Skidoo tracks in the snow mark Canadian land

JOHN THOMPSON

Canada’s military is calling its recent sovereignty operation in the High Arctic a success, despite blizzards and close encounters with polar bears.

Five Canadian Ranger patrols accompanied by soldiers returned to Resolute Bay on Sunday, after travelling almost 4,500 kilometres from different corners of the High Arctic to meet up at the abandoned Polaris mine site.

Maj. Chris Bergeron credited Canadian Rangers for the success of Operation Nunalivut, or “land that is ours.”

“They know the North. They know the ice. They know how to survive,” Bergeron said.

That knowledge is important when the wind gusts to 80 km/hr, kicking up white out conditions around Polar Bear Pass on the northern tip of Devon Island last Friday.

At one point, Bergeron said they needed to use three snowmobiles to anchor down one tent.

Cool-headedness also came in handy when a polar bear wandered into camp one morning, he said.

And knowledge of the land helps when GPS and other tracking devices conk out because of cold temperatures, which happened periodically.

The role of the Rangers was best observed from the air, according to the Canadian military’s chief of staff for the North, Lt. Col. Drew Artus.

When he flew by Twin Otter over the tundra and sea ice from Mould Bay on Prince Patrick Island to Resolute last week, the only sign that humans had ever touched the landscape below were sets of snowmobile tracks etched in the snow, left behind by recent Ranger patrols.

For him, those marks in the snow best represented Canada’s claim to sovereignty over the High Arctic.

“That’s a great vision of what this is like,” he said.

Besides reinforcing sovereignty, he said the operation, which the military considers its biggest, most complex sovereignty exercise to date, helps them prepare for emergencies like the potential disaster of a jetliner crashing in the Arctic. During the operation the military inspected abandoned runways and scientific stations, to determine if they could be used in future operations.

“Should something happen, we need to be ready,” he said.

The operation is a number of firsts for the Rangers: the first time different patrols had to leave different points and meet up at the same point, and the first time patrols were resupplied by Twin Otters that dropped off food, fuel and other equipment.

For Ranger Jeff Kuptana, 21, from Sachs Harbour, the operation offered a chance to build his land skills.

Back home he works with his father, who is an outfitter for sports hunters. But this operation was the first time Kuptana learned how to properly tie down gear to his qamotik. “That, I’ve never done before,” he said.

He said the stories told during camp were a highlight of the trip, when everyone laughed at people who fell off their snowmobiles and dumped their qamotiks.