A/Slt Kim Wachockier
MARPAC Public Affairs
Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) sailors from HMCS Nanaimo and members of the 4th Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (4CRPG) recently collaborated on a humanitarian training exercise.
Exercise (Ex) SEA RANGER 2025 successfully took place last month with both groups sailing, training, and engaging with communities in and around Haida Gwaii. With stops in Masset, Skidegate, and Prince Rupert, the seven-day-long exercise aimed to improve the Defence team’s capacity to support remote Canadian communities in times of natural disaster. While in Masset, the Nanaimo was opened for public ship tours. A reminder of what the Navy uniform and the military means to Canadians, the afternoon saw families, teenagers, and service workers forming a steady stream of locals eager to explore the inside of a RCN vessel.
4CRPG Rangers and select Nanaimo crew members also leveraged the opportunity to practice marksmanship, weapons handling, and compass navigation in Masset. The two groups also participated in a successful training exercise at Taaw Tildaawee National Park that saw teams practising unfamiliar terrain movement, casualty evacuations, and a variety of response procedures. The exercise provided Nanaimo sailors and 4CRPG Rangers alike with the opportunity to practise adaptability in the context of real exercises shaped by the region’s geography.
Following three days spent in Masset, HMCS Nanaimo departed toward Skidegate, where the vessel’s crew, 4CRPG Rangers, and Canadian Coast Guard visited a local heritage centre for a cultural presentation on traditional Haida canoe-building, history, art, and ceremony. A Skidegate community barbeque also united Ex SEA RANGER participants before the Nanaimo transported over thirty Rangers back to Prince Rupert.
Importantly, Ex SEA RANGER continues to show that Canada’s northern and coastal communities are more than training grounds. Rather, they are real communities full of life, culture, and history.
