Canadian Forces gear up for Arctic sovereignty operations

The Canadian military is getting set to stage four major Arctic sovereignty and security operations — some of the most complex ones in the North to date — over the next six months, beginning with one starting next week on Ellesmere Island.

Operation Nunalivut will see 24 Rangers and military personnel from the three northern territories as well as southern Canada patrol 4,500 kilometres from Resolute Bay to Alert on snowmobiles.

Three teams of eight will fan out across the island: one patrol will head to Alexandra Fiord in the east to help RCMP see if any hunters from Greenland are hunting polar bears in Canada, while the other two teams will cover rough terrain through the centre and west sides of the island up to Alert.

A similar operation in April 2006, also named Operation Nunalivut, involved five patrols covering the same distance across the High Arctic over 17 days. Nunalivut is Inuktitut for "land that is ours."

Maj. Chris Bergeron, who is leading Operation Nunalivut, said Tuesday that members will also stop at Ward Hunt Island to the north.

"Where people usually depart to conquer the North Pole… when I will reach that location, I will erect a flag, a Canadian flag… we will put it on the island just to remind people that this is Canadian land," he said.

In April, about 200 Canadian Forces and RCMP members will take part in Operation Narwhal in the Mackenzie Delta.

Brig.-Gen. Chris Whitecross, the head of Joint Task Force North based in Yellowknife, said Narwhal will be an extensive simulation exercise involving counter-terrorism activities, a major air disaster and a pandemic.

Operation Nanukput, slated for the Beaufort Sea at the beginning of August, will have the Canadian Forces monitoring activities in that area.

But it is Operation Nanook, to be held a week later, that Whitecross said will be the largest Arctic exercise of the year. It will involve up to 300 soldiers, Rangers, and air force and navy personnel in the Davis Strait.

"We're going to try to practise working through some of the challenges in identifying how the Canadian Forces can be in a support role during the domestic operation in Canada in support of either the RCMP or the Canadian Coast Guard," she said.

"We're trying to look at how do we position ourselves in order to make decisions in a timely manner should something actually happen in our waters. So that's going to be pretty exciting."