Hay River (June 16/03) - A new RCMP patrol vessel will be showing its flag in the Beaufort Sea this summer.

But first the Mackenzie will be commissioned June 22 in a ceremony at its home port of Hay River.

On hand will be RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli and Chief Superintendent Everette Summerfield of 'G' Division.

Over the summer months, the Mackenzie will be stationed on Herschel Island in the Yukon, not far from the U.S. border.

"It is basically for sovereignty and security issues," explains Jack Kruger, the RCMP's search and rescue coordinator and district director of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary in Hay River.

The 9.2-meter zodiac and its four-person crew will be part of the RCMP and Coast Guard integrated border enforcement program.

The crew will primarily be Canadian Coast Guard auxiliary members from Hay River and RCMP officers.

Kruger says the patrol boat will check vessels moving through the passage.

That could include cruise ships and adventure vessels, which are currently not being checked at all.

The Mackenzie will be the first RCMP vessel in the area dedicated to security and sovereignty since the famed St. Roch in the late 1940s.