HMCS Donnacona's personnel provide on-going augmentation to Royal Canadian Navy operations and exercises on ships and at shore establishments on a full- and part-time basis.

The unit was originally housed at 465 Sherbrooke West, a converted private residence, until 1935, and then at a Bell Canada building at 1057 Mountain Street until 1939.

In August 1939 the unit moved to 1046 Mountain Street - again another old Bell property, but a much more appropriate one with a pillared main entrance and space for an indoor drill deck.

[1] At the outbreak of the Second World War the unit was split into two co-located divisions to accommodate the high recruiting intake: NCSM Cartier for francophones and HMCS Montreal for English speakers.

In the summer of 2007, HMCS Donnacona was moved to a new purpose-built federal government facility at 3525 St-Jacques Street shared with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canada Border Services Agency.