As ambitious Arctic projects fade, Harper puts focus on Canadian Rangers
GJOA HAVEN, NUNAVUT — If politics can be reduced to a war of symbols, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s pilgrimage to this wind-blasted, wildflower-dusted rock and seascape has to be considered among the most brilliant moves of his recent career. Unless he fails to follow through.
Gjoa Haven, 2,000 kilometres north of Winnipeg, may be the most alien environment any southern-raised Canadian will ever encounter within this country’s borders. The landscape is hauntingly beautiful — a moonscape of variegated flora and bouncy tundra. The people who live here, the Nattilik Inuit, have done so since 2500 BC.
The Nattilik form the backbone of the Rangers, a mainly aboriginal force serving as a northern patrol for the Canadian Forces. Most still hunt and fish for a living. They are expert in first aid and rescue, navigation and survival. And they have become, this year, the latest instrument of the Harper government’s longstanding, often frustrated desire to cast itself as a champion of Arctic sovereignty, and inherit national imagery that used to be exclusive Liberal property.
Hence, the scenes of Harper and Defence Minister Rob Nicholson plinking with the Rangers’ personal weapon, the First World War-era .303 Lee Enfield; Harper, building an Inukshuk; Harper, trying to light a fire with flint. Wednesday, the prime minister was made an honorary Ranger — a gesture of gratitude, undoubtedly, for his government’s increasing their number to 5,000, from 4,000, since 2007. Harper spent Wednesday afternoon on the deck of the Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfrid Laurier, lending federal and personal support to the latest effort to locate the remains of the lost Franklin Expedition.
The beauty of what we may call the “Harper in the Barrens” strategy, is it has layers. Harper and his wife, Laureen, clearly relish being here. Their enjoyment is infectious. At the airport Tuesday evening, the prime minister was surrounded by a crowd of Inuit kids, and was still posing for photos half an hour later. In Gjoa Haven earlier Wednesday, he received a hero’s welcome at a community cultural display that featured square dancing, throat-singing, modelling of traditional clothing and a bear dance. It was a fine moment.
The backstory, though, is it has been eight years since Harper assumed power, with trips north every year, and many promises have been made. In the past, emphasis was placed on big-ticket items — ships, subs, icebreakers. The icebreaker, to be named the Diefenbaker, is unlikely to be afloat while Harper is in office. Arctic patrol ships are barely on the drawing board. A project to procure new search and rescue aircraft has been becalmed for a decade.
Another difficulty is Canada has no pressing need of an Arctic sovereignty project, beyond the symbolic. Notwithstanding continuing disagreement with the Danes over Hans Island and the Americans over parts of the Beaufort Sea, Ottawa’s claim to the Arctic Archipelago is undisputed. Even concern over the Northwest Passage, because of it becoming imminently navigable due to melting ice caps, has been overblown. Recent estimates suggest the archipelago will not be safely navigable before 2050, and perhaps not until the end of this century. It’s true the Americans claim these as international waters. They have since the 1970s. We have yet to come to blows over it.
All of which means it makes eminent sense now for the Harper government to train its efforts on the humble Rangers. And let’s face it: If anyone deserves more attention from Ottawa, it is the Inuit, whose encounters with Europeans, including Roald Amundsen, have brought them little but grief. When Amundsen landed this region had a thriving culture and economy, language, traditions and faith. Within a decade 10 per cent of the population had died of starvation. A few years after that the government began removing local children to residential schools.
The flip side of making promises, though — particularly if they do not cost billions and are therefore easily achievable — is they must be kept. This week Harper confirmed the Rangers’ old Enfields are overdue for replacement. These relics, it turns out, don’t jam in the cold and are good for hunting, unlike newer combat rifles.
Harper said the weapons would be replaced “over the next few years.” Wednesday the PMO said a new “ruggedized” 7.62mm bolt-action rifle would be procured, beginning in 2016.
A good bolt-action hunting rifle can be had at any Canadian Tire for under $1,000. Five-thousand reservists, if my math works, gets us to $5 million. If the Canadian Rangers are worthy of photo ops, are they not also worthy of a decent rifle? Well, yes. They are. Sooner than 2016, please.