The Decibel - Patrolling the Arctic with the Canadian military

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

As Canada builds out its military, there has been an increasing focus on arctic security. But military strategies that work in the southern part of the country do not always work in the North. Gavin John was embedded in a patrol with Canadian rangers as part of Operation Nanook-Nunalivut. John, who covers national defence  for The Globe, shares what it was like to patrol more than 1,000 km in the Arctic on a snowmobile and why a small group of rangers are an important component of Canada’s military strategy. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Look after your machine, look after your parking partner, look after yourself. Fetcq creeps quietly, mine age eight early. It's important. It's going to be at two months right. Nothing afternoon. This is the voice of Master Warrant Officer Pat Murphy. He's briefing the first Canadian Ranger patrol group in an Air Force hangar in Anuvic in the Northwest Territories before heading out on a long-range patrol of Canada's Arctic coastline.

This military exercise is particularly complex because the land is unforgiving and dangerous. I know that I am suffering. If you suffer and you're cold, speak up and be quick. The patrol is part of Operation Nanuk Nunalovut, which is designed to secure Canada's northern regions. And joining the Rangers is journalist Gavin John. The purpose of the Long Range Patrol was for the

the Canadian Rangers and the Canadian Armed Forces to demonstrate their ability to move across some of the most difficult and hostile terrain on the planet. His goal was to get a sense of what it's really like to defend Canada's vast northern border. Canada's north and Canada's Arctic is some of the most dangerous terrain on the planet because it's not just one type of terrain. You have tundra, mountains, sea ice, temperatures that drop as low as minus 50 without wind chill. And on top of that, there's very little. to know settlements within hundreds of kilometers.

So if anything happens, you're on your own. To give you a sense of how remote it is, you have to get around on a snowmobile in the winter. There are no roads. And getting from one place to another can take hours, if not days, or even weeks. Riding a snowmobile is, for long distances, is incredibly difficult. You're standing most of the time because we're not on trails. you're forging ahead and sometimes waste deep snow

or packed tundra and all of that does a number to your knees and your hips. It was incredibly painful. And even though the outside air never got warmer than minus 11 degrees Celsius, traveling on ice means Gavin and the patrol had to deal with something called overflow. Overflow is likely.

So eyes on the ground is going to be the best thing for that. There's nothing that I can tell either the team's pushing out right now that is going to conclusively say that there's overflow here and here and here and here. It's going to change in the first 24 with that temperature fluctuation, but in that first 24 hours, first on the ground, need to be paying special attention to that. Overflow is when there is water moving beneath river ice. It can push upward through cracks and then spread across the surface. And because that ice is usually covered by snow, the risk is hidden until you try to cross the river on your snowmobile.

So this was on day two. We had just left Fort McPherson, Northwest Territory, and headed west into the Richardson Mountains. So where I was in the stack of snowmobiles was, I think it was sixth in line. So by the time I reached it, that water had grown into a probably about a maybe 10, 10 meter wide patch of what looked like open water. and I had stopped on it because that was my first time ever encountering overflow, and there's nothing you can do other than essentially gun it. You lose your ability to steer mostly when you hit the water. And the big thing is, the big advice I got was don't stop, keep going.

Even then I correctly knew that there would be even more possibly difficult challenges ahead. This is just one of many dangers that await people in Canada's remote Arctic region. key to defending this land is knowing how to survive on it. This is even more important these days, as concerns grow about a potentially more aggressive Russia or China who could encroach on our northern territory. Today, Gavin joins me on the show to explain how a small group of rangers are an important component

of Canada's military strategy and how this fits into the conversation the country is having around Arctic security. I'm Cheryl Sutherland, and this is The Dessable from the Globe and Mail. Hi, Gavin. Nice to talk to you, and welcome to the Decibel. Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to it. So I'm really excited to talk about your journeys with the Rangers. I think we should start off by talking about who these Rangers are exactly that are involved in the patrol that you joined.

The Rangers are a subcomponent of the Canadian Army Reserves. and their primary task is to be the eyes and ears in remote coastal and isolated communities across Canada. They're divided into five geographic patrol groups, and the one that I have spent all my time with is one CRPG, which includes the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and none of it, so essentially the Arctic. But the individuals I traveled with on this patrol, there was a core group of eight rangers and officers from one CRPG. It's worth noting, too, that throughout the patrol, it operated almost like a pony express where a local community would meet the patrol, their rangers would meet the patrol, guide them into their community,

and then they would travel out with them and then meet the next community's patrol. Rangers are based in their own communities. So this is a practical solution to the fact that their job is to be the eyes and ears of the north or remote communities, so it doesn't make sense to pull them out or put people in that aren't familiar with the land. They are from communities and they live in their communities. And at the same time, they are in charge of a radius around their community to monitor, to surveil. Yeah, okay.

So it sounds like what's important here is that the people that are rangers know the land. And that is very important, I'm assuming, for the north. But let's really talk about the necessity of having someone that knows the land, right? Like, what is it about Canada's north that requires such a specific force? Simply put, Canada has challenges that only exist within Canada. So let's start with infrastructure. Europe has one of the most accessible Arctic. Many roads in Norway reach right to the ocean.

Russia has rail and roads to Marmantz, the Vladivostok. They have large communities. So Tromso and Norway, 75,000 people compared to Canada, where our largest settlement in in Kalawit is just over 7,000. And then compounding that is the size. And this is one thing I really want to stress with people is that Canada's Arctic and just the archipelago alone is larger than France, Germany, and Italy combined. And that's over 36,000 individual islands. And Ellesmer Island alone is larger than the UK.

And it has a population of about 150 people. So compounding that even further, we have some of the most inhospitable terrain and climate on Earth up there. So all of those things put together, Canada is faced with. a daunting task of defending that. And so we have to ask ourselves, the defense solutions for places like Europe and Russia cannot be the defense solutions for Canada. We have to look at our northern defense uniquely. And this idea of permanent presence where many countries will permanently station armed forces on their coastline and Arctic bases isn't really a solution that we can do for Canada. We have one road to the Arctic, and that's to Tukhtiakak. And it opened in 2017. It opened in

2017. So we have such limited infrastructure. So this is where the rangers and community presence and strong communities, that is the solution that that works for the Canadian Arctic defense. Yeah. Thank you for explaining that. I think that sometimes kind of goes above our heads about how large the Arctic is because, you know, you sit on a map, but just the vastness of it and also the islands that are included. Like, it is a huge part of the country and it's a huge like landmass to patrol, right? And I'm just curious, like, how does this patrol fit into the Canadian military's larger strategy when it comes to protecting the North? Canada has a series of operations under an umbrella called Operation Nunnuk.

So Operation Nunnuk refers to several operations throughout the year that targeted specific defense issues, whether it's surveillance of the Northwest Passage during the summer or Ranger accessibility and Ranger Force projection in the summer as well. That's Operation Takunik. Operation Nanakput is the Northwest Passage. And the one that I was on in February is called Operation NNUK-Nalovit. And Canada's demonstrating that we're able to deploy forces to the north and operate in the worst possible time of the year to defend our north. How long has this operation been going on for?

Nanook as a formal structure has been going around for a few decades. But what's happened with Ninnuk is that those sub-components, so like Takunik, Nanakput, Nanavut, Nainavit, more and more are being added. And they're looking at adding even more and expanding the scope of what Nunak covers. So it is an ever-evolving operation because obviously the Canadian North and geopolitics and everything is ever evolving. So take me through this. If there was an incursion into Canada's Arctic by, say, Russia or China, how does this patrol help protect us? That's a great question because it begs an assumption that many people have about Canada's Arctic defense.

The likelihood of any ground incursion on Canadian territory from a hostile state, whether that's Russia or China, is slim to none. That's not the threat in the Arctic. The threat in the Arctic is through the Arctic. So we're talking ballistic missiles. We're talking aircraft. And it might seem a little counterintuitive. So why would we have people on the ground?

And this is where the idea of if we are able to demonstrate 365 days of the year, we can reach every corner of our country. That's one heck of a signal to both adversaries and allies. If we talk about, in the case of knock on wood, I hope it never comes to it, but war, there's going to be downed pilots in the Arctic. There's going to be surveillance, sensors being placed in the Arctic. There's a whole host of things that we need to signal that Canada has the ability to reach, to respond to, to have eyes and ears that if,

Russia wants to put a sensor array in the Canadian Arctic for some reason, or they want to put submarines into our coastal waters. Knowing that there is a cost-effective and near-invisible force that is in the Arctic is quite a strong deterrent. It doesn't replace things like interceptors and radar and a whole host of new technology that's being placed in the north through norad modernization and through our bilateral defense relationships with the United States. But we can't 100% rely on technology. We're always going to need people on the ground. We're always going to need the ability for Canadians to reach every corner of our country. They just had a change of command. The Joint Task Force North previous general, Brigadierre

told me last year that if the Russians invaded, it would be a rescue mission. It is an incredibly inhospitable territory and land up there. They're saying that if they came to invade that it would be a rescue mission because they wouldn't be able to survive? Correct. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Like you're isolated, cut off. It's difficult for Canadians and NATO troops to operate in the Canadian Arctic. And so if we perceive the Arctic at threat for a Russian land invasion and we put tanks in the Arctic, like that doesn't make Canada's Arctic safer. It's a misallocation of resources. So this is why I think we really need to make sure that we're putting. our limited resources, limited budget, and limited infrastructure to best use. And it's not to defend against a land invasion. We'll be right back. Let's talk about the actual patrol route because what I understand is it's very long.

So what exactly is the route of the full patrol? Yeah, so very long. You got that right. The patrol route in total went from Inuvic to Churchill, but not in a straight line. Because of course, why would they do it in a straight line? That's only too easy. So starting in Anuvic, there's communities like a clavik, Fort McPherson, Old Crow that are down the Mackenzie River Valley Delta that they wanted to include. So they actually started by going south.

And I joined the patrol from Anuvic and we traveled south and did a big loop through the Yukon. Across the Richardson Mountains to Old Crow and then north to the Arctic Ocean and then across to Tuktiaktuk. And then from Tuk-Tiak-Tuk, essentially they followed the Northwest Passage all the way to Hudson Bay. And I'm just glossing over like 3,000 kilometers. But yeah, all the way to Hudson Bay. And then they follow the coast of Hudson Bay down into Churchill. Tell me about the kilometer total then. What are we talking about here?

I think the official total was 50, 5,500 kilometers from Anuvik to Churchill. And I was on for 1,075 kilometers. So the first loop. Yeah. Incredible. I'm so curious to hear about your experience there and just the climate and just everything that is so difficult to live in these areas. So let's talk about the weather specifically.

Can you tell me about the weather that you experienced? Yeah. Cold. But I think that's downplaying it. Cold is not the cold that I would know. Well, it's interesting too because the, you know, you gain kind of like a new standard of what cold is. So roughly, for most of the days, it would be between about minus 20 to minus 30. But we would have several, if not many days, that would be minus 30 to minus 40. And then

there were a few days where it went even beyond that. So because of the variety of terrain, there was times where we'd be traveling in a river valley where for the first time experiencing ice fog. and because it was so cold, but the air was so humid, it would instantly form fog around us, which is a weird phenomenon. Yeah, and it was about minus 50. I think the temperature, and that was traveling from the ridges of the mountains into Old Crow. Then you would get, obviously, the wind became its own character in the story where wind would come out of nowhere. And sometimes end abruptly.

We're talking. I think the fastest winds that I was later told was 100. 10 kilometers now. So we're hurricane force winds. And you're exposed because you're out and there's no trees and you're on a snowmobile. Yep. Yeah. So the further north we got, the more intense, the wind got obviously for lack of cover. And then blizzards and snow. And yeah, it's a, it's a lot. It's a lot of variety of. And I fully admit that I was a bit naive. And this isn't my first Arctic in bed with the Rangers. And this is a my first time in the Arctic. But even then, I had a few first-person reflection videos that I took

early on, and I had referenced, I was like, oh, I wonder if it's how bad it's going to be. And, oh, it's going to be cold. I think it's going to be a little cold. Like, oh, I hope it's not going to be too cold. And on the first day, I had a video of myself where we had gone 10 kilometers, and I was like, oh, it's a bit chilly today. And I think looking back, it was like minus 35, which, oh, sweet summer child, I had. No idea what was in store for me, but it's definitely a humbling experience because I consider myself a fit, outdoorsy kind of guy. But there's something about being reminded how small and insignificant and fragile we are. And the Arctic provides that in spades. Yeah, that would definitely be humbling.

So then how does the team calculate risk once they're out on the route on their snowmobiles? One of the, I think, greatest quotes that I got was from the sergeant of Old Crow is that even though there are no roads in the Arctic, knowledge is infrastructure. So in the north, that understanding of the land and when to move and when not to move, that becomes the infrastructure you rely on. So each day, what would happen is the patrol group would talk about and look at weather. And then they would discuss among the team, okay, we've got a likelihood of storm. and this is our route for the day. Where do we want to end? Where are safe places to make camp?

Because we're camping in the field in tents. So are you bringing all of your supplies with you? Is that kind of the idea? Like you have your food and your fuel. All of that has to come with you. Yeah, absolutely. And we were expected to carry all the supplies we needed on our own snowmobile. So I had, I think, six jerry cans of fuel and eight days worth of rations

and like all the equipment that you would need to maintain your vehicles and yourself, your clothes. And for me, then on top of that, I would have all my camera equipment and all my journalistic gear. So the decision to then move would be based on what supplies do we have, how long do we have to go.

And there's never really any safe, purely safe options. So these are risk management. And more times than not, the decision was not to move. And this is one thing that is really important. And because the risk, of being caught out at the open and a blizzard was either too high or we didn't know if there there was an available route to make up pace. So decisions were very carefully made. And a lot of times

by consensus. And this is one thing that really impressed me was when a decision options were laid on the table, like do we move now, do we stay here? Do we hunker down? Do we push? Like if we push, when do we wake up? How long do we push for? So it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, It's risk management, and, you know, it's one of those things where the, obviously, the two cases where we did get caught in extreme blizzards were times where we did get caught by the storm. But the amount of times we didn't, it's one of those you can't really quantify a negative. But, yeah, it's a risk. How do you safely drive a submobile through a blizzard and not get lost? Because I imagine that, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm.

imagine that you're kind of off the grid, right? There's probably no Wi-Fi connection out there. So, yeah, tell me about how you do this safely. Slowly. So, yeah, the, and this is why those calculations of whether or not to move or not are so critical because second you start encountering bad weather, it slows you down. And you're already moving not at a fast speed because this was terrain that didn't have any trails in it. So the people up in front would be making trail.

And that's a difficult. And sometimes they have to change the route and move around. So you're already kind of moving slower than you could. And then add weather onto that, it just compounds the issue. And when we're moving, there's limited to no communication with the outside world. The officers would have radio speaking with headquarters or the ability to call in. But besides that, you know, you really have to rely on literally what's right in front of you. And sometimes what's right in front of you is what's two meters in front of you.

And there were several times where the group would get separated in some of these blizzards. And or in a case happened to me where I lost the person in front of me. And they essentially disappeared into the blizzard, like 10 meters ahead of me. And the safe thing to do is stop. It's immediately stop because you have people behind you. And the last thing that you would want is to all of a cell. and all of you just keep moving just for the sake of moving. And it turns out the people that I had lost were about 20 meters in front of me, but I couldn't

even see it. How did you feel when you lost the person in front of you? Oh, terrified. And it's hard to contextualize, like, the violence of Arctic storms, usually midway through a storm, which can last hours. Your goggles are frozen, so you have to take your goggles off, so your bare eyes are exposed to, like, minus 40 and 80 kilometers. narrow winds. And the thing that's incredibly hard to to contextualize is is what a near constant

cacophony of wind does to you. And it's screaming in your ears. You can't hear anything other than this biting cold and violent wind that is, it's trying to push you. Like you realize that second you would turn your snowmobile to the side and being broadsided by wind, it easily could tip you over. So you're leaning into the wind a lot and it's screaming in your ears for sometimes hours. It's terrifying and I'm very confident saying like I have no problem saying that I was quite afraid. And this is where this idea of resilience and this idea of, you know, no one's coming to save us. Like no one, if something happened, the only people that are going to help are the people there. I was with the best people on the planet to be in those situations.

I mean, what you're describing does sound terrifying and, you know, it's a reality check about how difficult it is up there. Is there a way to make this patrol easier? Like, are there tech solutions that could be used to help the Rangers? Oh, sure, absolutely. But once again, it has to be a very Arctic-specific tech solution. And the Canadian forces obviously is looking beyond just relying on human surveillance and human presence. So we have high altitude drones. We have new sensor systems.

Once going back to the size, we need the ability to see far beyond just what a human can. However, you need that ability to be on the ground as well. So technology plays a very important role. The idea of having small, like the drones we're used to seeing that Ukraine is using like very small drones might not work in the Arctic very well. I had a Mavik 4. batteries died very quickly. So you have to have,

then also your communication, your radio, your GPS, all of these things have to have the Arctic in mind. My own camera equipment, you know, there's very, like, very constrained on what electronics can and can't do and how far you can push them.

Just to end here, Gavin, how do you understand the relationship between the Rangers and the idea of Arctic sovereignty after going on this patrol with them? That's a big question. A good question, too, because one of the things that I am incredibly proud about our country is this idea of nested sovereignty is we have sovereignty as Canada of our territory

that is politically recognized worldwide. But within that, we have First Nations sovereignty. We have Inuit land claim sovereignty. We have these ideas of sovereignty that exist within Canadian sovereignty. And being on the ground with, I believe, some of the bravest men and women I've ever witnessed. Many, if not most of them, were from communities like Gwichon communities in like Old Crow or Inuit communities or Dene communities. These are people who are simultaneously proud to be Gwichin, but also proud to be Canadian. And I think that that's something very unique.

and seeing it demonstrated where these rangers whose indigenous identity is perfectly in line with their Canadian identity and it's demonstrated through their participation of the Rangers is remarkable. And then on top of that, it's this idea that those complementary ideas of sovereignty play into Arctic security. Like, this is how we secure the Arctic. This is how we secure Canada's Arctic. It's not, you know, a tank in the Arctic isn't going to fix it, but a strong community. If Old Crow is a reliant, self-reliant community that has resources and infrastructure and, say, power generation and a paved runway and things like that, where, you know, that community represents more for Canadian security, Arctic security than, like I said, a tank will or an F-35. And when it comes to Arctic security, going back to that idea of it has to be a Canadian solution for a Canadian problem. and that that nested sovereignty idea is essential to that.

Gavin, thank you so much for coming on the show and telling me about this incredible patrol you did. Thank you for having me. That was Gavin John, a journalist who covers National Defense for the Globe. That's it for today. I'm Cheryl Sutherland. Cynthia Jimenez is our associate producer and intern. Ali Graham mixed this episode.

Our producers are, Madeline White, Rachel Levy McLaughlin, and Mikhail Stein. Our editor is David Crosby. Adrian Chung is our senior producer, and Angela Pichenza is our executive editor. Thanks so much for listening.