Top left and above: Birds-eye view of the Northwest Passage from the Louis S. St- Laurent’s helicopter.
Top right: New Canada Post stamp issue
for 2012, to honour the proud service history of the CCGS Louis S. St- Laurent.
Above right: The CCGS Terry Fox at Dundas Harbour, Devon Island, Nunavut, during Operation Lancaster (2006).
From June to November each year the Canadian Coast Guard’s Arctic Fleet is deployed for
service in the North. The ships embark on their route North from our east and west coasts and Quebec. In the main, the multi-faceted mission role of the fleet of seven icebreakers is to provide safe escort for commercial vessels, often through treacherous often uncharted waters and to deliver food, cargo and fuel to remote sites where commercial shipping services are not readily available. The CCG also lends invaluable and essential support services in the North as a primary partner in
maritime search and rescue operations and by maintaining necessary aids to navigation and safe- guarding the sovereignty and safety of our waterways through regular patrols. Even ashore, our Coast Guard serves as the eyes and ears of the waterways, through its Marine Communications and Traffic Services program. The Coast Guard also has Environmental Response equipment always at the ready, in strategic locations. Today’s Arctic Fleet includes seven helicopters, remotely operated underwater vehicles, and, most
importantly, highly trained professional mariners working an Arctic coastline that is more than double the size of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts combined. This vast area encompasses unique ecosystems and wildlife as well as severe weather patterns and variant conditions along the same coastline and stretches of sea. Coast Guard personnel work tirelessly to maintain the Arctic way of life while preserving and
protecting our northern coasts by providing key support to other government agencies and organi- zations for important scientific research and hydrographic charting of Arctic waterways. The role of the CCG is evolving as northerners must adapt to environment and weather changes, so too does the Coast Guard.
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arcticjournal.ca March/April 2012
© above&beyond/PIERRE DUNNIGAN (5)
© COURTESY CANADIAN COAST GUARD/FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA
© above&beyond/TOM KOELBEL
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