The culmination of the exercise this week involving the American, Japanese and Canadian ships was intended to be a photograph of the allied vessels taken from a helicopter.
But the Chinese ship remained so close to the group that it is featured in the image.
With the exercise ended, the U.S. ship hailed the Chinese vessel, warning over the radio that it intended to sharply turn in its direction.
The Chinese responded in English, the language used for international maritime communication, indicating they would give way.
Cmdr. Samuel Patchell, commanding officer of HMCS Ottawa, watches a Chinese warship operating nearby. (Lyza Sale/CBC)
But their mission was not over.
As the various ships departed for their next tasks, the Chinese slipped behind the Canadian ships. A constant shadow on the sea.
The history of these encounters suggests that the same vessel may well track the Canadians through much of their four-month deployment in the region.
And it isn’t the only one. Another PLA Navy ship, a Jiangkaifrigate, has been, at times, following the Canadian ships just out of visual range.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
