Yellowknife (Mar 27/06) - Right about now, John Louison will probably be battling though waist high snow and bone chilling winds somewhere closer to the magnetic North Pole than his home in Fort Good Hope.

Louison is among 70 Canadian Rangers and armed forces personnel who were scheduled to leave late last week for an ambitious three-week mission in the High-Arctic.

“I’m excited and I’m nervous,” said Louison. The 32-year-old is one of 37 Rangers from the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon participating in the exercise.

The groups will be divided into five patrols which will criss-cross over 4,500 kilometres of unforgiving terrain around Prince Patrick, Cornwallis, Ellef Ringes and Ellesmere islands.

The temperature in Resolute - where one patrol group will begin their mission -is forecast to be a relatively balmy -13C Monday. Farther North on Ellesmere Island, however, another patrol will set out at -28C.

But for Louison, those temperatures are child’s play. During one of his patrols outside Inuvik, the mercury dipped to -70C and it wasn’t uncommon for him to see -55C around the treeline near Fort Good Hope.

“You have to be prepared for some cold,” said Louison, who has been with the Rangers for 4-1/2 years, although this is his first mission in the far North.

Outfitted with parkas, tents and kerosene heaters, the Rangers will spend every night on the land, camping both on the islands of the high Arctic and the thick sea ice that surrounds them.

“The skill set that these 1,500 people have is (unique),” said Vice Admiral J.Y. Forcier, speaking Wednesday in Yellowknife about the Rangers.

“If you’re going to operate up here (and) if you’re going to assist somebody, those are the folks I want on my side.”

The mission, codenamed Operation Nunalivut, comes at a time when Canada’s ability to monitor and control its remote Arctic claims has come under question.

In December 2005, reports surfaced that an American nuclear submarine had passed through Arctic waters, fuelling arguments that the military does not have enough resources to monitor the Northwest Passage - a route that is becoming less treacherous as its ice cover recedes.

During the last federal election, the Conservatives and Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised to beef up the Canadian military presence in the North. Some of their commitments included:

• 500 more Rangers;
• a deep-water port outside Iqaluit;
• a training centre in Cambridge Bay;
• underwater sensors in the Northwest Passage; and,
• station search and rescue aircraft in Yellowknife.

Forcier, the second ranking soldier in Canada and the commander of domestic forces, said those changes are not on the “immediate horizon”, but Ottawa was working towards a new “strategic plan.” Forcier said the North can eventually expect to see more troops, planes, ships and surveillance gear, but the Rangers will remain an important part of Northern defence.

For this latest patrol - which will cost an estimated $1 million - Canadian forces Twin Otters and civilian planes will ferry the patrols to bases in Grise Ford, Isachsen, Mould Bay and Resolute Bay. The touchdown points are all well above the Arctic Circle. The groups will patrol their respective areas on snowmobile, carrying food, weapons, ammunition and communications gear with them.

Most of the Rangers and soldiers are scheduled to end their patrols in Resolute Bay, where a large media continent is expected to be on hand.

“It should be interesting,” said Louison, whose family will be eagerly awaiting his return. “I’m looking forward to it.”