5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada

The establishment of 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du CanadaC was authorized effective 6 May, 1968. Gunners, primarily from the 3rd Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery were transferred to the fledgling organization and the two field batteries, X and Q were stood up as skeletons of their future organization.

“X” Battery (3 howitzers 105mm C1) fired its first round on 6 February 1969. The Regiment formally took its place in the Canadian Army on 13 February 1969 during the presentation of new colours to the Regiment. During this spectacular ceremony in the “Manège militaire de Grande-Allée” the unit was presented with their new pack howitzer, the 105mm L5, in the presence of the Honourable Hugues Lapointe, then Lieutenant-Governor and Lieutenant-general W.A.B. Anderson OBE, CD, then Commander of Mobile Command.

On October 15, 1970, the Regiment deployed to provide assistance to civil authorities during the “October Crisis". On January 26, 1973, 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada received confirmation of its official designation as a unit of the “Royal Canadian Horse Artillery".

In 1976, 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada provided support for Olympic Games security. In 1977, a new battery is formed within 5e RALC: V battery (air defence). Equipped with “Blowpipe" ground-to-air missiles, V battery is also provided with the 40mm "Boffin" gun. From 1 October 1980 to 26 March 1981, the Regiment is deployed to Cyprus. Immediately after its return, 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada takes part in Exercise RV 81 in Gagetown, New Brunswick. On July 9, 1983 the Regiment celebrates its 15th birthday and is granted the Freedom of the City from Québec City.

In 1984 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada exercised its Freedom of the City for the first time. The opening of Fort No 1 at Pointe Lévis, the arrival of the Tall Ships and the Corporation Quebec 84 festival were all activities in which the Regiment was involved during the summer. The gun salute for his Holiness the Pope was fired by X battery. It also saw the creation of R battery, which made 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada the largest artillery regiment in the Royal Regiment. The replacement of the 105mm C1 howitzers by the self propelled M109A3 howitzer is firmly established in 1985-86. During this period the Regiment took part in l' exercise RV 85 in Suffield, Alberta. From 27 August to 2 September 86 the complete Regiment were involved in exercise BRAVE LION which took part in Norway.

1987 marked the second departure of 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada to Cyprus. 1988 featured the culminating point of 20 years of hard labour. The 5e RALC celebrated its twentieth birthday with imposing ceremonies. In May of that year the Regiment took part in RV 89, a divisional exercise.

The Nineties is summarized by the contributions to the missions in ex-Yugoslavia, Bosnia and in Haiti with the despatch of individual reinforcements and the presence of Q and X batteries with the 3rd R22eR BG in 1995. Twenty-eight members of the Regiment took part in OP PRONUC in Kampuchea in 1992 and several others with the missions in Golan, in Egypt, in Africa and Central America. Finally, the 5e RALC was deployed in Haiti as the Canadian Battalion from October 1996 until April 1997 while the Headquarters element of X Battery assumed the responsibilities for the Headquarters at HQ 5th CMBG in Bosnia. X Battery was deployed in Bosnia from July 1999 to February 2000 while R battery was spread out in Bosnia from September 2001 to March 2002. The latter was replaced by Q battery in April 2002.

The unit has been present in Afghanistan since 2004. From January to July 2004, some 250 people of the Regiment deployed to Afghanistan with Roto 1 of OP ATHENA. They deployed a gun battery gun, radar troop, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle `SPERWER` Troop, a Brigade Headquarters, a local defence group and several other individual reinforcements. The 5e RALC also deployed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle troops with the 408th Tactical Helicopter Squadron from Edmonton during OP ARCHER in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2006. In preparation for OP ARCHER, Roto 4 X battery took part in EX REFLEXE RAPIDE which took place for the first time in Fort Bliss, Texas in February 2007 with Task Force 3-07. In May, EX MAPLE GUARDIAN, in Wainwright, confirm ed the state of preparation of X battery and other components of the 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada attached to various components of Roto 4. In particular, an key part of the regimental staff was integrated into the National Command Element HQ team Afghanistan which was deployed in the summer of 2007 and 2008. Before their departure, X battery paraded in the streets of Quebec City on 22 June 2007 with the other units of Task Force 3-07 as a greeting and a thank you to the citizens for the support offered to the deployed soldiers in Kandahar in August 2007.

The 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada is not only focussed on its many successes while on deployment. It is to be mentioned that 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada was the first unit in the Canadian Forces to gain a Diamond Honour certification in the National Centraide 2006 campaign, which was underlined at a ceremony which took place on 27 February 2007.

R Battery is currently preparing for its deployment to Kandahar in spring 2009.

In spite of its young age le Cinquième Régiment has demonstrated its professionalism to the citizens of Quebec and fellow gunners and has earned its rightful place within The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery.