Operation Polar Bear

MIRIAM HILL

RESOLUTION ISLAND – Ranger Jetaloo Kakee motions a group up a rocky hill on Resolution Island, a small land mass off the southern tip of Baffin Island.

Half a dozen civilians taking part in exercise Narwhal Ranger, a sovereignty patrol helping to assert the Canadian military’s control in Northern parts, have just been deposited on the island by the HMCS Goose Bay.

The Naval vessel leaves the bay broadcasting Newfoundland music from her speakers as she sails into the fog.

Six Canadian Rangers from Iqaluit and Kimmirut are on 24-hour polar bear patrol on an island frequented by the summering mammals.
“Shhh… this way,” Kakee says.

He leads up the side of an embankment overlooking the campsite, pausing and gesturing for the group to come closer.

Just below the ledge where Kakee stands is a sleeping polar bear. The animal isn’t full-grown, probably only between 1,100 and 1,200 pounds, Ranger Matto Michael says.

Kakee makes a soft noise and the animal wakes up, turning its head toward the group above it. The bear rolls itself to its feet and trundles off down the far side of the hill toward small ice floes that have been pushed against the land.

The bear appears to take its time deciding which ice floe it will stand on. Kakee makes loud cooing noises and the bear looks up. Michael throws small stones toward it to try and scare it off.

The excitement over, the group makes its way back down to the campsite where Canadian Forces personnel are setting up tents. Large white canvas structures stand next to peaked green tents and a small bright yellow one. People mill about, waiting for food.

Boxes filled with army rations are opened, propane stoves are lit and within the hour the group’s stomachs are full.

Part of the exercise is to test military communications capabilities on the island, and after breakfast about eight people brave the fog and light rain to begin the two-kilometre hike up the island’s winding road to the airstrip, where a communications tent has been set up.

The weather is worse on higher ground and the rain pelts down as high winds blow the drops in all directions.

Two men unwrap a portable antenna and try to assemble it in the less-than-optimal conditions.

There aren’t any telephone poles or high trees to attach wires to help transmit radio signals, Capt. Ryan Walker explains. The wires on the antenna attach to a radio sheltered in a tent where a man plays with the frequencies to try and reach someone.

“It’s so we have a safety net if something happens here,” Walker says. “Also, it’s to exercise our interoperability.” That means it shows that the Navy and the Canadian Forces can pass voice mail, e-mail or digital images over high-frequency radio. With a little patience and fiddling, the radio signal is heard and responded to by both the Iqaluit Coast Guard and one of the Navy ships that deposited troops on the island.

After the weather clears, the Rangers set up targets facing the bay for target practice. They are put through their paces, safety-checking their equipment before firing on the six wooden targets.

Ranger Dino Tikivik says the exercise has allowed a sharing of knowledge between arms of the Forces.

“I think they were surprised by our knowledge of animal behaviour and weather,” he says. “I don’t think we’ll be going home today.”

As the day progresses, it becomes evident that the planned airlift out will not occur due to the appalling visibility.

The light begins to dim and the group has eaten another meal of rations when the approximately 25 people tuck in for a night guarded by Rangers with .303-rifles.

The night is quiet and dawn breaks with more fog and mist.

Officers are soon in contact by satellite phone with the air force and Kenn Borek Air Ltd. trying to find a way off the island.

At mid-morning, people trundle toward another site near the bay where two bears are wandering the hillside across the water. Sharing binoculars and snapping photos as the weather starts to break, the mood of participants lifts with the cloud cover.

The airstrip has good visibility now and the surrounding landscape, which couldn’t be seen the day before, presents itself.

Through the rolling mountains and blue sky, the charter plane lands to take the first shuttle of people back to Iqaluit.