SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Officers with the 41 Canadian Brigade Group – a reserve group made up of 1,200 members from eight cities including Calgary, Edmonton and Yellowknife – took part in a week-long exercise last week called Operation Sovereign Grizzly.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem and Yellowknife Company reservist Sapper Jesse Larose stand at the head of a new and improved Frame Lake Trail walkway built by the 41 Canadian Brigade Group and 41 Combat Engineer Regiment last week during Operation Sovereign Grizzly. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

The exercise, which drew 161 reservists from eight units primarily from Calgary and Edmonton, culminated in the unveiling of a new, considerably widened walkway on the Frame Lake Trail leading to Stanton Territorial Hospital.

The walkway was built by the brigade, the 41 Combat Engineer Regiment and the Yellowknife Company at the request of the city's community services department.

"Whenever we do an exercise in a community in Alberta or now the Northwest Territories, we try to do a little project on the side, to give back to the community," said Captain Steve Charest, community relations officer

"We approached the city in the early stages of preparation for the exercise, and we offered our services for a project that we could complete within a week's span."

Given that it was already fully budgeted, the walkway proved the perfect project, said Mayor Gord Van Tighem, who attended a brief ribbing cutting ceremony Friday afternoon at the top of the walkway.

"We've got several projects along here, and I say that as an invitation, if you want to do some more along the trail," he said to the brigade. "It's really great to see a physical reminder of your visit. Hopefully also your visit here will spur some other people to join the Yellowknife Company."

The Yellowknife Company, a reserve brigade formed in August 2009 whose members hold full-time jobs outside the army, currently has 15 members, including four who will have completed their basic training in two weeks.

Corporal John Pavey, a senior maintenance planner at the Diavik Diamond Mine, moved to Yellowknife in May 2008 and has been a reservist for 20 years.

"I've learned the levels that I can actually push myself to. I can push myself a lot farther than I would I have ever discovered had I not entered the military. And camaraderie and friendship is probably the biggest thing you'll find in the reserves."

Pavey and number of other reservists held an open house in the parking lot in front of the Ruth Inch Memorial Pool on Friday afternoon, with several weapons – including a standard-issue C7A1 rifle – and vehicles on display.

The new walkway got a thumbs up from one of the first two passersby to walk on the newly-inaugurated bridge.

"It's very pretty and pleasing to the eye," Sweyen Lam, adding, "It's a lot wider for people on bikes."