MacKay Announces Major Arctic Mission

New mission 'the largest operation that has taken place in recent history.'

During his last visit with Canadian combat troops in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced Saturday the armed forces are planning to send more than 1,000 troops on a huge exercise in the High Arctic next month. Exercise Nanook is "about enlarging the footprint and the permanent and seasonal presence we have in the North," MacKay said, and it will play out in several phases on and near Baffin Island and Ellesmere Island throughout August. The operation will involve CF-18 fighter jets, surveillance and transport aircraft, a warship, infantry companies from Quebec and Alberta, and the 5th Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, made up of Inuit reservists who have broad experience surviving in the Far North.