CANSOFCOM in the Arctic – Exercising in pursuit of excellence
November 27, 2025 – Defence Stories
Estimated read time – 2:30
By Canadian Special Operations Forces Command Public Affairs
Caption
Members of CANSOFCOM drive a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) through Resolute Bay in Nunavut in August 2025.
Photo by CANSOFCOM Image Technician
The past years have presented the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) with both challenges and opportunities through a series of exercises in the icy waters and vast landscapes of the Arctic. These exercises, and our members who participated in them, are a testament to Canada’s enduring commitment to one of the most unforgiving environments on the planet, and a demonstration of our ability to work hand in hand with other elements of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), local communities, and international allies.
Each exercise presented complexities requiring collaborative efforts, reinforcing our capacity to operate effectively alongside other Canadian organizations, regional allies and partners, as well as NATO allies. Activities included the CAF’s Op LATITUDE and Op NANOOK, training in Resolute Bay, as well as NATO’s Nordic Response 2024, held in Norway. These activities demonstrated CANSOFCOM’s role in maintaining the intricate relationship of diplomacy and defence that defines international military cooperation in the Arctic.
Caption
Members of CANSOFCOM working with Canadian Rangers during an arctic patrol within northern Canada as part of Operation NANOOK NUNALIVUT, on March 4, 2025.
Photo by CANSOFCOM Image Technician
Local knowledge is essential to these operations. Working in partnership with Inuit and Northern Indigenous governments and communities, CANSOFCOM continues to have a routine presence in the Canadian Arctic and plays a critical role in fostering essential partnerships with them. Through the Canadian Rangers, the invaluable ancestral expertise of the Inuit, combined with CANSOFCOM’s effectiveness, military strategy is transformed into community-informed operations, providing the Government of Canada with a unique set of capabilities.
Our success in Arctic operations would not be possible without the respective expertise of the other elements of the CAF. Beyond the added physical hardship to northern operations, the challenges of logistics and operating equipment under extreme Arctic temperature fluctuations are daunting. The Arctic landscape exponentially amplifies the difficulty of securing food, fuel, and shelter. Equipment can falter in conditions that test even the most advanced technologies. This teamwork and these environmental conditions proved to be an excellent training opportunity for our new airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platform, the CE-145C Vigilance, and their crew, further enabling better detection, deterrence, and defence against threats to the Canadian Arctic region.
At the core of it all, our members consistently pushed their limits, meeting the challenges by engaging in land, air, and sea operations in often harsh environmental conditions while demonstrating great ability to work as a team with a growing number of partners at all levels. To operate successfully, safely, and regularly in the Arctic underscores the spirit, creativity, and resilience of CANSOFCOM, while highlighting a leading role in the defence of the sovereignty of Canada’s northern territories, setting the standard for operational excellence and interoperability. We look forward to next year’s challenges to further test and demonstrate our abilities and our agility; we will find a way.