Almost a year to the day that Defence Construction Canada broke ground on a new multi-million-dollar project at Camp Adazi in Latvia, a recent ribbon-cutting sealed the deal. The ribbon-cutting officially recognized the timely completion of major enhancements, including a supply warehouse, better road access for other NATO countries operating inside the Canadian-led camp, a military marshalling area and new Canadian and Spanish compounds.
Canada (under Operation REASSURANCE, currently the largest overseas Canadian Armed Forces [CAF] mission) leads the NATO battlegroup as the Framework Nation in Latvia, comprised of hundreds of CAF members, and other soldiers from nine NATO countries.
“The ribbon-cutting was a one-of-a-kind experience honestly,” says Grant Sayers, DCC Vice‑President, Operations–Business Management. “It made me so proud of what we do as an organization, at home here in Canada and especially overseas—to see the kind of direct benefit to our deployed operations, ensuring the military has the infrastructure required to fulfill their mission was incredible.”
Sayers also appreciated meeting the Ambassador of Canada to Latvia, Brian Szwarc, the Latvian State Secretary for Defence Janis Garisons, the local contractors who completed the work, and the Commander of Task Force Latvia Colonel Vince Kirstein.
“It was very meaningful to see how much our work was appreciated by the contractors, the Latvia representative, the Canadian Ambassador and the Commander of Operation REASSURANCE.” Sayers gave a speech at the ribbon-cutting and attended the transfer of command ceremonies and a reception with Canadian and foreign representatives.
“The whole experience was exceptional, especially given how hard everyone worked together to see the project come to fruition, from ground-breaking to ribbon cutting. Big thanks to everyone involved for completing such important projects.”
With the recent announcement on July 10 that Canada would double its NATO-mandated deployment in Latvia, with up to 1,200 more troops, DCC will continue with our contributions in the Baltic region.
