NUNAVUT - Towers located on RCMP detachments across Nunavut are receiving improvements that will increase communications capabilities for officers in the territory, according to Allan Dagnall, life cycle material manager with RCMP communications.

"The federal government stated that all communication structures must meet CSA (Canadian Standards Association) standards a few years ago and we went out and inspected our towers," Dagnall said.

More than 90 per cent of the towers across Canada needed to be replaced, he said.

The project was intended to bring the towers up to CSA and Canadian Labour Code standards, but improvements also included making some towers higher to improve communications abilities, Dagnall said.

"Instead of putting a 30- foot tower, let's put a 50-foot tower," he said. "Most are 10 or 15 feet higher, providing better communications for the community."

Dagnall said work on the towers began this summer in both Nunavut and the NWT.

"We took an inventory on what we had to do and proceeded to repair or replace towers across Nunavut and the NWT," he said. "This summer we put up about 36 towers across the NWT and Nunavut."

The new towers have a range of up to roughly 20 km outside a community, depending on the height and condition of the tower, Dagnall said.

Before the improvements, RCMP officers had to use a satellite phone if they left town to investigate a call, Sgt. Les Brushett at the Iglulik RCMP detachment said.

"We've got roads that go out to cabins on either end of the community (Iglulik)," he said. "We didn't have radio communication when we left town."

Brushett said the new towers will enable detachments to contact officers outside of town.

"If an officer is outside of town looking into an incident at a cabin, for example, the detachment can contact the officer if an emergency is called in. It also means a single officer will be able to investigate incidents outside of a community without having to bring a back up officer, Dagnall said.

"It's a much better system, so it's better coverage," he said.

The project is expected to be finished in Nunavut at the end of November, Dagnall said.