Royal Canadian Navy wrap up two-day training in Barrie
About 60 Royal Canadian Navy reservists from across the province gathered in Barrie's waterfront this weekend to conduct mandatory training exercises.
The Navy training in Kempenfelt Bay caught the action of many by the waterfront.
Rick Bachhoser was watching all the action from a park bench by the Tiffin boat launch.
"It's very impressive and good to know we're covered," he says.
Ontario has seven naval reservist divisions in the province. Some of the reservists taking part this weekend are new to the team, and this is part of their mandatory training.
"We respond to requests from the province, and we have to be able to provide support to ice storms, flooding, search and rescue," says Paul Smith, the Commanding officer of HMCS. "This is the team the province will call out of required."
The teams will use parts of Simcoe County and Muskoka in the coming months.
"We are getting the team familiar with navigational hazards in the area in case we are called this way so that when the call comes, we're not stumbling over which area to be in or how to navigate," says Smith.
The 60 people involved in the teams come from right across the province, and this experience is treated like the real thing, a much different thing many are used to.
"It's very different from my background, my training, what I went to university for, but that's what I like about it; it's a completely new set of skills that I learn," says Courtney Laidler, who works for the federal government during the week.
The training will continue for this group moving forward. The teams are expected to be back in Muskoka to train for potential flooding rescues in the coming months.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unravelled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.