Canadian Forces Base Borden | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Canadian Forces Base Borden

Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden has always been primarily a training base for the Canadian Forces (CF). It is located 80 km northwest of Toronto, and was named after Sir Frederick Borden, Laurier's militia minister (1896-1911).

 Its history dates back to 1916 when the federal government acquired the Sandy Plains to train the Canadian Expeditionary Force for overseas duty. In 1917 the first Air Force station in Canada started at Borden to train pilots for the Navy and Royal Flying Corps. By 1924 it had become the largest air station in Canada.

Between the wars, the army camp Borden grew and prospered. During the 1930s Borden became a permanent army-training base. Signals, armour, infantry, service corps, medical, dental, provost, intelligence and nuclear, biological and chemical schools were established in the years that followed.

George Ens
In 1966 Borden became an integrated training base. Since unification various iterations of schools have come and gone or have been amalgamated. In September 1995 CF Recruiting, Education and Training System Headquarters was established and Borden was redefined as the centre of training for the CF. Today Borden has 11 major schools, which annually teach over 300 courses with over 15 000 trainees.

In addition to providing training, CFB Borden hosts the CF National Sport Championships. There are over 1500 military personnel on the base, and approximately 1300 civilians are employed. There are 1329 private married quarters with a population of 2400.

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