Career Options
Skilled women find their rangePacking rifles and patrolling the nation's most remote reaches, these hardy women are on the front lines of protecting Canada's Arctic sovereignty. KATHLEEN HARRIS |
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 [ 2007-02-26 ] |
Canadian Rangers wave a Canadian flag and a Canadian Rangers flag as they celebrate their arrival at the Magnetic North Pole, Tuesday, Apr.16, 2002. (CP PHOTO/HO/Julian Tomlinson)
A growing number of women are breaking through traditional male ranks and signing up to become Canadian Rangers -- the "eyes and ears of the North."
Hunting, conducting search and rescues and carrying out sovereignty patrols can take them away from home for several days at a stretch.
Millie Hatogina, 47, packs a lot of strength and stamina into her 4-foot-11 frame. She has been hunting caribou and muskox for the last 30 years, and joined the Rangers in 2000 to put those skills to use.
"I enjoy going out on the land, so I thought maybe I should try it," she says.
Hatogina, who used her hair dryer to warm up her Skidoo in -44C weather yesterday morning, recalls a time when the Rangers were almost exclusively male.
That's beginning to change; of the 29 Rangers in Kugluktuk, seven are women.
Hatogina also works as a housekeeper, but must be prepared to dash out on short notice and be gone for days at a time if there's an emergency.
Shannon Case, 26, took time out from being a Ranger to care for her baby boy, and just returned to the job as her son nears his third birthday.
"I love going out on the land, learning new things, meeting up with friends," says Case, who enjoys learning the land through traditional ways, relying on Inukshuks and the constellation of stars, rather than modern-day equipment.
"I don't even know how to use a GPS," she says. "I look at the landscape to see where we are."
The women are among 19 Rangers conducting a two-week sovereignty operation with about 100 regular troops from Edmonton.
Mostly Inuit, the Rangers are teaching the soldiers from the South survival skills for extreme conditions in the far North.
Yesterday, 14 travelled to the site where they will set up camp today. After whiteout conditions the day before, the clouds dissipated to reveal a brilliant sun beaming through a crystal blue sky.
Ramona Tikpak, who began as a Junior Ranger and has been a regular Ranger for six years, will be part of the sovereignty exercise. She doesn't see any specific challenges to being a woman on the land.
"It's fun," she says.
Case agrees that gender is irrelevant when the Rangers rely on one another to do their job in the harsh environment and unforgiving climate.
"We're just one of the guys."
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