Addressing civilian infrastructure gaps is not a primary DND/CAF responsibility. Nevertheless, the historic role of the Royal Canadian Engineers in bridge building to help complete the Dempster Highway and in improving Arctic airfields (in parts of the NWT that now are part of Nunavut) also signals the potential for creative CAF training opportunities that contribute directly to addressing local infrastructure gaps in the territories.1
The CAF’s public description of Operation NANOOK places particular emphasis on its relationships with the “Indigenous communities” that form “the heart of Canada’s North,” a region which it works to strengthen “through collaborative and continuous discourse throughout the year.”2 Accordingly, Canada’s defence policy and the ANPF highlight the importance of relationship building and engagement between the CAF and northern Indigenous Peoples as the military leverages new capabilities to “support broader Government of Canada priorities.”3 Over the last decade, the CAF has strengthened community engagement during routine operations, exercises, and annual deployments to and in the North. Most importantly, its ongoing relationships with communities through the Canadian Rangers and the Junior Canadian Ranger program provide vital connections with local stakeholders and rightsholders.4 In committing the Defence team to enhance its Arctic capabilities, Strong, Secure, Engaged explains that the CAF will continue to “work to expand and deepen our extensive relationships with these communities.” This also invites new ways to “work with territorial governments and Indigenous communities to ensure [that] the North achieves its full potential both in terms of resource development and community capacity building.”5
To strengthen its “continuous and collaborative discourse” with Northerners and support the federal government’s ANPF objectives, the CAF might look for new models and approaches in the remote northern regions of two close allies: the United States and Australia. The Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) exercises carried out by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in Alaska and the long-standing Australian Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program (AACAP) offer examples of how the CAF might consider broadening its engagement with remote northern Indigenous communities. These relatively small but mutually-beneficial deployments directly contribute to community health, well-being, and resilience, while providing training experiences to a wide cross-section of military personnel.
The US DoD’s IRT initiatives aim to “produce mission-ready forces through military training opportunities that provide key services to underserved communities throughout the U.S.”6 Specific objectives include the provision of “hands-on, real-world training to improve readiness and survivability in contingency environments,” the cultivation of civil-military partnerships with a “culturally complex population,” and the development of innovative resource management by leveraging “military contributions and community resources to multiply value and cost savings for participants.”7 Projects begin with applications from federal, state, local, or tribal governments, non-profit entities, or community organizations asking for military assistance for projects and laying out what local support, funding, resources, and partners they can contribute. Applications must also certify that the military’s assistance is not “reasonably available” from a commercial entity or that the private sector “has agreed to the provision of such services by the Armed Forces.”8 Under the guidance of the Director, Civil-Military Training Policy, in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Integration, military services then choose projects based on current training needs and value.9 The military assistance provided under the IRT program generally includes health care delivery, infrastructure support (including runways, roads, bridges, buildings, marine installations), cybersecurity, youth training programs, and veterinary services.
IRT missions in Alaska provide soldiers with key training opportunities and experience in civil-military relations, joint service interoperability, engineering and construction skill-building, health care delivery, logistics, and transport. Personnel receive extensive, “real-world” training on the equipment they will use and practices that they will employ when deployed on operations abroad.10 Reports on Alaskan IRT missions often highlight their role in boosting morale and encouraging personnel retention. These projects also provide the chance to work with international partners, including CAF members and other Canadian health professionals.11 In short, these experiences improve deployment readiness: the ultimate objective of the IRT program.
In executing IRT projects for communities that lack the resources to carry them out on their own, military units are given the chance to practice essential skills, including the organization and execution of complex engineering and construction tasks, the establishment of effective health services in new and challenging environments, and the provision of logistical, transportation, and communications support.12 The majority of these projects also involve a high degree of joint service cooperation, allowing units to practice their interoperability in a wide variety of settings, often for extended periods.13 IRT initiatives usually demand a high degree of interagency, intergovernmental, and community coordination, and occasionally include multi-national partners, providing service members with experience “integrat[ing] as a joint and whole-of-society team to serve American citizens.”14 DoD highlights that these projects are designed to increase deployment readiness and foster civil-military relations, while “enhancing morale and contributing to military recruitment and retention.”15 During times when budget constraints cut into military training opportunities, IRT is a “win-win” practice that provides the military with skill-building and communities with essential services.16
Public policy scholar Peter Kikkert also suggests that the Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Programme (AACAP) in Australia might serve as a model to inspire the CAF to “leverage its capabilities to address the priority on infrastructure gaps while strengthening its relationships with Indigenous communities and fulfilling essential training and operational-readiness objectives.” In Australia, this military program helps to build critical infrastructure such as airfields, roads, and barge landings in communities. In so doing, the Australian Defence Force not only supports the construction of infrastructure and training, it also “builds cultural awareness and teaches community engagement and relationship-building skills that have proven useful on overseas deployments.”17
The Australian program has direct military training benefits, as well as community ones. A 2017 evaluation observed that, “through AACAP, the Australian Army aims to train and test selected capabilities against the themes of ‘population support’ and ‘Indigenous capacity building.’”18 The focus on community engagement and capacity building supports the Army’s Indigenous Strategy, which commits to a whole of government approach to building relationships and “contribute to the development of Indigenous communities.”19 Likewise, the program has become a key pillar of the Australian Defence Force’s Defence Reconciliation Action Plan, which calls for “building respectful relations with Indigenous people, communities and organisations” and “the development of a consistent Defence approach to building relationships” with these communities.20 AACAP also represents a military contribution to the Australian government’s Closing the Gap initiative aimed at improving Indigenous life expectancy and overall health, education, and employment outcomes.21 Contingent commander Major Henry Stimson highlighted this latter role when he explained that “from Army’s perspective AACAP is a mechanism for our own training benefit, but also it’s a great vehicle for us to support the nation by assisting in the ongoing development in these remote communities.”22
Although the CAF face significant personnel and resource constraints that limit its ability to take on new initiatives, the Alaskan IRT and Australian AACAP projects could inspire thinking about how Northern Canadian leaders might invite the Canadian military to deliver on pledges to enhance its ability to project and sustain forces in the Arctic, deepen partnerships, and improve readiness through activities that leave enduring, positive legacies for Northern communities. The operations conducted by our allies resonate with priorities articulated in the ANPF, particularly on closing infrastructure gaps and creating conditions so that “Canadian Arctic and northern Indigenous peoples are resilient and healthy.”23 The adoption of a training component could also contribute to capacity building and skill development. By expanding and deepening relationships to identify and prioritize projects, a deliberate DND/CAF initiative along these lines could generate new opportunities to support Northern communities and create exciting training opportunities.
--
Dr. Peter Kikkert is an Associate Professor in the Public Policy and Governance program at St. Francis Xavier University. His current research program focuses on how to strengthen search and rescue, disaster and emergency management capabilities, and community disaster resilience in rural, remote, and Northern communities. He is the academic lead for the Kitikmeot SAR Project, the Nunavut SAR Project, and the Nunavik Roundtable on SAR, and is a member of the Maximum Expected Time to Rescue research team. He has had the privilege to learn from and work with community responders and Elders on the land, ice, and waters of the Canadian North and Alaska.
Dr. P. Whitney Lackenbauer is Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Study of the Canadian North and Professor in the School for the Study of Canada at Trent University. He was Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories from 2014-2020 and was reappointed to this position from 2022-2025. He is also a Fellow with the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary History at the University of Toronto; the Arctic Institute of North America; the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary; and an adjunct professor with the Brian Mulroney Institute for Government at St. Francis Xavier University and the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience, School of Management, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Whitney specializes in Arctic security, sovereignty and governance issues, modern Canadian military and diplomatic history, and Indigenous-state relations. Whitney has (co-) written or (co-) edited more than sixty books and more than one hundred academic articles and chapters.
1 - This section is drawn from Peter Kikkert and P. Whitney Lackenbauer, “Civil-Military Operational Support to the ‘Heart of Canada’s North’: Looking to Alaska and the Australian North for Options?” Canadian Military Journal 21, no.4 (Autumn 2021): 26-39, https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2021/mdn-dnd/D12-8-21-4-eng.pdf, which contains more detail and specific case studies.
2 - DND, “Operation Nanook,” https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/operations/military-operations/current-operations/operation-nanook.html.
3 - DND, Strong, Secure, Engaged, 80; CIRNAC, “ANPF: Safety, Security, and Defence Chapter” (2019), https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1562939617400/1562939658000.
4 - DND, Strong, Secure, Engaged, 80.
5 - Chief of the Defence Staff, Initiating Directive for the Development of the CAF Arctic Campaign Plan, 21 August 2018, 3.
6 - Sgt. Melissa Martens, “Arctic Care 2018 Readiness Training Begins in Northwestern Alaska,” Department of Defense (DoD) News, 16 April 2018, https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/1494560/arctic-care-2018-readiness-training-event-begins-in-northwestern-alaska/.
7 - DoD, “Innovative Readiness Training: About,” https://irt.defense.gov/About/.
8 - IRT, “Community Application How-To Guide,” DoD, 27 November 2018, https://public.huddle.com/b/dvMpMn/index.html.
9 - DoD, “Innovative Readiness Training Brochure 2019,” https://irt.defense.gov/Portals/57/Documents/IRT_Brochure-20190603%20.pdf?ver=2019-12-17-140228-270.
10 - Brian Fraley, “Arctic Care 2017 Completed,” Kodiak Area Native Association, http://kodiakhealthcare.org/kana-news/arctic-care-2017-completed/.
11 - Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, “Arctic Care 2017,” https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/ArcticCare2017.
12 - IRT, “Innovative Readiness Training: Military Value,” DoD (2020), https://irt.defense.gov/Portals/57/Documents/Senior_DoD_Official_Value_Prop-2020.pdf.
13 - National Guard, “Innovative Readiness Training Fact Sheet,” https://www.nationalguard.mil/Portals/31/Resources/Fact%20Sheets/Innovative%20Readiness%20Training%20Fact%20Sheet%20(Dec.%202017).pdf.
14 - DoD, “IRT: About.”
15 - Lt. Cmdr. Elizabeth Zimmermann, “Training for Diversity,” The Naval Reservist 35, no. 9 (October 2009): 6, https://www.public.navy.mil/nrh/Publications/2009/TNROCT09.pdf.
16 - Tony Perry, “Marines Take Long, Hard Road in Alaska,” Los Angeles Times, 10 August 1998, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-aug-10-mn-11879-story.html.
17 - Peter Kikkert, “How creating an Armed Forces Indigenous community assistance program would pay off,” Policy Options, 31 March 2021, https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2021/how-creating-an-armed-forces-indigenous-community-assistance-program-would-pay-off/.
18 - DPM&C and Australian Army, AACAP 2017 Review.
19 - Australian Army, “Army Indigenous Supplement to the Defence Indigenous Handbook,” https://www.defence.gov.au/publications/docs/ArmyIndigenousSupplement.pdf
20 - DoD(Aust.), “Reconciliation Action Plan, 2015-2018,” Government of Australia, www.defence.gov.au/Diversity/_Master/docs/drap/DRAP.pdf.
21 - Serge DeSilva-Ranasinghe, “Indigenous Nation Building: The Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Programme,” Policy 30/4 (2014-15): 29-35.
22 - Serge DeSilva-Ranasinghe, “Up North with the Army: National Building with Indigenous Communities,” Policy 31/1 (2015): 51-54.
23 - Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, “Canada’s Arctic and Northern Policy Framework,” https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1560523306861/1560523330587