Princes William & Harry Become Honorary Rangers

Submitted by Mary Simon on Thu, 2009-11-12 01:00

On Tuesday morning, on behalf of Princes William and Harry, Prince Charles accepted the Canadian Rangers trademark red sweatshirts and caps from Prime Minister Harper as the two princes became Honourary Canadian Rangers.

The Canadian Rangers are largely composed of Aboriginal, part-time, reservists who make up Canada's military presence in the majority of Canada's Arctic and High Arctic communities. They were formally established as part of the Canadian Armed Forces on May 23rd, 1947, to conduct surveillance patrols, sovereighty patrols, and, in some cases, conduct inspections of North Warning System facilities.

The Inuit who make up the Canadian Rangers are in fact the eyes and ear of the Canadian military in the Arctic.

As I have mentioned many times before, Inuit have no issues supporting a Canadian military presence in the Arctic as part of our national Arctic sovereignty claims, but a military presence is only one part of that claim. Another, and in my opinion a far more significant, part is an Arctic that is home to healthy individuals and economically sustainable communities that stretches from sea to sea to sea, from the Beaufort Sea in the west to the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It is an Arctic that not only has settled, but are implementing land claims agreements in all four Inuit regions, Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunakput, and Nunatsiavut. And it is an Arctic where the Government of Canada and Inuit across the four land claims regions are engaged in building partnerships to address northern development, Arctic sovereignty, and the various social, economic, health, and education, issues faced by our people.

I would hope, that as parents of honourary Canadian Rangers, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will understand and support this position, and that their sons in their time will do so as well.