Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Feb 14/00) - Perhaps the most difficult portion of the Trans-Canada Trail Relay will be getting a bottle of Arctic Ocean water from Tuktoyuktuk to Ottawa.

To mark the grand opening of the Trans-Canada Trail in 2000, water from the Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans will be passed across the country where it will be poured into a Commemorative Millennial Fountain in Ottawa.

On Feb. 19, Tuktoyuktuk's Junior Rangers will draw water from the Arctic Ocean during a ceremony in their home community. Media representatives from across the nation are attending to record the event and broadcast it to the world. After the ceremony, the relay is scheduled to get under way the next day.

To assist the water carriers who are participating from each community in the North, Canadian Ranger Patrol Group deputy commanding officer, Don Finnamore, said 36 of the NWT/Nunavut's 58 existing ranger patrols will be put into action.

"The rangers are very knowledgeable about surviving in Arctic conditions. They will be along to help with everything -- from sensing if a storm is approaching to managing the situation if the water carriers get held up," said Finnamore.

"We're happy to be along because the event will give our ranger program national exposure and I think it will open the North to the south. I'm really proud of our involvement."

Two rangers from each community will be with the water carriers at all times. Each patrol will come out from their community to meet the carriers halfway.

Katherine McPhee is the Relay 2000 NWT regional co-ordinator. She said eight regional co-ordinators from across Canada spent 18 months organizing the event. Together, they had 17,000 Canadians apply to be water carriers -- they chose 5,000.

"The Trans-Canada Trail will be the longest multi-use trail in the world," said McPhee.

"And the relay is bringing all the unique regions of Canada together. The exciting part to me is that there was so much interest and excitement about it."

Another project coinciding with the relay is the Arctic Millennium Project. A

six-member team -- three from Yellowknife, one from Inuvik, one from Gjoa Haven and one from Toronto -- is undertaking a trek to promote an Arctic Internet Web site they created called frozentoes.com. They will be passing through 19 Northern communities, from Tuktoyuktuk to Iqaluit.

Although they are on their own adventure, the team agreed to take a bottle of arctic water with them for the relay. The portion of water they carry will remain in Iqaluit as a testament to Nunavut's participation in the relay.

On the other front, a relay will head down to the community of Tsiigehtchic. From there, a group will head down to Whitehorse and into Alberta and another will continue up the Mackenzie River.

The Mackenzie relay will go through Tulita, Wrigley, Fort Simpson, Jean Marie River and Fort Providence before connecting to Highway 3. From there, it will head into Rae-Edzo and Yellowknife then down to Fort Smith. The Yukon and NWT trails will reunite near Regina, Sask., and join the east/west pathway.

The water carriers are using dog-sleds, cross-country skis, their feet -- anything they can to get the bottle of water into the hands of the next carrier. The three oceans of water are expected to pour into Ottawa on Sept. 9.

Fact file

On the Trail

- Tuktoyaktuk - Inuvik, Feb. 20

- Inuvik - Tsiigehtchic, Feb 21

- Tsiigehtchic - Fort Good Hope, Feb. 22-23

- Fort Good Hope - Norman Wells, Feb. 24

- Norman Wells - Tulita, Feb. 25

- Tulita - Wrigley, Feb. 26-27

- Wrigley - Fort Simpson, Feb. 28

- Fort Simpson - Jean Marie River, Feb. 29

- Jean Marie River - Fort Providence, March 1

- Fort Providence - Rae-Edzo, Mar. 2

- Rae-Edzo - Yellowknife, March 3

- Yellowknife rest days, March 3-4