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NUNAVUT
Operation Nanook 2013 goes live later this week with the Armed Forces and a large contingent of Canadian Rangers acting out scenarios for preparedness training in three Nunavut communities.

Ranger Samson Simeonie, left, indicates the next leg of their journey to Ranger James Anguti and Ranger Desmond Massettoe during a two-week Arctic patrol during Operation Nunalivut in early April. - photo courtesy of Joint Task Force North

Exercises are planned for Cornwallis Island, one on King William Island and the third on Resolution Island. There is also a fourth scenario in the Yukon, just outside Whitehorse, involving a forest fire.

The annual military exercise has been taking place in various locations around the North since 2007. Last year, the operation was based around Inuvik in the NWT.

The Canadian Rangers are heavily involved with eight Rangers on Cornwallis Island, four on Resolution Island and 20 on King William Island.

"The Rangers are with us completely. They provide skill sets that allow us to live on the land and move about in a more secure manner," said Lt.-Col. John St. Dennis, operations officer at Joint Task Force North.

"They act as guides and as advisers to the soldiers from the south on how to move and how to survive in the North."

On top of acting as guides, the Rangers can also provide predator protection but in an environmentally sustainable way. St. Dennis used the example of running into a polar bear.

"If you were to take Canadian soldiers from the south, who are very comfortable being outdoors and in the wild, they might react to a polar bear differently than a Ranger would. They might know tricks to scare them off so that you don't actually have to destroy the bear," said St. Dennis.

"It allows us to protect the wildlife by having people who are locals and who understand the environment and the wildlife in it."

Operation Nanook involves all levels of government and is designed to practice emergency responses in logistically challenging environments.

"The planning for an operation like Nanook takes between 12 and 18 months," said St. Dennis.

"This year it's especially challenging because we're conducting Nanook in four separate locations. We go through everything really, really slowly, right down to which cargo is going in which plane and what the local air strip capacities are to handle our flights coming in."

Approximately half of the participating soldiers will be in Nunavut.

Local governments are involved in the planning from start to finish.

"We don't want to impact any civilian activities, we have their concerns and their issues in mind," said St. Dennis.

"That planning is not just National Defence, it involves all our partners involved in our operation. In this case we have the Coast Guard, Environment Canada, the territorial government, it's really a whole of government approach where we bring in all our Northern partners," he said.

All the scenarios chosen for this year relate to security and safety, including a search for a missing person scenario on Resolution Island.

"All of these are very realistic scenarios that are complicated to execute in the North. They require assistance from all the players and all the government departments and territorial authorities in order to execute them," said St. Dennis.

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