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Search for fictitious missing child Operation Nanook has started its exercise on Resolution Island
Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 19, 2013
NUNAVUT
The Canadian Armed Forces is working with the RCMP to find a "missing" child on Resolution Island this week as part of Operation Nanook.
Master Warrant Officer Carl Pelletier of 35 Brigade Headquarters Arctic Response Company Group calls for medical assistance during a simulated casualty evacuation exercise during Operation Nanook on Aug. 6 at Resolute. The Armed Forces is searching for a fictitious missing child on Resolution Island this week. - photo courtesy of Cpl. Dan Strohan/Canadian Armed Forces |
In this exercise, soldiers will be dropped onto the island by a Royal Canadian Naval ship.
They will then work with RCMP to find a dummy or sign representing the fictitious child.
"Some of the main goals we're trying to establish is the communication lines between the different government departments, the request for assistance process," explained Navy Capt. Derek Moss.
Meanwhile, 25 Canadian Rangers from across Nunavut are set up on King William Island to patrol the area and report any activity in the Northwest Passage.
The information is then sent to Yellowknife and on to Ottawa "so the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian government in general has good situational awareness of what is happening in our backyard in the Arctic," said Moss.
The exercise also gives the Rangers a chance to share best practices, techniques and survival skills, he added.
Operation Nanook has held exercises this year in Whitehorse and on Cornwallis Island near Resolute Bay.
In the Yukon, Canadian Armed Forces members provided disaster relief in a situation where a wildfire was threatening the city.
For the exercise on Cornwallis Island, the forces worked with Environment Canada, a first for Operation Nanook.
"Environment Canada wanted to practice its enforcement techniques in a situation where it would have to call upon the Canadian Armed Forces to assist," said Moss.
A scenario, he added, was drafted based on one of the department's primary concerns - poaching.
During the exercise, Environment Canada was informed of poachers in the area.
A decision was made to call on the Armed Forces because there wasn't enough staff to investigate and enforce the law.
Soldiers were brought in from the Canadian Forces Arctic Training Centre and they were tasked with locating the poached goods as well as tracking down the perpetrators.
In a real situation, Moss said, the Canadian Rangers could have been called in or, if that wasn't enough, support could be provided from the headquarters in Yellowknife.
"We have the capacity to respond at eight-hours' notice. If we do not have resident forces at the headquarters, there is always an immediate response unit on call at 24 hours' notice from the south."
Moss said the main purpose of all four exercises is learning to co-operate, he said.
"The recent disasters in the south, and I point specifically to areas like southern Alberta, could have been a lot worse if it were not for practices like this, events like Operation Nanook, where a group of organizations get together and practice their emergency management techniques."
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