Canadian Coast Guard (CCG)

Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and icebreaking, marine pollution response, and support for other Canadian government initiatives. The coast guard operates 119 vessels of varying sizes and 23 helicopters, along with a variety of smaller craft. The CCG is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, and is a special operating agency within Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Department of Fisheries and Oceans).

The CCG works to ensure the safety of mariners in Canadian waters and protect Canada’s marine environment. The CCG supports Canada’s economic growth through the safe and efficient movement of maritime trade. The CCG helps to ensure Canada's sovereignty and security through its presence in Canadian waters.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4951182)

HMCS Labrador in ice proceeding through Bellot Strait, 24 August 1957. CCGS Labrador was a Wind-class icebreaker. First commissioned on 8 July 1954 as HMCS Labrador (AW 50) in the (RCN), Captain O.C.S. "Long Robbie" Robertson, GM, RCN, in command. She was transferred to the Department of Transport (DOT) on 22 November 1957, and re-designated Canadian Government Ship (CGS) Labrador. She was among the DOT fleet assigned to the nascent Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) when that organization was formed in 1962, and further re-designated CCGS Labrador. Her career marked the beginning of the CCG's icebreaker operations which continue to this day. She extensively charted and documented the then-poorly-known Canadian Arctic, and as HMCS Labrador was the first ship to circumnavigave North American in a single voyage. The ship was taken out of service in 1987 and broken up for scrap in 1989.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950065)

HMCS Labrador, 1961.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950137)

Canadian Coast Guard Ship d'Iberville, 1957.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3199579)

Canadian Coast Guard Ship d'Iberville, August 1953.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4374238)

Canadian Coast Guard Ship Sir John A. MacDonald off Burnett Inlet, 12 August 1963.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4952604)

CCG Icebreaker, 1957.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3223594)

Hudson Strait Expedition, Cletrac tractor going ashore from CGS Stanley at Base 'B', August 1927.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3278249)

CCGS Mikula.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4374224)

Canadian Coast Guard Ship J.E. Bernier, operated in the lower St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. It was christened 28 April 1967.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4374223)

Coast Guard Ship Alexander Mackenzie - Lighthouse Supply and Buoy Vessel.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3724036)

Coast Guard Ship Canada

CCG Aircraft

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4374221)

Canadian Coast Guard helicopter on ice reconnaissance over St. Lawrence near Quebec City.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4374237)

Escorting charter vessel Eskimo, Canada Steamship Lines, and Canadian Coast Guard Narwhal out from Brevoort Island, 2 August 1963.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3613664)

CCG Sikorsky Sea King helicopter, above the Triple Island light station near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, 31 July 1967.

(Ken Fielding Photo)

de Havilland Twin Otter, Reg. No. C-FCSU, 22 September 2010.

(John Davies Photo)

de Havilland Canada DHC-8-102 Dash 8, Canadian Coast Guard - Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 26 October 2001.

(Dennis Jarvis Photo)

CCG Bell 206L LongRanger, Reg. No. C-GCHR, 6 March 2008.

(Cephas Photo)

CCG Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (BO-105-CBS) helicopter, Reg. No. C-GCHR, 8 March 2011.

(Letartean Photo)

CCGS Cap Aupaluk assisting the RCAF in a training exercise, 30 May 2012.

‍

‍