Whitehorse Arctic-response exercise tests critical-infrastructure emergency

Canadian Armed Forces personnel and civilian partners completed a five-day emergency-response exercise in Whitehorse on October 23, testing how agencies would coordinate during a complex crisis affecting critical infrastructure and public safety.

Operation NANOOK-TATIGIIT ran from October 19 to 23. The scenario brought together the Armed Forces, Public Safety Canada, the RCMP, the Canadian Coast Guard, the Canadian Red Cross, Indigenous Services Canada, Yukon First Nations governments and communities, and territorial and municipal partners.

The Department of National Defence says the exercise focused on communications, coordination and decision-making during a simulated emergency in the North.

An exercise, not a real emergency

The event was a planned simulation and has concluded. The federal release did not report an actual threat to Whitehorse infrastructure or public safety.

Source: Department of National Defence release, published October 27, 2026.

Illustrative photo: Luke Moore / Unsplash License. The photo shows Whitehorse, Yukon, but does not depict the exercise. Cropped or resized by WordPress.