QUASUITTUQ/RESOLUTE
The Canadian Rangers continue to play an integral part in military operations in the North and the recent Operation Nunalivut on Little Cornwallis Island in Nunavut could hardly be done without them.
Canadian Ranger David Suqslak of Pond Inlet stands beside a snowmobile flying a Canadian Rangers flag during Operation Nunalivut earlier this month on Little Cornwallis Island. Rangers from Resolute Bay, Clyde River and Pond Inlet helped guide military members the 100 kilometres from the base at Resolute to the remote location on the island. - John McFadden/NNSL photo |
So said Brig.-Gen. Mike Nixon during a media briefing at Resolute Bay on April 9.
Nixon, commander of Joint Task Force North (JTFN), was in Resolute to observe soldiers and Rangers who were participating in the exercise.
It saw about 100 soldiers from across Canada as well as the U.S. and Denmark use snowmobiles, some of them diesel-powered, and amphibious Argo vehicles to transport tents, high frequency radios and other gear about 100 kilometres to Little Cornwallis Island where a camp has been set up until April 22.
The mission is designed to test the military's ability to operate in extreme cold conditions and remote locations.
It is also used to assert Canada's sovereignty in its most northernmost regions.
Lazarus Kaernerk from Clyde River was one of several Rangers taking part it the operation.
Rangers had also come from Resolute and Pond Inlet.
Kaernerk did not seem bothered by the cold, which had sent several soldiers from the camp on Little Cornwallis Island back to the base at Resolute with minor frostbite.
"I'm used to the cold ... it doesn't bother me. I'm just happy and proud to be here," Kaernerk said as he puffed on a homemade cigarette. "I roll my own. They are $30 a pack otherwise."
Deborah Igaluk from Resolute Bay was also out at the camp site.
She also said she was not bothered by the -21 C temperature with wind approaching 60 kilometres an hour.
Indeed her tent was almost hot as she invited soldiers and media members inside.
"It's routine for me. I've been involved in operations like this for the past 16 years," she said.
"I'm not fazed. We're supposed to be the eyes and ears in the North and that's what we do."
Igaluk was hardly out of her element as she prepared some Arctic char to cook on the stove in her tent.
She took great pride in showing photos on her iPad that she had brought with her, including some beluga whales that had come right up beside her boat last year, before the freeze up.
The Rangers were formed in 1947 during the early days of the Cold War.
Part of their responsibilities was to watch for anything out of the ordinary, including troops from the former Soviet Union invading from the north.
Even with that threat diminished and the advent of sophisticated radar and satellite tracking technology, Nixon said that the Rangers are invaluable.
"The Ranger program is phenomenal. I am a 100 per cent supporter of the Ranger program. (They are) the eyes, ears and voices of the North," Nixon said.
"Those skill sets that the Rangers bring to the North are phenomenal. You can't get that from a satellite. You can't get a satellite to marry up with an infantry company from Labrador in Tuktoyaktuk and be able to guide them where they need to get to. All a satellite could do is watch them not get there."
The Rangers are expected to stay with the other soldiers at the camp for the duration of the operation, which wraps up on April 22.
