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Roll out Canadian Forces start dismantling Operation Nanook camp in InuvikDanielle Sachs Northern News Services Published Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012
Tuesday was the second day the Canadian Forces personnel spent packing gear and preparing to ship out of Inuvik. Commanding officer of the camp, Maj. Marco Michaud, said by Sept. 11 the camp will be gone. The western portion of the operation officially took place between Aug. 1 and Aug. 26. Later this week, the remaining Canadian Forces members will be housed in Sir Alexander Mackenzie school while the rest of the camp is put away. "The rain is hampering our efforts a little bit today," said Michaud. "Taking the tents down is difficult because they need a place to dry before they can be folded and put into storage." The western portion of Operation Nanook has been in Inuvik since near the beginning of July. At the peak of Operation Nanook 2012, there were around 600 military personnel in the area. Now, it's down to about 130 as the summer comes to an end and the camp is packed away. The operation marked the largest military operation based in Inuvik since the Canadian Forces military base shut down in 1985. Tuesday morning the camp was muddy but soldiers worked through the on-and-off rain, taking down communications cords and packing up everything from cables, empty pallets and kitchen equipment. "Next week it's going to look a lot different," said Michaud. Already sections of the camp are empty, with unused space where sections of tents serving as living quarters used to stand. There are plans in place to dry the tents in the arena at the Midnight Sun Complex before the ice surface goes in. The relocatable temporary camp was built right off Old Navy Road and was entirely self sustaining. It's designed to leave no trace once it's packed up, unlike the DEW Lines still scattered across the region, some of which are now being cleaned up in a remediation effort by the government.
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