WHITEHORSE, YT – Over 450 members of the Canadian Armed Forces are in the Yukon and Northwest Territories for the next two weeks, taking part in Operation Nanook-Nunalivut 2025.
They’re joined by around 110 members of allied armed forces, including 70 members from the USAF National Guard New York 109th Airlift Wing, a 5 member dive team from the Belgian Navy, 25 participants from the International Cooperative Engagement Program for Polar Research, as well other participants from the armed forces of Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark.
The operation is part of the Canadian Forces annual High Arctic training. It’s designed to ensure the Forces’ operational readiness in the challenging environment of the High Arctic, with the added benefit of reasserting Canadian sovereignty along the way. It will also test co-operation and integration, as it will see all domains of the Canadian Forces working together alongside international partners, and Federal agencies, Indigenous governments and local organizations in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Training activities will be taking place in the Inuvik and Mackenzie River Delta area of the Northwest Territories, as well as near the community of Old Crow in the Yukon’s far North.
“This iteration of Operation NANOOK-NUNALIVUT is the biggest since the inception of Operation Nanook in 2007. The scope demonstrates the role and importance of the Canadian Armed Forces in operating in the Arctic with our Allies and partners. The personnel of Joint Task Force North and participants from the Defence Team, NATO Allies and partners to the operation are at the right place, at the right time, to take up the challenges at a time when several international countries are turning their attention to the Arctic.” -Brigadier-General Daniel Rivière, Commander, Joint Task Force (North)
The Operation’s name, ‘Nanook-Nunalivut’, incorporates the Inuktut term ‘Nunalivut’ which means ‘’Land that is ours’’.
