Canadian warship leaves Cuba after visit

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OTTAWA — Defence Minister Bill Blair said he authorized a Canadian navy vessel to sail into Havana’s harbour last week at the request of navy commanders as part of a mission to demonstrate Canada’s capabilities.

“Their job is to demonstrate our presence there to demonstrate our naval capability and to demonstrate and assert Canada’s commitment to safe and open waters throughout the Americas, that’s why we were there,” he said on Parliament Hill on Monday.

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The HMCS Margaret Brooke docked in Havana with the Cuban government’s approval last Friday. The ship is one of Canada’s new offshore patrol vessels and is a lightly armed ship with the ability to carry a cyclone helicopter. It has now left Havana and is on the way back to Canada.

The ship docked beside a Russian navy missile submarine that was in Cuba at the same time, and was among a fleet of Russian vessels sailing near North America in recent weeks. Blair said the Russian vessels do not appear to be a threat, but he said Canada had dispatched other ships to patrol alongside American ships and keep a close eye on the Russian fleet.

“Canada is committed to maintaining a credible military presence in the sea and in the air around our continent and any foreign actors coming into our neighbourhood can expect to see our armed forces fulfilling their mission to protect Canada’s interest,” he said.

Blair said when he approved the HMCS Margaret Brooke’s trip into Havana the military was aware that the Russian submarine would be docked there at the same time. He said there were classified reasons for sending the ship that he would not share with the public.

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Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said last week that she was unaware of the trip.

Canada has had diplomatic relations with Cuba since 1945 and didn’t sever those ties during the Cold War as many countries, including the U.S. did. There has been an American embassy in Havana since 2015. Cuba remains a close ally of Russia and Cubans have been observed in Ukraine fighting alongside Russian forces in the invasion of that country.

Human Rights Watch has said the country is still detaining activists and oppressing anyone who speaks out against the regime.

“The Cuban government continues to repress dissent and deter public criticism. It routinely relies on long and short-term arbitrary detention to harass and intimidate critics, independent activists, artists, protesters, and others. Hundreds of government critics remain behind bars,” they wrote in a recent assessment of the country.

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This is the second time since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election that Canada has sent a warship into Havana’s port, with the first trip coming in 2016, when the HMCS Fredericton went to Cuba. That trip was the first time Canada had sent a naval vessel to Cuba in 50 years.

Blair said Canadian navy vessels regularly visit ports all over the world.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was quick to denounce the trip, saying Canada never should have sent a naval vessel into Havana.

“While our troops are starved of resources, Trudeau spends defence budget sending a Canadian naval ship to Cuba alongside the Russian navy to honour Cuba’s brutal communist government, proving he wasn’t kidding when he said he admires communist dictatorships,” Poilievre said on the social media site X.

He added that the move was, ”reckless, radical and dangerous.”

National Post
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