Canadian ‘success story’: Rangers top of mind at times of global uncertainty

Arctic security and sovereignty are shaping up to be key issues for the April 28 federal election. This article is part of a series examining northern security, and the plans that Canada’s main political parties are promising.

Canadian Rangers and their red hoodies are one of the oldest and most prominent symbols of the military’s presence in the Artic.

“They’ve sort of taken over from the Inuit seal hunter as the predominant symbol of the North,” said Ken Coates, a senior policy fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a policy think tank based in Ottawa.

But the federal government’s interest in the rangers as a military force in the Arctic has fluctuated over the decades, rising at times of uncertainty and threats to Canadian sovereignty.

And in the past months, the rangers have made their way to three federal parties’ pre-election platforms.

‘We know the importance of your work’: Federal party pledges

Prime Minister Mark Carney stands with Canadian Rangers after announcing $6.7 billion in Arctic investments in Iqaluit earlier this year. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)

With the threat to Canada’s sovereignty coming from traditional adversaries like Russia and China, and more recently from the U.S., the Arctic has become top of mind for many Canadians.

As Canadians are getting ready to head the polls on April 28, the three party leaders who hope to win Nunavut’s seat in Parliament recently visited the territory’s capital to offer their plans for keeping the region “strong and free.”

That includes supporting the Canadian Rangers, a priority in which Liberals, Conservatives and NDP are in consensus.

“We know the importance of your work, and we also know the need to invest more in the work that you do,” Defence Minister Bill Blair said in March, addressing about a dozen rangers in Iqaluit.

Supporting the rangers was also part of the Liberal government’s 2024 defence policy, although the plan didn’t include any specifics.

Only Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has pitched an idea for changing the fabric of Canadian Rangers in the North, and that includes increasing their number to 4,000 people.

He made that pledge during his visit to Iqaluit on Feb. 10 as part of his “Canada First plan.”

But Whitney Lackenbauer says he is uncertain whether a plan like this would be feasible. He is a professor at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., and also an honorary lieutenant-colonel of the Northern Rangers’ patrol group.

“I’m not sure where these additional people of service age are going to come from,” he said in an interview this week in Iqaluit, adding that the percentage of northerners serving in the armed forces is already “orders of magnitude higher” than in the rest of Canada.

An ‘inexpensive’ and ‘culturally inclusive’ demonstration of Canada’s sovereignty

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon greets members of the Canadian Rangers who formed an honour guard in May 2022, on the first day of the vice-regal’s visit to Kuujjuaq. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)

There are approximately 5,000 Canadian Rangers divided into five patrol groups living in more than 200 mostly remote communities, according to Department of National Defence numbers from 2023.

The northern patrol group spans all three Canadian territories and has the largest number of rangers with approximately 1,500 members.

Their role has often been defined as the “eyes and ears” of the Arctic, Lackenbauer said.

The Department of National Defence considers them a “sub-component” of the Canadian Army Reserve. On average, they work 12 days a year and serve as the army’s “boots on the ground.”

Among honorary members of the rangers are King Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry. Whenever a high-ranking official visits the Arctic, they are likely to be greeted by a group of Canadian Rangers.

“Rangers enjoyed tremendous appeal as an inexpensive, culturally inclusive and visible means of demonstrating Canada’s sovereignty,” Lackenbauer wrote in a 2020 report on the rangers for North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network.

From ‘terrified British Columbians’ to Canadian ‘success story’

The first entity that resembled the current Canadian Rangers was created in 1942, shortly after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Canadian Rangers work with other community members to build food hampers for the community of Whale Cove after a fire destroyed the only grocery store in the hamlet of 500 in fall 2024. (Photo courtesy of Issatik Co-op)

“Terrified British Columbians” pushed for improving Canada’s defence on the West Coast, Lackenbauer wrote in his report. In response, the army created the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers, which would include more than 15,000 volunteers who stepped down after the end of the Second World War in 1945.

In 1947, the rangers were revived and remained in place during the Cold War. In the following decades, the federal government would lose and regain interest in the Canadian Rangers depending on the level of international tension.

Being relatively inexpensive, Lackenbauer said, the rangers were able to survive those fluctuations and became a Canadian “success story” working at “guarding a country that doesn’t even know of their existence.”

‘If the unthinkable came to pass’: Rangers’ role in the Arctic

With only a C-19 rifle and provided 200 cartridges of ammunition annually, Canadian Rangers are not meant to be the main combat force at times of war.

“You can imagine how much damage a ranger could actually do,” Coates said.

However, their knowledge of the North makes them a link between the army and the Arctic, Lackenbauer said, adding that regular forces would be able to learn from the rangers how to operate in polar conditions.

“Nature of the defence and security environments in the North, in my mind, has always demanded quite unique, innovative solutions. And the rangers, to me, are a great example of Canadian innovation,” he said.

As part of their work, rangers report unusual activities, collect data for military operations and conduct search and rescue operations.

They could also, “if the unthinkable came to pass, delay an enemy advance using guerrilla tactics until professional forces arrive,” Lackenbauer’s report says.

But in peaceful times, the rangers’ main role is to support the communities they are based in, especially in times of crisis like pandemics or fires.