Photography by Paul Swanson
Edmonton is very much a military town. Canadian Forces Base Edmonton is one of only three major deployment centres in Canada. Of those three, one is always designated a “high readiness” station – that is, if a situation arises that requires the army to respond, the soldiers at that base are primed and ready to go. From July 2016 – July 2017, Edmonton was the high readiness station, according to Major Brian Kominar.
As of mid-August, of the 6,500 troops based out of Edmonton, 900 were abroad – mainly assigned to roles in Ukraine, Poland and Latvia. Some soldiers were deployed to help with the firefighting efforts in British Columbia.
