Jessica Klinkenberg
Northern News Services
Monday, March 26, 2007

IQALUIT - It's been nearly a year since the last Arctic sovereignty patrol by snowmobile, and Joint Task Force North and the First Canadian Ranger Force are heading out again.

This year a total of 44 personnel, including pilots and 18 rangers, will be dividing into three separate units and travelling three different paths.

"This is a golden opportunity (for the rangers) to do their job of enhancing the Arctic sovereignty...a trip like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Master Warrant Officer Gerry Westcott with the First Canadian Ranger Force.

Westcott will be in charge of the command post for the operation, which involves keeping a tab on the three different groups as they travel from Resolute and across Ellesmere Island.

"They should encounter just about everything," Westcott said of what the three groups should expect.

Westcott has previously travelled some of the routes that will be patrolled, and said that he knows how difficult it's going to be for both rangers and the army.

"It's a hard route," he said. "It's really tough."

The most difficult patrol will be the one taken by patrol group one, which will be taking the longest route along the western coast of Ellesmere Island, going to Ward Hunt Isle and Alert.

It's a trip that was attempted in 1906, Major Chris Bergeron said.

Bergeron has been in charge of organizing this tour, as well as last year's Arctic sovereignty mission. He'll be accompanying the first patrol.

"Patrol one has never been done before...in 1906 we tried it and failed," Bergeron said.

"Patrolling the North will be pretty rough, we have two icebergs to cross."

Bergeron said that the Rangers were imperative for the mission, and chose 18 from Nunavut.

"They know the ice," he said.

He said to cross icebergs, they need people who know the difference between "good ice and bad ice."

All three patrols will travel together from Resolute to Eureka where the three will branch off onto their separate paths. Patrol two will travel the centre of Ellesmere Island and meet patrol one at Alert.

The third patrol will go east to Alexandria Fiord.

RCMP officer Chris Cooke will be accompanying that patrol, which will visit the old RCMP base there. Cooke is the son of the last RCMP officer in Alexandria Fiord.

Accompanying one of the patrols is a documentary filmmaker. Dianne Whelan said she was excited about the opportunity to work on her documentary The Canadian Arctic, which she said is already receiving international interest.

"Very few Canadians realize that we're sending military into the harshest climate," Whelan said.

As the plane was being loaded at the military runway in Yellowknife, Bergeron inspected one of two plaques that would be placed in two spots that he said would not be disclosed until next week.

"I don't think we forgot anything," he said.