CJOC was announced in May 2012 as the result of the cost-cutting measures in the 2012 federal budget through the merger of Canada Command, the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command and the Canadian Operational Support Command under an integrated command-and-control structure.

The command was stood up on 5 October 2012 to officially replace the three former organizations.

[1] CJOC's role is to "anticipate and conduct Canadian Forces operations, and develop, generate and integrate joint force capabilities for operations.

[3] The continental component consists of six regional joint task forces (JTF).

The five southern JTFs have no permanent operational units: units and detachments are temporarily assigned to them from the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force according to operational requirements.