Culture: A Casual Visit to the Navy

The HMCS Ville de Québec sat docked in Toronto, Ontario for a recruiting open house on 6-September-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Amongst the many free events taking place in Ontario's capitol city last weekend was an open house on the HMCS Ville de Québec, a Halifax-class frigate that has been plying inland waters for the past few weeks on a recruiting mission for the Canadian Forces Maritime Command (the Canadian Navy). The ship was docked at the foot of Yonge Street and opened up to the public on Sunday and Monday.


Harpoon missiles were launched from this apparatus on noted on the HMCS Ville de Québec in Toronto, Ontario on 6-September-2009

Launched in Lauzon, Québec in 1991, the HMCS Ville de Québec is 134 meters long, requires a crew of well over 200, and featured a variety of weapons systems including torpedoes and Sea Sparrow and Harpoon missiles. The rear of the deck accommodated a CH-124 "Sea King" helicopter. Surprisingly, visitors could wander quite a portion of the ship, including going through the bridge and walking right next to some of the weapons systems.


The bridge of the HMCS Ville de Québec was observed on 6-September-2009. The man barely in the picture at left in the brown shirt was one of the non-uniformed members of the crew.

What was truly remarkable about the open house was not the openness of the ship itself, but the extremely casual nature of the event. There was barely a single crew member welcoming visitors on board (no metal detectors or any formal security), and the majority of the crew answering questions on board were not in uniform but were in civilian clothes. The non-stereotypical military environment was reinforced by details like the fact that "military time" (the 24-hour clock) is not used on board in favor of local, civilian time.


The CN Tower loomed on the right as the rear deck of the HMCS Ville de Québec was docked in Toronto, Ontario on 6-September-2009

That doesn't mean that the HMCS Ville de Québec hasn't seen real danger. While the brochure given out seemed to make more of ship's role in counter-piracy efforts off Somalia in 2008 than any of the individual crew members spoken with would talk about, they did clearly have the experience of being under threat and mentioned the need to work as a team when being fired upon. The ship may have been trying to recruit for the Canadian Forces, but it would have been hard for a potential sailor to be drawn in by the casual atmosphere and not realize that the ship encountered real threats.