CENTRE FOR MILITARY AND STRATEGIC STUDIES Calgary Papers in Military and Strategic Studies Occasional Paper Number 4, 2011 Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security: Historical Perspectives Edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer Calgary Papers in Military and Strategic Studies ISSN 1911-799X Editor DR. JOHN FERRIS Managing Editor: Nancy Pearson Mackie Cover: The Mobile Striking Force, an airportable and airborne brigade group designed as a quick reaction force for northern operations, was an inexpensive solution to the question of how Canada could deal with an enemy lodgement in the Arctic. During training exercises, army personnel from southern Canada learned how to survive and operate in the north. In this image, taken during Exercise Bulldog II in 1954, Inuk Ranger TooToo from Churchill, Manitoba relays information to army personnel in a Penguin. DND photo PC-7066. Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security: Historical Perspectives Occasional Paper Number 4, 2011 ISBN 978-1-55238-560-9 Centre for Military and Strategic Studies MacKimmie Library Tower 701 University of Calgary 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 Tel: 403.220.4030 / Fax: 403.282.0594 www.cmss.ucalgary.ca / [email protected] Copyright © Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, 2011 Permission policies are outlined on our website: http://cmss.ucalgary.ca/publications/calgarypapers Calgary Papers in Military and Strategic Studies Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security Historical Perspectives Edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer Contents Introduction p. whitney lackenbauer ..........................................................................1 Gateway to Invasion or the Curse of Geography? The Canadian Arctic and the Question of Security, 1939-1999 bernd horn..............................................................................................23 “The Army of Occupation”: Americans in the Canadian Northwest during World War II ken coates and bill morrison .............................................................55 1946: The Year Canada Chose Its Path in the Arctic peter kikkert ..........................................................................................69 “Advertising for Prestige”: Publicity in Canada-US Arctic Defence Cooperation, 1946-48 david j. bercuson .................................................................................. 111 Arctic Focus: The Royal Canadian Navy in Arctic Waters, 1946-1949 elizabeth b. elliot-meisel ...................................................................121 Clenched in the JAWS of America? Canadian Sovereignty and the Joint Arctic Weather Stations, 1946-1972 daniel heidt ..........................................................................................145 A Practicable Project: Canada, the United States, and the Construction of the DEW Line alexander herd ....................................................................................171 i The Military and Nation Building in the Arctic, 1945-1964 k.c. eyre ..................................................................................................201 Claiming the Frozen Seas: The Evolution of Canadian Policy in Arctic Waters adam lajeunesse ...................................................................................233 The Manhattan Incident Forty Years On: Re-assessing the Canadian Response matthew willis ....................................................................................259 Building on “Shifting Sands”: The Canadian Armed Forces, Sovereignty, and the Arctic, 1968-1972 p. whitney lackenbauer and peter kikkert .....................................283 Polar Vision or Tunnel Vision: The Making of Canadian Arctic Waters Policy rob huebert ...........................................................................................309 Canada’s Northern Defenders: Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Rangers, 1947-2005 p. whitney lackenbauer ......................................................................345 Climate Change and Canadian Sovereignty in the Northwest Passage rob huebert ...........................................................................................383 Pathetic Fallacy: That Canada’s Arctic Sovereignty is on Thinning Ice franklyn griffiths ..............................................................................401 Conclusions: “Use It or Lose It,” History, and the Fourth Surge p. whitney lackenbauer ......................................................................423 Further Reading ...................................................................................437 ii Calgary Papers in Military and Strategic Studies, Occasional Paper No. 4, 2011 Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security: Historical Perspectives Pages 345–381 Canada’s Northern Defenders: Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Rangers, 1947-2005 P. Whitney Lackenbauer he Centre of Gravity for [Canadian Forces Northern Area (CFNA)] is our positive relationship with the aboriginal peoples “Tof the North,” CFNA commander Kevin McLeod highlighted in 2003. “Deploying out on the land, conducting patrols, training and sup- porting the youth … and being involved in the local communities, are why we are here, and this must not be forgotten.”1 It is a daunting task, given that the CFNA’s mission is to defend the Canadian Territorial North: the 3.8 million square kilometres represent forty percent of Canada’s land mass and comprise one of the largest areas of military responsibility in the world. Northern Area encompasses five topographical regions – from the desolate peaks of the high Arctic and the desert-like terrain of the Arctic lowlands, to the forested mountains of the Western Cordillera – and is home to a cultur- ally and linguistically diverse population totalling less than 100,000 people. For decades, this geographical breadth and demographic diversity has per- plexed defence policy-makers who have in turn often chosen to simply ig- nore the region. To be Arctic-capable and Arctic-tough, the Canadian Forces (CF) must be “credible, professional and capable of conducting operations in the North.”2 Given that the vast majority of Canadians live south of the treeline and are unfamiliar with their country’s northern inheritance, these capabilities are dependent upon relationships with northern residents and, in particular, indigenous peoples. Part of CFNA’s mandate to reinforce Canadian sovereignty is fulfilled through the Canadian Rangers. This unique force is designed to serve as the “eyes and ears” of the armed forces in isolated, northern and coastal regions of the country which cannot be practically or economically covered by other elements of the CF. Created in 1947, the Rangers survived a course of waxing and waning interest over the ensuing four decades. During the last 20 years, however, the Rangers have become an entrenched component of the mil- itary’s northern strategy and have elicited significant media attention. There are currently (2007) 4,000 Rangers in 168 patrols across the country and 1,500 © Centre for Military and Strategic Studies http://cmss.ucalgary.ca/ 345 CANADA’S NORTHERN DEFENDERS Rangers in 58 patrols fall under the administrative control of 1 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (1 CRPG) headquartered in Yellowknife. Their unortho- dox military approach in northern communities represents military accom- modation and acceptance of cultural diversity in a practical form. Through the Canadian Rangers, the CF encourages indigenous practices, while pro- moting the participation and leadership of Aboriginal community members in defence activities. Military training and operations allow the Rangers to exercise their unique skills and increase the collective capabilities of their patrols. Based on extensive archival research and a series of interviews con- ducted with 1 CRPG personnel from 2000 to 2004, this chapter assesses military-indigenous relationships in the Canadian Arctic since the late 1940s. Recognizing that the standard approach used to train and exercise Regular and Reserve Force units would not work in northern communities, the mil- itary has developed a flexible, culturally-aware approach that intertwines differentiation, accommodation and acceptance. Ranger instructors who are willing to acclimatize and adapt to the ways and needs of diverse northern communities learn to teach and build trust relationships with patrols in an adaptive manner that transcends cultural, linguistic and generational lines. In turn, the Rangers serve to strengthen northern indigenous communities by encouraging traditional land- and sea-based activities and local capacity- building. By extension, the Rangers’ positive role in northern life means that military training supports the health and sustainability of their communities and cultures. Theoretical and Conceptual Considerations There are few images more captivating to the southern Canadian im- agination than the lone Inuk hunter, crossing the sea ice by snow machine, heading to an historic hunting ground. As Franklyn Griffiths reminds us, the “arctic sublime” continues to haunt the national psyche.3 Viljalmur Stefansson painted a portrait of the “friendly arctic” filled with untapped riches, but most southerners saw their distant inheritance of ice and snow (they always thought of it in winter) as forbidden and dangerous. As a re- sult, benign indifference marked the federal government’s approach to northern policy (including sovereignty and security issues) through most of the 20th century. Furthermore, until recently, northern indigenous