Inside the Canadian military’s training for sub-Arctic warfare

Objective Gravel is one of several scenarios unfolding as members of the Canadian Armed Forces conduct a sub-Arctic training exercise in and around Chisasibi in northern Quebec.

The crack of gunfire from soldiers positioned on a ridge overlooking the snow-covered sand quarry shatters the cold, signalling the start of the exercise.

With that cue, about 40 troops in white camouflage and snowshoes advance in formation, firing as they move.

At the far end of the quarry, seven soldiers, playing the role of the enemy, return fire.

Objective Gravel is one of several scenarios unfolding this week as approximately 175 members of the Canadian Armed Forces conduct a sub-Arctic training exercise in and around Chisasibi in northern Quebec. The Cree community is about 1,000 km north of Montreal on the eastern side of James Bay.

Over the course of the nine-day winter warfare exercise, temperatures have at times dropped into the -40s C.

“The downtime is when this weather can get dangerous,” says Lt. Patrick Langlois, a reservist with Montreal’s Black Watch regiment. “It’s when we stop — if the men get sweaty and it starts freezing on them, that’s when there’s the danger of hypothermia.”

Dubbed “Xerus Nordique”, the exercise is part of a broader effort to prepare for operations in harsh northern conditions — an increasingly critical mission as Canada seeks to assert sovereignty in the north.

Last year’s CAF policy update called defence of Canada’s Arctic and sub-Artic regions the “most urgent and important task” the military faces, as climate change reshapes both the geopolitical and physical landscape of the North.