HAY RIVER
Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan has announced a contract for 6,820 new rifles to support the Canadian Rangers.

Sajjan announced the contract on Sept. 2 in Haines Junction, Yukon, during Operation Nanook, Canada's annual Northern sovereignty exercise.

1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group member Master Cpl. Barney Masuzami (left) describes the benefits of the new C-19 Canadian Ranger rifle to Lt.-Gen. Steve Bowes (right), Commander of Canadian Joint Operations Command, at a Forward Operation Post situated at the Northern Warning System DA1 site, Northwest Territories in August 2015 during Operation Nanook. - photo courtesy of Belinda Jeromchuk, Task Force Nanook

The modern rifles, produced by Colt Canada, will be phased into the Rangers' use starting early in 2017, until they are fully equipped by 2019. The contract is worth $32.8 million.

They will replace the Lee Enfield rifle, used since the group's inception in 1947.

The Rangers were issued military surplus Lee-Enfields after the Second World War.

The new rifles are more robust and can perform reliably in temperatures well below freezing, which is essential to the Canadian Rangers' work in the Arctic.

The production of the rifles, which will take place over the next three years, will help support the current 90 jobs at Colt Canada.

It will also contribute to the creation of approximately 30 additional jobs in the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario.

"The Government of Canada remains committed to Canada's North, its people, and our country's sovereignty in this vast region," stated Sajjan in a news release.

"Today's announcement ... demonstrates our support for the women and men of the Canadian Rangers."

The Canadian Rangers are a sub-component of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Reserve and are the military's eyes and ears in the north.

1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group encompasses Nunavut, Yukon Territory and NWT and is headquartered in Yellowknife.

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