Mission

34 Canadian Brigade Group (34 CBG) is a formation of Land Force Quebec Area (LFQA). It is made up of 14 units, eight of which are located on the Island of Montreal, comprised of armoured, artillery, engineering and infantry units. There is an armoured unit in Hull, a field engineer squadron at Rouyn-Noranda, an infantry unit in Laval, a service battalion in Saint-Hubert, and an infantry unit in St-Hyacinthe/Drummondville. The 2,000 Reservists, men and women, who make up 34 Canadian Brigade Group come from all walks of life. They are all citizens of this country who have chosen to serve with pride with the Canadian Forces and to dedicate a few hours every week and a few weeks every year serving the Canadian Reserves and Canada.

Mission

34 CBG shall meet the objectives issued by LFQA and shall stand ready to respond effectively to the changes brought by the Land Force Reserve Restructure (LFRR) while providing the personnel required for Operation PALLADIUM Rotation 14, Operation ATHENA and Operation HALO.

Objectives

- To improve effectiveness in the fields of administration and support with a view to spending less than 20% of the overall budget in the performance of its duties ;

- To increase the operational effectiveness of the mission elements to 80% for active strength;

- To increase personnel retention within 34 CBG to 85%;

- To improve its visibility in the communities in which it is active.

Role

The role of the Primary Reserve, to which 34 CBG belongs, is to assist the Regular Force in fulfilling the latter’s commitment to Canada on defence matters. The training program it follows and the equipment it uses are comparable to those followed and used by the Regular Force, who often calls upon the Reserve for assistance.In its role of support to the Regular Force, 34 CBG must :

- Safeguard the sovereignty and independence of Canada, namely by providing surveillance and control over Canadian land, territorial waters and airspace;

- Provide assistance to meet the commitments made by Canada to NATO

- Contribute to United Nations peacekeeping missions by supporting, augmenting and sustaining such missions;

- As required, to support civil authorities in times of crisis or natural catastrophes as was the case during the ice storm of 1998. Many of 34 CBG personnel were on alert for the year 2000 rollover;

Recent or developing activities and operations :

· OP RIPIENO : Operation aimed at widening the brigade planning window to two years, while validating the full set of activities carried within the brigade;

· OP RENOUVEAU : Operation aimed at readjusting the Reserves’ chain of command within LFQA. A five-year plan is in development with leadership as the core value. The plan is promulgated by LFQA with 34 CBG playing a key role in the process;

· OP RASSEMBLEMENT : Operation aimed at modernizing the conduct of collective training with a view to proving greater challenges to the members of the mission elements of brigade units. This plan is also promulgated by LFQA for implementation since September 2002;

· OP QUITUS : Operation aimed at generating troops to compose a contingent from a sub-sub-unit to a Light Infantry Battalion which will give assistance, when needed, to civilian assistance authorities;

· OP PALLADIUM ROTO XIV : 34 CBG is presently deploying more than sixty of its members with 12e Régiment blindé du Canada (12 RBC) to Bosnia-Herzegovina;

. OP ATHENA ROTO 01 : 34 CBG is presently deploying more than forty of its members with 3 Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment (3 R22eR) to Afghanistan;

· OP HALO : 34 CBG is presently deploying ten of its members as interpreters with the 2 Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment to Haiti.