Canada Gears Up For Arctic Tensions With Russia

"Our purpose is to exert sovereignty, demonstrate sovereignty and security but also learn how to live off the land and learn more about the operating environment here in the North," Millar told CTV's Canada AM on Monday from Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Millar said the annual exercise is growing in importance because activity in the North is rapidly increasing.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson said Sunday the government views the recent actions of Russia in the Far North "with great concern."

"We've seen much increased activity in terms of Russian overflights of Canadian airspace. The Americans are seeing the same thing around Alaska," he told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

Emerson said the actions were helping drive the Conservatives' Arctic strategy.

In August 2007, a Russian icebreaker reached the North Pole. Two Russian mini-submarines went down to the seabed and planted a Russian flag there. Russian state television claimed at the time that the expedition would provide the scientific proof for Russia to lay claim to a huge expanse of Arctic seabed.

Emerson described the exercise as "what many thought was a somewhat silly flag-planting incident in Canada's Arctic."

Still, he said Canada is taking responsible steps towards protecting its sovereignty in the Arctic by:

• Strengthening its Armed Forces, Coast Guard and government services presence in the region
• Working on territorial disputes through the United Nations
• Mapping the seabed to support Canada's claim
• Working with allies like the United States on ways to secure the Arctic