PO2 Jason Boisvenue is a Boatswain aboard HMCS Calgary and part of the ship's organic boarding team, being a team leader during boarding operations and during their main Boatswain duties, responsible for maintaining and operating the ship's rigging, shipboard cargo handling equipment, boats and small craft. Photo taken on 17 June, 2021 in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory during OPERATION PROJECTION. (Photo: Corporal Lynette Ai Dang, Her Majesty's Canadian Ship CALGARY, Imagery Technician© 2021 DND/MDN CANADA)

By Justin Goulet/LethbridgeNewsNOW

Southern Alberta sailor an integral part of successful counter-terrorism mission

Jul 2, 2021 | 9:22 AM

PINCHER CREEK, AB – A sailor from Pincher Creek was one of the key players in a recent counter-terrorism and maritime security mission in the Middle East.

Petty Officer Second Class (PO2) Jason Boisvenue is currently deployed in the Canadian warship HMCS Calgary. He was one of the ship’s boarding team leaders on the recently completed Operation (Op) ARTEMIS.

On Op ARTEMIS, PO2 Boisvenue was with the ship’s organic boarding party, ‘Alpha Wave’. A boarding party is a tactical unit made up of various trades on a ship. Their training skill set allows them to conduct ‘maritime interdiction’ operations. In this case, it meant travelling to suspicious vessels and seizing illicit goods like narcotics.

PO2 Boisvenue said the success of the mission helped validate all of the training the crew had gone through beforehand. He was the team’s second-in-charge, with his call sign being ‘Alpha Two’. He worked closely alongside the officer-in-charge of the team, known as ‘Alpha One’ to plan the tactical aspects of missions. Op ARTEMIS was completed on June 14.

He told LNN that the crew left Canada in February and “it was quite a transit to get to our operational patrol box in the Arabian Sea, so we had quite a few port stops along the way for fuel and rations.”

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“Normally, we would be afforded an opportunity to get off the ship and explore these countries, but due to COVID-19, we mostly stayed on ship in order to protect our COVID-free safety bubble.”

Members of HMCS Calgary conduct counter-smuggling operations on 5 June, 2021 in the Arabian Sea during OPERATION ARTEMIS and as part of Combined Task Force 150. (Photo credit: Corporal Lynette Ai Dang, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Calgary, Imagery Technician© 2021 DND/MDN CANADA)

PO2 Boisvenue noted during the transit, multiple activities were planned to keep the crew busy.

“As for our theatre of operations in the Arabian Sea, it was very hot! Days were normally between 37-42 degrees, and, with the humidity, it would often feel like 50+. We were extremely fortunate for our time on operation because business was very busy.”

On the mission, the ship worked under the command of the Canadian-led Combined Task Force 150, one of three task forces operating under Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). The CMF is a multinational partnership dedicated to maritime security in Middle Eastern waters.

CTF-150 headquartered in Bahrain assisted on the mission, along with a Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora aircraft and the ship’s CH-148 Cyclone helicopter to spot suspicious vessels at sea.

PO2 Boisvenue explained that, “when we found a suspicious vessel, our specialty boarding team onboard (an embarked Naval Tactical Operations Group team) would disembark the ship to investigate the vessel of interest.”

“Most vessels we interdicted had illegal narcotics on board and these are used for funding organized crime and terrorist organizations throughout the region.”

Members of HMCS Calgary conduct counter-smuggling operations on 6 June, 2021 in the Arabian Sea during OPERATION ARTEMIS and as part of Combined Task Force 150. (Photo credit: Corporal Lynette Ai Dang, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Calgary, Imagery Technician© 2021 DND/MDN CANADA)

Canada’s Department of National Defence said there are multiple terrorist groups operating in the CMF and CTF-150 area of operations, which also includes world-wide hubs for the production and trafficking of heroin, hashish and methamphetamines.

This in turn can create opportunities for terrorist and criminal organizations to fund their activities through the smuggling of narcotics across the seas. Illicit drugs are most often sold to East African markets or redistributed to global markets, which leads to financial gain from the revenues generated by the trafficking of drugs.

HMCS Calgary’s involvement in Op ARTEMIS helped to disrupt those revenue streams and contributed to boosting maritime security in the process.

Additionally, during Op ARTEMIS, HMCS Calgary was able to set two CMF records. Their 17 successful counter-narcotics seizures were the most any single ship has made on any rotation in the history of the CMF. Boisvenue was part of the 15^th seizure on the ship’s deployment, as well as the 16^th and 17^th seizures. The ship also set the record for the largest single heroin seizure in CMF history.

Southern Alberta raised

PO2 Boisvenue was born in Lethbridge and lived in Pincher Creek until 1996 before moving to Grand Forks, British Columbia, where he graduated high school in 2002.

The now 37-year-old joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 2008, partly because he was in search of an adventure.

He told LNN that he was living in Calgary prior to joining and had decided to move back to B.C. for the summer and work as a roofer with a friend who had just released from the Army.

“One day, we started talking about his time with the Army, and that he enjoyed it, but wanted to try something different within the Canadian Armed Forces. After taking a look at the Boatswain recruitment videos (my current trade), and having a great talk with my father, I decided to join my buddy and enlist.”

“I figured if it wasn’t for me, it would be a quick four-year adventure. Thirteen years later, I’m still enlisted.”

PO2 Jason Boisvenue advances to clear a room during a Close Quarters Battle exercise ran by members of Naval Tactical Operations Group on 14 March, 2021 at sea in the Pacific Ocean during OPERATION PROJECTION. (Photo credit: Corporal Lynette Ai Dang, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Calgary, Imagery Technician© 2021 DND/MDN CANADA)

After spending two years as a boarding team instructor at CFB Esquimalt, he was posted to HMCS Calgary in 2020, and plans to be with the Armed Forces for many years to come.

“I plan on fulfilling my 25-year contract, since I already have thirteen years of service.”

“I was fortunate enough to meet and start a family with an incredibly strong partner who understood there would be times that I would be away for extended periods of time, but she has been my rock, as well as our seven-year-old son’s while Dad is gone. Plus, with the recent pandemic and current global climate, it’s nice to have guaranteed income for my family, and a great opportunity to keep representing Canada.”

He also praised the diversity found across all boards of the Armed Forces.

“Everyone in the Canadian Armed Forces comes from all walks of life, from the smallest towns [and] villages in Northern Canada, to the big cities like Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, etc. It’s a great experience representing a diverse country like Canada, with diversity of our own within the Forces.”

The southern Albertan sailor said for anyone thinking about enlisting, “there is a vast variety of trades and opportunities within the Canadian Armed Forces, not to mention some of the most amazing people you will work with.”

“Of course, there are bad days, but that’s just like any other employment out there. For someone like me, who at 24 still hadn’t really figured out what I wanted to do with my life, it was a great opportunity to, at a minimum, to spend four years traveling, training, and have a steady income. Best of all, you get to represent our country all over the world.”