Algonquin Reg't goes to the Arctic

A group of reservists from the Algonquin Regiment in Timmins will be part of a national military exercise to show Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic.
Eight members of Bravo Company of the Algonquins will be heading north next week to the community of Iqaluit on Baffin Island in Nunavut, says Sergeant James Vogl of Timmins(at left). “The Algonquins will be providing a section of soldiers from this location, along with our company in North Bay, to a landforce infantry company and contributing to that operation,” said Vogl.
“It will be a sovereignty exercise not only in Iqaluit, which is the capital, but elements of our company will be dispersed to other local communities around Baffin Island,” Vogl explained.
He says the exercise will not be a war games type scenario, but instead an exercise in demonstrating that Canadian Forces can be deployed where ever they’re needed in Canada’s North.
“It’s going to be patrolling, seeing the land, showing our presence up in the North,” he said.
Vogl added that scenarios will be played out “to keep the troops on their toes.
A Canadian Forces news release says Operation Nanook will include exercise scenarios that simulate maritime emergencies, such as the evacuation of a ship in distress and an oil spill.
Vogl says the exercise with involve all elements of the Canadian Forces including the army, the navy, the air force and the Canadian Rangers, which is the Aboriginal element that carries on regular patrol duties in the far north.