00:00These Canadian rangers are in Cambridge Bay in the Northern Territory of Nunavut as part of a 2,800-mile
00:07snowmobile patrol.
00:09Oh, it's a vast, quiet, beautiful, very windy.
00:15Traveling from the Yukon-Alaska border to Churchill, Manitoba as part of months-long military exercises designed to prepare for
00:23a foreign threat
00:24and to demonstrate Canada's ability to take care of itself.
00:28But that's a tall order.
00:30The political landscape has changed since U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated threats to make Canada an American state,
00:37take control of Greenland, and withdraw from NATO.
00:41More than 1,300 members of the Canadian Armed Forces took part in the exercises,
00:47braving blizzards and temperatures that dipped to negative 76 degrees Fahrenheit.
00:52It's the largest number of soldiers involved since the exercise began in 2007.
00:58Among them was Travis Haynes, a commanding officer of the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group,
01:03a special unit of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve.
01:07Speaking to Reuters while recovering from a frostbitten nose, Haynes said Canadians should feel reassured.
01:13There's people, Canadians up here, that are defending them all times of the day.
01:20And they're stretching their abilities across some of the most inhospitable terrain and climate that you can possibly imagine.
01:28And they thrive. Canadians thrive.
01:30Defending around 1.7 million square miles of Arctic territory is a big undertaking for any single country.
01:37And as Canadians rethink their reliance on their southern neighbour,
01:42Prime Minister Mark Carney has vowed to ensure that Canada can protect the Arctic without any outside help,
01:48and recently announced billions in spending to reinforce the military in the far north.
01:53We're taking full responsibility for defending our sovereignty.
01:57But interviews with nearly two dozen people, including Canadian military leaders, government ministers, diplomats and analysts,
02:05revealed that the deep ties between the Canadian and American militaries have not changed.
02:10And the challenges here remain formidable.
02:13Not only is it highly unlikely that Canada could be completely self-reliant,
02:18but the U.S. also depends on Canada for its own security.
02:22NATO members Canada and the U.S. have worked together for decades in the Arctic.
02:27A Canadian Coast Guard official told Reuters,
02:30Canadian icebreakers are regularly used to escort U.S. ships heading to the Arctic.
02:35And pointed out that Canada has the world's second biggest icebreaker fleet, after Russia.
02:40And there's NORAD, or the North American Aerospace Joint Command.
02:44It was formed in 1958 by Canada and the U.S.
02:48because neither country could independently respond to a threat by the Soviet Union.
02:52However, a former commander of the Canadian forces in the north said,
02:56Canada's north warning system is increasingly obsolete,
02:59and questioned if Canada would have the ability to independently respond if any serious threats were picked up.
03:05Despite increased tensions in the Arctic, eight military officials and academics told Reuters,
03:10they doubt that more armed forces will help.
03:13Instead, they pointed to the need for infrastructure like fuel storage and dining facilities.
03:19As the snowmobile patrol came to an end,
03:22Major Dan Riviere, commander of Canada's Joint Task Force North, called it a success.
03:27Still, he emphasized that Canada's military partnership with the U.S. is critical,
03:32saying Canadian and American soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder.
03:36I don't see any change, actually.
03:39It's a very good relationship, military to military, exchanging on military things.
03:48I really appreciate that relationship of trust with our military allies.
Comments