MANILA – The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is conducting a goodwill visit to the Philippines, with His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Montreal arriving at Manila South Harbor on Friday, and will stay in the country until August 6th.
In a statement released by the Embassy of Canada, it mentioned that HMCS Montreal has a full program while in the country, including professional development and training opportunities with the Philippine Navy, community outreach, and local engagements, including a friendly game of ice hockey and an exchange between cooks of the ship and the Philippine Navy.
“Port visits are ideal occasions for our sailors, soldiers, and aviators to explore and strengthen the deep connection Canadians have with communities in the Indo-Pacific, including with our friends here in the Philippines,” Commander Travis Bain, Commanding Officer of HMCS Montreal said.
“Through our ongoing engagements in the Indo-Pacific, the Royal Canadian Navy is reinforcing partnerships with trusted partners from across the region. I look forward to working closely with the Philippine Navy throughout our visit to Manila to foster sailor-to-sailor exchanges and strengthen interoperability between our two navies,” Commander Bain added.
HMCS Montreal’s deployment is part of Operation HORIZON, which is Canada’s forward presence to promote peace and stability in support of a rules-based international order in some of the world’s busiest and most vital waterways, the Embassy stated.
The operation seeks to reinforce ties with international allies and strengthen relationships with like-minded nations by integrating with partner navies, participating in training exercises, and engaging in military and diplomatic cooperation, the Embassy continued.
HMCS Montreal has approximately 250 highly trained and professional sailors, soldiers and aviators, including four (4) of Philippine descent.
Onboard is Petty Officer 2nd class Nicole Fabella, an accomplished naval communicator originally from Zamboanga Province.
“I am happy to return to the Philippines as a member of the Royal Canadian Navy. We are doing important work for the peace and stability in the region. I look forward to helping strengthen our friendship and partnership with the Philippine Navy,” Fabella said.
Last year, three vessels – the HMCS Vancouver, HMCS Ottawa, and the MV Asterix, an auxiliary supply vessel, completed port visits in Manila and Subic Bay. Later in 2024, HMCS Vancouver and HMCS Ottawa are expected to visit the Philippines again.
The ship’s namesake is the City of Montreal, in the province of Quebec, where approximately 45,000 Filipinos and Filipino-Canadians reside, the Embassy said.
In photo: Commanding Officer of HMCS Montreal Commdr. Travis Bain and Canadian Ambassador Davi Hartman (Photo courtesy of Embassy of Canada in the PH)
More maritime cooperative activities
The visit also comes at a time of increased engagement and training opportunities between Canada and Philippines under the Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation signed last January.
This was confirmed by Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines David Hartman by saying that there will be more engagement across the entire spectrum of military-to-military interaction.
“I do think in the coming months, you will see more and more engagement across the entire spectrum of military-to-military interaction, both with Navy, Army, Air Force, etc. But really from across the entire spectrum, that is something that Canada is very much committed to,” Hartman explained.
“The fact that we have a persistent presence in the Indo-Pacific now, as I said, is really proof positive of our commitment to the Philippines, the people of the Philippines, and to the region more broadly. So, in the months ahead, you can expect certainly a deeper and broader engagement between Canada and the Philippines,” Hartman continued.
This was echoed by Canada’s Defense Attache’ Lt. Col. Jason King, confirming that he received a letter from the Commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command, saying that it is “very interested in doing more MCA (maritime cooperative activity) opportunities with the Philippine Navy in the future.
“So, Chief of Staff [Romeo] Brawner did send a letter through basically our Canadian Joint Operations Command soliciting Canada, the RCN, Canadian Armed Forces, for future MCA activities and I just got the letter from our commander of CJOC saying that we are very interested in doing more MCA opportunities with the with the Philippine Navy in the future and our allied partners so we are very much game to do more,” King stated.
Status of SoVFA between Canada and PH
Hartman also expressed optimism that the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SoVFA) between Canada and the Philippines will be concluded soon.
“We've exchanged draft texts of a draft agreement. We hope to be able to conclude relatively quickly. I think as we've seen in recent months, you know, what the Philippines has been able to achieve in its comparable agreement with the government of Japan, really those discussions, that process was accelerated,” Hartman said.
“You know there's always some subtleties and nuances between our respective positions but I remain very optimistic that we will be able to conclude and ideally announce something in the not too distant future, ideally in the next couple of months,” Hartman added.
Early this year, the Philippines and Canada signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Defense Cooperation, jumpstarting cooperation between the defense and military establishments of both countries on military education, training exchanges, information sharing, peacekeeping operations, disaster reponse, among others.
