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Exchange of Notes between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland constituting an Agreement on British Armed Forces Training in Canada [1991] CATSer 22 (4 September 1991)

E101051 - CTS 1991 No. 33

EXCHANGE OF NOTES BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND CONSTITUTING AN AGREEMENT ON BRITISH ARMED FORCES TRAINING IN CANADA

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The Minister of National Defence to the Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

LONDON, September 4, 1991

No. JLAB-374

The Rt. Hon. Tom King, M.P.
Secretary of State for Defence of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Dear Sir,

I have the honour to refer to recent discussions between officials of the Government of Canada and of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning our mutual objective for the continuation of training of British Armed Forces in Canada pursuant to the Agreements between our two Governments constituted by an Exchange of Notes of August 20, 1971 and an Exchange of Notes on November 26, 1979, together with its attached Schedule of Terms and Conditions.

As a result of these discussions, I have the honour to propose that the aforementioned Exchanges of Notes and Schedule of Terms and Conditions be replaced by a new Exchange of Letters in the following terms.

1. The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, hereafter referred to as the United Kingdom, shall be permitted to train British Armed Forces units, use land, air space and installations, and station personnel and equipment at sites as may be mutually agreed to by the two Ministers of Defence in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in this Agreement and any Memorandum of Understanding made under Paragraph (9) of the Agreement. The period of such training, use, and stationing may vary according to the location where these activities are to be carried out but in any case shall not exceed the period during which this Exchange of Letters is to remain in force as set out in Paragraph (11), and otherwise shall be as specified in the Memorandum of Understanding applicable to the Canadian designated location or locations concerned.

2. The status of British Armed Forces personnel shall be governed by the terms of the Agreement between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty Regarding the Status of their Forces (NATO SOFA), dated June 19, 1951 as supplemented by Paragraph (8) of this Agreement, and implemented in Canada by the Visiting Forces Act.

3. The Canadian Forces shall exercise command and control over base and training facilities used by the British Armed Forces, and training activities shall be conducted in accordance with Canadian laws, regulations and orders. All applicable Canadian safety regulations and standing operating procedures shall be followed. Subject to the foregoing, British training shall be governed by the relevant regulations of the British Armed Forces.

4. The British Armed Force shall respect Canadian laws, regulations and orders applicable to the Canadian Forces with respect to the protection of the environment.

5. The Canadian Forces shall act as the agent for the British Armed Forces for the provision of all goods, services and facilities through Canadian sources during the period of the Agreement with the exception of such commodities as may be excluded by the terms of any Memorandum of Understanding made under Paragraph (8) of this Agreement. As agent, and after consultation with the British Armed Forces, the Canadian Forces shall arrange for the procurement of materiel, equipment, installations, transportation, construction, maintenance, supplies, services and civil labor from private, commercial or government sources at a scale and standard no greater than required to provide adequate and economical support and all in accordance with the procedures, terms and conditions applicable to such procurement and construction for the Canadian Forces. In exceptional cases, the Ministry of Defence may be authorized to procure supplies and services locally subject to relevant provincial and federal laws and regulations. Subject to paragraphs 6 and 7 below, any significant change in the scale or scope of the goods, services and facilities provided to the United Kingdom by Canada shall be the subject of consultation and mutual consideration by the participants as soon as possible before the proposed change is due to be implemented.

6. The United Kingdom shall bear the costs of the training programmes of the British Armed Forces in Canada except in those instances when it is agreed to share the costs between users of the facilities in accordance with the arrangements set out in the relevant Memorandum of Understanding. The United Kingdom shall pay to Canada all costs incurred by Canada as a result of the British training programmes. The provisions of Article VIII of NATO SOFA, as supplemented by this Agreement, remain unaffected.

7. The costs to be paid to Canada for land, buildings and installations made available by Canada to the United Kingdom shall be only such agreed costs incurred as a result of the acquisition, construction, modification, operation, or lease of such land, buildings and installations in support of the British training programmes. The United Kingdom shall not be liable for the costs of the purchase of land or use by Canada in support of the British training programmes.

8. All claims arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be dealt with in accordance with Article VIII of the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (NATO SOFA) including any amendments thereto and any other related supplementary agreement. For the purpose of this Exchange of Letters, civilian employees of a participant assigned to duty with its Department of National Defence or Ministry of Defence for the purpose of working under this Exchange of Letters will be deemed for the purposes of Article VIII to be members of a civilian component within the meaning of Article I of the NATO SOFA whilst present in the territory of another participant. Employees and agents of contractors shall not be deemed to be members of a civilian component for this purpose.

9. Implementing arrangements between the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom and the Department of National Defence of Canada shall be made by means of Memoranda of Understanding. The Memoranda of Understanding implementing this Agreement may be amended as provided therein subject to the requirement that any such amendments should be consistent with the intent of this Agreement.

10. This Agreement, together with the Memoranda of Understanding related to it, shall replace the Agreements constituted by the Exchange of Notes of August 20, 1971 and the Exchange of Notes of November 26, 1979, together with its attached Schedule of Terms and Conditions.

11. This Agreement shall, subject to the following paragraph (12), remain in force until August 19, 2006, unless terminated in whole or in part by either government by giving twelve months notice in writing to the other.

12. This Agreement may be suspended at any time in whole or in part, by either of the two Governments, without notice to the other, if the Government suspending this Agreement considers such action necessary for reasons of extreme emergency such as war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended.

13. In the event of termination or suspension of this Agreement, or any part thereof, financial consequences resulting therefrom shall be settled by negotiations between the two Governments regarding, inter alia, the residual values of investments. To this effect, the military or economic value of these investments to the Government of Canada, as well as the proceeds of any sales made of these investments, shall be given due consideration.

14. Upon termination or suspension of this Agreement, or any part thereof, the United Kingdom shall not be obliged to remove any buildings or improvements thereto which have been constructed with its own funds unless such an obligation was stipulated by Canada at the time of construction.

15. Following the termination or suspension of this Agreement, in whole or in part, the United Kingdom shall share the proportionate costs to be agreed upon with Canada arising from the environmental clean-up and restoration, to a reasonable level with a view to meeting Canadian laws and regulations, of land used by the British Armed Forces including, inter alia, range sweep operations, disposal of unexploded munitions, disposal or clean-up of environmental contaminants and site restoration such as the removal of field works. The costs of any such environmental clean-up and its restoration shall be the subject of separate negotiations.

16. Following the termination or suspension of the Agreement, in whole or in part, the United Kingdom shall share the proportionate costs to be agreed upon with Canada arising from the termination or suspension of contractual agreements entered into by Canada for the provision of support services on behalf of the United Kingdom including, inter alia, termination costs associated with civilian employees rendered redundant and penalties and cancellation costs associated with the termination of leases, agreements and contracts.

If the foregoing is acceptable to the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, I have the honour to propose that this Letter, which is authentic in English and French, and your Letter in reply, shall constitute an Agreement between our two Governments which shall enter into force on the date of your reply and shall remain in force until August 19, 2006.

Yours sincerely,

Marcel Masse

Minister of National Defence

for Secretary of State for External Affairs

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The Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Minister of National Defence

MO 14/6D

4th September 1991

Dear Sir,

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your Letter of 4 September 1991 in the English and French languages which read as follows:

(See Canadian Letter of September 4, 1991)

I have the honour to inform you that the foregoing proposal is acceptable to the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland who therefore agree that your Letter, which is authentic in English and French, and this reply shall constitute an Agreement between the two Governments which shall enter into force on this day's date.

I take this opportunity to renew, Sir, the assurance of my highest consideration.

Tom King