Over the past three months, Canadian soldiers conducted a more than 5,000-kilometer snowmobile patrol in extreme Arctic conditions traveling from Inuvik, Northwest Territories, to Churchill, Manitoba, braving blizzards and minus-60 degree Celsius temperatures in military exercises designed to prepare for a foreign threat — and demonstrate Canada’s ability to take care of itself.
That’s a tall order. The political climate has changed since U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to make Canada an American state, take control of Greenland and withdraw from NATO, but the harsh realities of operating in Canada’s frozen north have not.
“There are Canadians up here defending (the country) at all times of the day,” said Travis Hanes, a commanding officer of the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, a special unit of the Canadian Armed Forces’ reserve. “They’re stretching their abilities across some of the most inhospitable terrain and climate that you can possibly imagine.”
