Exercise NOREX 2017 gets underway in Nunavut’s High Arctic

NOREX 17 will see military exercises in the High Arctic islands of Nunavut. (PHOTO BY MCPL DAN POP, 4 CDN DIV PUBLIC AFFAIRS)

Military activity again comes to the High Arctic islands of Nunavut as more than 180 soldiers, including Canadian Rangers, participate in the 2017 version of NOREX, short for northern exercise, over the next two weeks.

The exercise, which got underway March 17, is designed “to test the mobility, sustainability and survivability” of 4th Canadian Division’s Arctic Response Company Group and to maintain an Arctic response capability, said the Department of Defense.

According to the DND’s submission to the Nunavut Impact Review Board made earlier this year, the operation will stage military training from the Canadian Armed Forces Arctic Training Centre in Resolute Bay as well as conduct more remote exercises in three operational regions near Eureka or Polaris and Gascoyne Inlet on Devon Island.

A temporary ice airstrip will also be constructed at Eleanor Lake on the northern end of Cornwallis Island while aircraft, helicopters, snowmobiles and tracked vehicles will transport military personal to the various camps.

Nunavummiut had until the end of January to weigh in on the military’s northern exercise, which follows Operation Nunalivut, which recently ended and included, among other planned activities, the emergency rescue of three hunters on the land near Hall Beach.