Iqaluit (May 22/06) - There will be a few more military boots on the ground in Nunavut by the end of this year.

The Canadian Forces says it will expand the detachment by five or six people. There's just one soldier based full-time in Iqaluit right now.

Col. Norm Couturier, chair of the Arctic Security Interdepartmental Working Group, gestures during a press conference at the Frobisher Inn in Iqaluit Wednesday. Couturier said the military is looking to expand its surveillance and search and rescue capabilities in the North. - Chris Windeyer/NNSL photo

Plans are still being worked out, but a spokesperson with Joint Task Force North said some of the soldiers will be in place before 2007.

The news came during the Arctic Security Interdepartmental Working Group meeting in Iqaluit last week. The group gathers twice a year to co-ordinate the Northern activities of the military and other government departments.

Col. Norm Couturier, chair of the working group and commander of Joint Task Force North based out of Yellowknife, said the meeting is a chance to lay the groundwork for increased surveillance in the North and large-scale military exercises this summer and in 2007.

Those exercises are key to fulfilling the military's plans for the North, Couturier said.

"Plans are good, but plans are no good if they have not been validated," he told reporters Wednesday.

The federal Conservatives talked about increasing the military's presence in the Arctic upon coming to power in January, but didn't announce plans to establish a Northern military base in this month's budget as some observers expected.

Couturier said it remains to be seen whether the government will ever build a Northern base.

Instead, the military will rely on the Polar Epsilon satellite, scheduled to be launched next year, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which should be in service in three to four years.

Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell said she'd like to see a greater emphasis on working with the territory's communities, particularly Resolute and Grise Fiord, which were established by the federal government to expand Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic.

"(It's) is a good step, but I'd like to see to see an increased role for the people who live in the North," she said.

Couturier said the military is also investing in more training and equipment for the Canadian Rangers, on whom the Forces rely for their work in the North.

The Rangers, Couturier said, are good at what he called "predator control," and know the land and weather.