Tuktoyaktuk (Mar 06/06) - The Canadian military is ready for anything in the North, says Sgt. Mark St. Pierre.

An instructor with the Land Forces Western Area Training Centre in Wainwright, Alta., St. Pierre is part of an advanced winter warfare course being conducted in Tuktoyaktuk.

The officer says a Canadian military presence in the North is crucial to Canadian Arctic sovereignty.

"International law dictates if a piece of land is sovereign, you must be able to defend that land," St. Pierre said, adding it's especially important to maintain a presence in the Arctic because of the interest in Northern resources such as oil and gas. So for the last four years, the Canadian military has held training exercises here.

This year there are 17 students learning to become senior officers and nine staff instructors deployed with eight Rangers.

"We're training our advisors of major units, such as infantry battalions and tank regiments, on operations in extreme climates," St. Pierre said.

"We spend three weeks in the classroom followed by two deployments and a survival exercise both above and below the treeline."

St. Pierre says the Delta is a perfect spot for training because there is a variety of terrain.

Ranger Sgt. Jackie Jacobson says his Rangers enjoy helping the military learn to live on the land.

"We're advising them on navigation, iglu building and how to survive in cold temperatures," Jacobson said.

"The Rangers provide local area expertise and, for example, know the weather so well they can tell when a storm is coming in," St. Pierre said.

While assisting in the training, the Rangers also make three patrols a year to Northern warning sites where they do checks and send reports to Northern command in Yellowknife.

Jacobson says working with southern military personnel has been a great experience.

"They're in the community for 10 days and it's our second year being a part of the exercise," Jacobson said.

"We're learning off each other."