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Forest Fires, floods, pandemics and so much more - the Canadian Rangers can be relied upon to help Canadians during their times of need.
This podcast is for and about soldiers of the Canadian Army.
Its primary goal is to provide them with useful information through thoughtful and open discussions that reflect their mutual interests and concerns.
Though soldiers are our primary audience, the topics covered on this podcast should be relevant to anyone who supports our soldiers or who has an interest in Canadian military matters.
[Fast paced music plays]
Brigadier-General Nic Stanton: Literally, on a daily basis, the Canadian Rangers will be called out to support a domestic operation—whether it be a forest fire, ground search and rescue, or flood, or something of that nature.
Capt Adam Orton: Hi! I’m Captain Adam Orton with the Canadian Army Podcast. The Canadian Rangers are an important part of the Army Reserve. They play a big role in domestic operations, search and rescue, survival training—the list goes on and on. This year marks their 75th anniversary and we’re going to talk about where they’ve been, where they are now, and what role they play as part of the Canadian Army Team. Making a second appearance on our podcast is Brigadier-General Nic Stanton, Director General Army Reserve. And we’re going to talk about everything Canadian Rangers. Welcome back to the show, sir.
[Music ends]
BGen Stanton: Hey, Adam, great and grateful to be back with you today.
Capt Orton: So, this time, we’re talking about the Rangers. What do the Canadian Rangers do that nobody else can do in the Army?
BGen Stanton: Well, very interesting question. And something that we’re doing a lot is educating people about our Canadian Rangers. So, the Rangers are the Canadian Armed Forces presence in those isolated, remote, and coastal areas of Canada. They are literally the footprint of the CAF—of the Canadian Armed Forces—in those areas, in those remote communities, and they are lightly equipped and self-sufficient mobile forces in support of CAF domestic operations and in support of CAF training in those remote and isolated areas.
Capt Orton: So, what kind of domestic operations have they done recently?
BGen Stanton: So, recently, the Rangers have done a lot, particularly in support of the pandemic, the operations out there—whether it’s supporting communities with delivery of vaccines, or wellness checks. That type of thing in the communities. In addition to that, domestic operations, like forest fires in BC, or flooding—that type of thing. They’ll come out and help support the CAF during those operations.
Capt Orton: So, sir, can you give me a scenario in which the Rangers are on the ground doing something? Can you kind of describe what that looks like?
BGen Stanton: Most certainly! Literally, on a daily basis, Canadian Rangers will be called out to support a domestic operation. For example, a ground search and rescue in a community—in an isolated or northern community maybe—if somebody has gone missing. It could be a child, it could be a hunter, the local authorities will call upon the Canadian Armed Forces to provide some support. And that normally arrives in the form of a Canadian Ranger who has the localized knowledge of the area to go out there and support a ground search and rescue. For example, to go out and help find somebody and provide that patrol from that community. Could be upwards of eight people on there, whether it’s ATVs, or boats, or Ski-Doos—to go out and support that local operation to go and find somebody.
Capt Adam Orton: So the Operations Officer puts out the call or something and says: “Hey, we need you to go out and go to this community because something's happening.” They hop on their Ski-Doos or their ATVs, or whatever, and then out they go. They get on the ground, they talk to the people that are there, start assembling, and if required, other assets come into place, and kind of link in with them.
BGen Stanton: Yeah, they provide that extra flexibility for the First Responders to go out and do something. Similarly, during a big alert domestic operation—let’s say a forest fire, when we send our immediate response unit in to support once the CAD or the Canadian Armed forces has actually had a request for support. The Canadian Rangers, they live in the communities; they have the local knowledge. So when we send an Army Reconnaissance Party in to do the assessment, they can link up with the Canadian Ranger there who has the knowledge of the area, and also, really important, has the knowledge of the people there and the leadership and has their foot on the ground already to establish the relationships and that when we go into support somebody—whether it be a forest fire or flood or something of that nature.
Capt Orton: As we’ve talked about the concept of the Rangers, I’m always picturing like Lord of the Rings—you know, the Rangers and, and that’s their thing. Right? Is they have knowledge of the terrain, they have knowledge of the community, they’re like: “Don’t go there because of this; go here because of this. These are the paths. These are the safe paths; these are not safe paths.” So I assume that translates pretty well to their day-to-day function.
BGen Stanton: I would suggest that’s exactly it. They have the localized knowledge there and they have that foot on the ground. They’re able to support the Canadian Army or Canadian Armed Forces personnel that are coming in to support during a domestic operation. Similarly, during training, let’s say it’s the Arctic Operations Course—that they have the local knowledge in the North. When we send the course up there for the training in the actual environment. We have people there that live there and can provide that local knowledge and support.
Capt Orton: “This is safe to eat. This is how you build a shelter. Don’t go on that ice because you’ll fall through and drown.” All that kind of useful knowledge.
BGen Stanton: Which is common sense to a local person, but maybe not so common for one of us that are coming in from the South.
Capt Orton: If I can talk about TV shows that I’ve watched, The Terror—and it talks about the Franklin Expedition, which is a group of British explorers that was exploring for the northwest passage in the mid 1800s. Anyways, these ships got trapped in the ice—one of them being called the Terror, obviously. And the ships themselves disappeared. And the expedition also kind of disappeared through that time. And they did a lot of work to try and find it. And apparently, an actual Canadian Ranger member had brought back a story of having located one of the ships, The Terror, and that assisted in the discovery of it—which was, I think, relatively recent over the past couple of years.
BGen Stanton: Yeah, I believe actually, it was a few years ago, around 2017, or whether the search for the ship was actually ongoing. And when they engaged with the local Rangers, who lived in the area, said, oh, yeah, that’s over there right. He actually knew the area. They just asked the local people where it was. And, interestingly enough, that year, I was in London, and the display at the Maritime Museum was based on that expedition. And they had brought the Rangers over, who actually knew and located where the final resting place of the ship was.
Capt Orton: That’s the benefit, really.
BGen Stanton: Right there.
Capt Orton: Is to have these people who know the area. Especially with a strong tradition in oral history, for many of those areas. They hold a lot of that knowledge.
BGen Stanton: Very much so. And that’s the localized knowledge. So that when the CAF comes in, whoever it may be. And if it’s the Army, units go in there. You have somebody on the ground that can be that guide, and know the connections, the local community. And many Rangers are leaders in those local communities. They could be the fire chief, the mayor, the manager of the local supermarket, whatever it may be. Or, in Indigenous communities, they could be the local chief or band council member, or something like that.
Capt Orton: What kind of training does the Rangers get in order to be able to support activities that are happening in their areas?
BGen Stanton: Well, in actual fact, Rangers are considered trained upon enrollment. There is no formal training for the Canadian Rangers—which is both a strength and a limitation. There is some optional training provided for them. For instance, as a seven-day basic Ranger course, which basically introduces them to the Canadian Armed Forces. And then there’s a short leadership course of about seven or eight days also, which provides that additional how to administer your patrol out there. But Rangers are considered trained upon enrollment with the skills they bring to the Canadian Armed Forces for that time.
Capt Orton: Can you break down maybe how big they are, what kind of communities they serve? Can you talk about the demographics a little bit?
BGen Stanton: So, across the board, we have approximately 5000 Canadian Rangers in total, in nearly 200 communities across our country. And everything from the coastlines to the North to the interior of Canada. And they’re broken into five Ranger Patrol Groups, with a Ranger Patrol Group per division—with the exception of the 3rd Division, which has 1st and 4th Canadian Ranger Patrol Groups. And each patrol group is about anywhere between 1000 to 1200 Rangers within the patrol group itself. And, one of the misconceptions is that Rangers are all Indigenous. That’s not correct—only 23 percent of our Canadian Ranger self-identify as Indigenous out there. Although observations, we certainly have a great number of Indigenous people as part of the Canadian Rangers. But the Rangers represent the diversity of the community they live in.
Capt Orton: It’s funny you say that because my cousin is actually a Master Corporal with the Rangers up in BC. So, cousin Ken, if you’re listening…
BGen Stanton: See! And it’s funny, the number of connections people have to the Canadian Rangers. As you have your cousin there. Our Governor General’s father was a Canadian Ranger. So there’s connections at all levels throughout. Everybody knows a Canadian Ranger from a community or somebody that’s retired to the community and becomes a Canadian Ranger.
Capt Orton: So, you talk about the different pieces and the various CRPGs—the Canadian Ranger Patrol Groups. How do we get all that to work together? It covers quite a large amount of space and all these different organizations. There must be challenges within interoperability. How do we make it all work?
BGen Stanton: Well, the Canadian Rangers are fully integrated as part of the Canadian Army team. So along with our full-time and part-time components are civilians and the Canadian Rangers, they’re integrated with the chain of command. So the Canadian Ranger Patrol Groups, their headquarters, report to each of the Canadian Divisions out there. So, the Army force generates the Ranger capability. And then the Canadian Joint Operations Command force actually employs it. So if they’re called out on a ground search and rescue mission, they’re actually employed by CJOC at that time and the Divisional Joint Task Force.
Capt Adam Orton: Why do the Rangers fall under the Reserves?
BGen Stanton: Well, they are Reservists. Right? They are a unique part of the Reserves. Because they’re part of the Army Reserve, but their terms of service are completely different. They are not restricted by the Universality of Service that does not apply to Canadian Rangers. They are a part-time component—just a unique part time component as Reservists.
Capt Orton: So, military units take their military history pretty seriously. What do the Rangers have for a history. Like, what’s their backstory?
BGen Stanton: So, they have a very interesting history actually. Starting in 1942 with the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers, which was a Force to protect our West Coast during World War II with the threat of a possible invasion there. In 1945, they were stood down as a force. But then in 1947, with the threats during the Cold War, there was a need for that remote northern area to have some presence there. So the Canadian Rangers just stood up in 1947. And to this day now, now 75 years, in 2022, now being the year of the Ranger, we’re celebrating their service to Canada and the 75th anniversary.
Capt Orton: Usually, units celebrate that kind of anniversary with some type of pomp and circumstance. What kind of things are we doing for the Rangers’ 75th?
BGen Stanton: Well, Adam, there’s a lot going on this year to celebrate and recognize our Canadian Rangers. There’s some national level activities—we’ll see Rangers carrying the colours at Hockey Night in Canada. They will be doing sentry duty at the War Memorial, and looking at some marksmanship competitions that are also occurring across there. And, the Canada Army Run this year is Canadian Ranger themed. So for our run this year, it was pretty excited about that. In addition to that, in Victoria, we are going to have a Canadian Ranger Rendez-Vous where Rangers will come together from all the patrol groups and practise some tasks together. And then we’re going to have a formal parade within the Government House in Victoria where the Governor General will be the reviewing officer. There’s a whole pile of regional level activities, whether it’s the Borden Airshow, Whitehorse museum exhibit, and also we’re looking to bring back and revitalize the Canadian Ranger Corps. So, bringing back their accoutrements for their uniforms, the appointment of a court director and Sergeant Major, their march-past, their patrol flags and pennants. All of that is coming back this year to recognize the Canadian Rangers as a corps within the Canadian Army. And to also recognize the 75th anniversary through a whole series of events—both national and regional.
Capt Orton: When you say bring back the Canadian Ranger Corps—so it was a corps before and then it wasn’t, now it is again. Or how does that work?
BGen Stanton: They were established as a corps in 1947. But over the years, the corps status has somewhat faded. So we’re looking to revitalize that this year and bring back a lot of what they should have as accoutrements on their uniforms—specifically for the Canadian Ranger Patrol Group headquarters—the full-time staff there. A special patch this year; a Canadian Ranger 75th patch is being produced to be worn by our Canadian Rangers. 75th anniversary coins are being produced. There’s all kinds of good stuff going on this year to recognize this year.
And an important part of this also is we will look at the year of the Ranger from the 1st of April of 2022 to the 31st of March 2023, which leads into the Junior Canadian Ranger 25th anniversary next year. So we’re tying it all together. Because the Junior Canadian Ranger Program, which is executed by and conducted by the Canadian Army through our Canadian Rangers, is an important part of that Ranger family and the future of our Canadian Rangers.
Capt Orton: So, Junior Canadian Rangers is kind of like cadets—but for Rangers?
BGen Stanton: Sort of—yes. A bit of a different focus there, but it’s for the youth within those communities and within Canadian Rangers Patrol Groups. So it’s cadet-like, to put it in very simple terms, but the focus is a bit more different. It’s more about the community and the skill sets within those communities.
Capt Orton: What kind of activities do they do?
BGen Stanton: Part of the skill sets is learning the traditions of their community, if it’s an Indigenous community through there. And survival skills, things like that within there. So they have their learning circles, the Junior Canadian Rangers, and they’re supported by the Ranger Patrol Groups within those communities.
Capt Orton: We talked about marksmanship. And I think it's worth noting also that the Canadian Rangers recently received some new equipment. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? The new rifle?
BGen Stanton: Actually, in the past couple of years here, they’ve been refitted—traditionally carried the old Lee Enfield .303 rifle. And in the past couple of years, we’ve actually been refitted with the C19 specific Ranger rifle, which is a bolt action rifle there. And having fired both of them, and one day I fired the old early Enfield 303, which you really have to work at. The new C19, which is a .308 calibre rifle, is pretty impressive. My grouping made me look like a good shot. I was quite impressed with them.
Capt Orton: They say a poor cook blames their tools, but it seems like you got it down then.
BGen Stanton: I got it down with a new and better rifle. I became quite a good shot.
Capt Orton: Is there anything else that’s happening in terms of modernization? So we got new equipment in terms of weaponry. What else is happening with that?
BGen Stanton: So, if we can reach back into our previous conversations, when we did the Podcast on Soldier Readiness Policy for the Reserves, talking about the Canadian Army Modernization Strategy—a line item within there, and within my responsibilities are the Canadian Rangers. And we’re currently going through a process called Canadian Ranger Enhancement where we’re looking at updating the role, mission, and tasks of our Canadian Rangers—in addition to looking at the policies. Because many of the policies, they deal with Reserves in general and in some specific to the Canadian Rangers are very much in the last century. We need to modernize those. So the modernization effort with our Rangers to support them and administer them, and ensure that they are enabled to do the job when they’re called out to do so is an ongoing effort right now.
Another big piece is, we’re standing up in this past year, the Director of Canadian Rangers. So an actual directorate in Canadian Army headquarters to look after all aspects of the Canadian Rangers and help facilitate—whether it’s a G1 human resources issue or an operations issue with our G3, that facilitation, that coordination of effort, Army Headquarters—which is really bringing to light a lot of our Canadian Ranger issues, but also the successes out there we’re able to highlight too.
Capt Orton: Well, thank you have to be able to understand the issues in order to improve things. And I think as an organization, we try really hard to try and go through that process of identifying issues, resolving them, and then going through that cycle. So that seems worthwhile.
BGen Stanton: Very much so. We have people dedicated to looking at it and helping to enable and support our Canadian Rangers.
Capt Orton: Do you have any other stories you’d like to share about maybe your experiences with the Rangers?
BGen Stanton: Well, prior to the pandemic, I actually got out on the ground with some Rangers in northern Ontario. And I spent a couple of days out there on a sled. They gave me a sled and trained me on how to use it, and I went out and spent a couple of days out in the bush. And it was fantastic. Great, great people. Really interested to have somebody come and visit and show off some skills and in their navigation and how they lived in the wintertime, and that type of thing and emphasize that need for that local knowledge. I was four hours north of Thunder Bay, places I’d never been before. But thankfully, I was with the Canadian Rangers who knew every trail and every track, and told the local stories there. And we’re pretty enthused. And even though I’m from Calgary, and they were Toronto fans, we still had a good talk about hockey and all the things you would expect to talk about on a late night in a tent with a fire.
Capt Orton: Yeah, that’s right. The unifying theme across provinces.
BGen Stanton: Most definitely.
Capt Orton: So, you used standard—for those who maybe don’t know, we have the standard Army Arctic tent—is that the equipment they use, or they had different kinds of tents?
BGen Stanton: Actually, they had some prospector-type tent.
Capt Orton: Oh, yeah?
BGen Stanton: With a Yukon stove in it. And, yeah, it was very different from my Arctic camping winter indoctrination experiences. But still, similarly, how you live there and how you survive out in the North in wintertime.
Capt Orton: So, typically, for those that might not know, we use these Coleman stoves to heat tents and cook our food and keep ourselves warm. And, the Yukon stoves are legendary in terms of their effectiveness for heat. And it seems like a lot of the Rangers kit—it’s not fancy, but it works really well. And Yukon stove is one of those things just like the Lee Enfield, you know, maybe an older model, but still checks out.
BGen Stanton: Well, it’s effective. And it’s tried and tested in those conditions out there so when people know how to live in those conditions. And also, key to all this is also our Canadian Rangers patrol group headquarters and what they provide as support. But one of the critical parts to the whole Ranger program is the Ranger instructor. So these are the full-time both Regular Force or Reservists on full time service that provide the edge to the training officer, the training NCO, and all of that to the patrols. And they are out there supporting them, administering them, teaching sometimes, learning sometimes, but are out on the ground, looking after and enabling our Canadian Rangers on a daily basis.
Capt Orton: So that’s the kind of where the rubber meets the road in between kind of the Rangers and their integration in the community and the military piece that connects through to them to provide them with maybe training or support of some sort.
BGen Stanton: Yeah, they’re the interface with the military there. And it’s normally a sergeant or a warrant officer that is out there on the road for a good part of the year, enabling us to support our Canadian Rangers.
Capt Orton: Is there anything else you’d like to add, sir?
BGen Stanton: Well, if people out there have an opportunity and see some of the advertising we’re pushing out—whether it’s the podcasts or that for the Canadian Ranger 75th—if you had an opportunity to attend one of the events, or go along, please do so please engage in that and ask questions and learn more about the Canadian Rangers. We have an opportunity this year to highlight our Rangers, to understand what they do, and how they contribute to the One Army team and to the greater CAF. So, please take an interest in our Canadian Rangers this year, and what we'’e doing with them going into the future.
Capt Orton: Those are the people in our communities helping us out.
BGen Stanton: Exactly. And they’re part of the team. They’re a unique part of our Canadian Army team that we're very proud of. And proud to have them working with us.
[Music starts]
Capt Orton: Well, thanks very much sir for, again, coming on the podcast.
BGen Stanton: Anytime, Adam. I quite enjoy coming to sit down and talking to you.
Capt Orton: All right. Well, that was Brigadier-General Nic Stanton, Director General Army Reserve back on the podcast for his second kick at the can. If you want to know more about the Canadian Rangers, take a look at the show notes. There’s a link in there and you'll find out all sorts of great information about them.
As usual, I am Captain Adam Orton for the Canadian Army Podcast. Orton out.
[Music ends]