Jacques Cartier is the second of three vessels ordered on 19 October 2011 by the Canadian government under the NSPS for offshore fisheries research.

"[2][3] However, when Seaspan received the technical plans from the government in 2012, they found that the ship's design would be prone to capsizing.

[1] The research vessels are powered by a diesel-electric system giving the ships a maximum speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).

[5] The research vessel was constructed at Seaspan Shipyard, Vancouver, British Columbia and launched on 5 June 2019.

Jacques Cartier will be assigned to the Canadian Coast Guard base at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

A series of malfunctions with the winches, sensors and engines, a shortage of spare parts and issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic have stopped the ship from performing the training and trials needed to be fully operational.