IQALUIT, NU. - Canadian soldiers, sailors and air crew have wrapped up their largest-ever Arctic exercise.
About 600 Canadian Forces personnel along with members of the Canadian Coast Guard and RCMP were involved in Operation Nanook around Baffin Island and the Hudson Strait.
Coming amid controversy over who owns what north of the Arctic Circle, the exercise was specifically designed to assert Canadian sovereignty in the region.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced last week that Canada will build a new army training centre and a deepwater port within contested Arctic waters _ part of an effort to bolster its claim to the fabled Northwest Passage.
The multimillion-dollar announcements happened to coincide a dramatic move by Russia to place a flag underneath the North Pole while claiming the area's resources as its own.
And Danish scientists are currently on the Arctic ice pack seeking evidence to position their country in the race to claim the potentially vast oil and other resources of the North Pole region.
