Posted on August 29, 2022
The Canadian Coast Guard yesterday held a dedication for service ceremony to officially welcome the second of three interim icebreakers, CCGS Jean Goodwill, to its fleet.
The vessel, originally delivered by Havyard Leirvik A.S., Hordaland, Norway, in 2011, is one of three former offshore AHTS ships — Viking II, Balder Viking and Vidar Viking —acquired by Davie Shipbuilding in Lévis, Quebec, from Viking Supply Ships AB in 2018.
They were acquired under a CAD 610 million dollar contract for their acquisition and conversion to interim icebreakers for the Coast Guard. The contract was awarded Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS).
The three icebreakers were acquired to supplement the Coast Guard’s existing fleet during vessel life extension and repair periods, providing continuous on-water capability during scheduled maintenance periods.
The CCGS Jean Goodwill is named after Jean Cuthand Goodwill O.C., the first Indigenous nursing program graduate in Saskatchewan. She was a founding member of the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, and served as the organization’s president for seven years.
At yesterday’s ceremony, Tracey Purdy-Oickle served as the vessel sponsor. She is an Indigenous nurse and belongs to the same organization that Jean Goodwill founded. Her grandfather served aboard one of the first modern Canadian icebreakers that went into the Canadian Coast Guard fleet in 1962.
The CCGS Jean Goodwill will provide icebreaking services primarily in the Atlantic regions and the St. Lawrence Waterway as other icebreakers are being scheduled for major refits. Like all Canadian Coast Guard vessels, the vessel is also equipped to support environmental response and search and rescue operations, when needed.
The CCGS Jean Goodwill was delivered by Davie in November 2020. The first of the three icebreakers, CCGS Captain Molly Kool, entered into service in late 2018. The third icebreaker, CCGS Vincent Massey, is expected to join the fleet in Fall 2022.
