A Salmon Arm man in the Royal Canadian Navy has returned to B.C. after a four-and-a-half month deployment to the Indo-Pacific.
Sub-Lieutenant Wilson Ho, Royal Canadian Navy Public Affairs, wrote in a Dec. 17 media release that Master Sailor Christopher Henrion of Salmon Arm has now been deployed five times.
Henrion first joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 2009 as a reservist boatswain and assisted in the 2010 Winter Olympics doing port security work. Henrion wanted to serve full-time and joined the regular force in 2012. In 2020, he participated in counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.
For Henrion’s latest mission, he was deployed on the Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Winnipeg, where as a Master Sailor he was one of the ship’s experts in small arms, small boat handling and upper deck operations, Ho wrote.
Ho said the HMCS Winnipeg was participating in operations PROJECTION and NEON which “serve Canada’s interests in the Indo-Pacific region.”
During Operation NEON, Ho wrote that HMCS Winnipeg “engaged in monitoring and surveillance in the waters surrounding Japan, including the East China Sea, to counter North Korea’s illicit maritime sanctions evasion activities prohibited by United Nations Security Council resolutions.”
During Operation PROJECTION, Ho wrote “the ship was able to work with US and Japanese allies in two bilateral exercises as well as patrol the Indo-Pacific region… HMCS Winnipeg made seven port visits in four different countries during the deployment, including Japan, South Korea, Philippines, and the United States. These port visits not only promoted regional security and stability, but also supported Canada’s diplomatic efforts in the Indo-Pacific region.”
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