Jessica Klinkenberg
Northern News Services
Monday, March 26, 2007

IQALUIT - The plane idled on the runway, while soldiers loaded their gear. The tension in the air was subtle, but it was there.

Some of these men were about to set out on Arctic sovereignty patrols along Ellesmere Island; one of those patrols had never been completed.

The three patrols left from Resolute via snowmobiles on Friday, and will be travelling almost non-stop for 21 days.

"Having done that route three-years-ago (I know) it's a hard route, it's really tough," Master Warrant Officer Gerry Westcott said.

Westcott will be manning the command post, and is a member of the First Canadian Rangers Force.

Major Chris Bergeron helped organize this years mission, and had been planning it since the last patrol of which he was also a part.

Bergeron will also be going on patrol one, which splits up with the other two patrols in Eureka, Nunavut. There he and his group will head along the western edge of the island through Ward Hunt Isle and meet up with the second patrol in Alert.

In total 18 Rangers will be part of the mission. Bergeron said it was important that the patrols had the Rangers with them.

"You have to know the ice," he said. This was why the Rangers were picked, he added.

"We have two icebergs to cross," Bergeron said.

"Patrolling the North will be pretty rough," he said.

Though the first patrol will be challenging because it hasn't been attempted since 1906, the other patrols will also be facing challenges.

"Patrol two will be challenging because there is very little snow," Bergeron said. The second patrol will be cutting through the centre of Ellesmere Island.

The third patrol will be a trip down memory lane for the first-ever RCMP officer accompanying the patrol.

Chris Cook will be going with the third patrol to Alexandria Fiord.

An old RCMP outpost is situated there, and hasn't been used since the 1960s.

Bergeron said that it's a reunion of sorts for the RCMP officer.

"(He's the) son of an RCMP who was the last in Alexandria Fiord," Bergeron said.

The weeks before the patrols the military were flying over the area that the patrols will be taking place. They have an idea of what they can expect, Bergeron said.

"They should encounter just about everything," Westcott said.

"This is a golden opportunity (for the Rangers) to do their job of enhancing Arctic sovereignty. A trip like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity."