Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Sep 05/05) - Had you been seal hunting near Kiingait on the afternoon of Aug. 28, and got sick or lost, you would have been a very lucky person.

In the area were two Canadian Navy coastal defence ships - HMCS Glace Bay and HMCS Shawinigan - a Canadian airforce 440 Squadron Twin Otter, a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker with a helicopter on board.

In Kiingait/Cape Dorset an RCMP and a Ranger patrol group were ready at a moment's notice.

The Navy's plan was to pretend there was an emergency to see how all these ships, planes and people would team up to save Canadian lives.

Kiingait Rangers Johnny Saggiatuk, Simionie Teevee, and Tuppaungai Qatsiya volunteered to play the hunters in distress.

Saturday around 9 a.m., they set out in a big green canoe, pushed by a 60 horsepower engine through the glassy water. They arrived at the destination island mid-morning under a warm sun.

Ranger Saggiatuk, in charge of the island operations, asked Ranger Qatsiya to walk the rocks for a good landing site for the Coast Guard chopper.

The choice was approved and marked by a landing cross of bright yellow grocery bags weighted down by rocks.

The Rangers spread out to look for driftwood for the signal fire. Muskeg was to be burned to make the smoke. Everyone waited.

At 1 p.m. the upper decks of HMCS Shawinigan appeared in the notch of a point of land, still too far away.

At 1:35, the 440 Squadron Twin Otter was spotted in the east, flying patterns. Ranger Saggiatuk heaped some needled shrubs on the signal fire and black smoke billowed up.

A Ranger spotter on the Otter saw the smoke. At 1:42, the Otter was overhead.

At 1:44, two Ranger boats came around the point and landed on the island.

By this time, Ranger Teevee was in the tent, buried in his sleeping bag, acting very sick.

Two Rangers assessed his condition and the information was radioed to the bridge of the Glace Bay.

The chopper was called in. Teevee was strapped on a stretcher and put in the back of the chopper where he lay very convincingly incapacitated on a back board and head brace.

The Shawinigan landed a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) with the ship's medical personnel aboard. Once on the chopper, Teevee was whisked away to the Coast Guard icebreaker for more treatment.

The navy will be assessing the operation for future Arctic operations while the Rangers await their next orders.