Small Quebec towns play host to 400 Canadian soldiers training for Latvia NATO operation

This past week, Tarun Channa has had a peculiar view from her porch in Saint-Thuribe, Que.

Instead of the odd car driving down the main street of the town, located 90 kilometres southwest of Quebec City, Channa has been seeing military convoys.

"We hear rumbling coming up and down our streets," said Channa, clutching her dog, Tuffy, in her arms.

"[My dogs] come up to the windows and they watch all the vehicles go by. They bark at them, like, 'what's going on?'"

Since Monday, Saint-Thuribe, population 300, has been one of seven towns in the Portneuf area acting as a training ground for 400 soldiers with the Canadian Armed Forces who are preparing to deploy to Latvia this summer as part of Operation Reassurance. They will contribute to NATO assurance and deterrence measures in Central and Eastern Europe.

In 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, NATO allies agreed to establish a robust presence to deter and defend Eastern Europe.

Lt.-Col. Nicolas Lussier-Nivischiuk, who is in charge of the training operation, says the team has been preparing for more than a year for the deployment. He says small towns like Saint-Thuribe are ideal for training.

"The MRC Portneuf offers a lot of space for us to conduct our operation," said Lussier-Nivischiuk.

"It allows us to deploy communication system, do long-distance tests of our communications system … It's better training for us to go from a known to [an] unknown in order to improve our skills."

He says about 60 armoured vehicles have been able to practise manoeuvres and missions that might be useful come deployment — including vehicle checkpoints, protection of key infrastructure and VIP security.

Town mayor Jacques Delisle said he met with the military months back, after receiving an inquiry by email.

"It was really a surprise, I thought it was a great idea," said Delisle.

"We spoke with a few residents who said that this will bring a little something different, a little bit of life to the town."

He says there are about 25 vehicles in the area and as they deploy security strategies, he says it's made him start to reflect on emergency preparedness in town.