Junior Canadian Rangers - Good News Stories

We invite you to share with us any “Good News Stories” you might have concerning the Junior Canadian Ranger Programme and its members. To get you started thinking, we have included a few good news stories of our own.

Youth 2000 Jeunesse

Youth 2000 Jeunesse was literally a once-in-a millennium opportunity for sea, army and air cadets from across Canada to join with Junior Canadian Rangers for a week of fun and training.

More than 100 young Canadians joined together in a beautiful outdoor setting in Constance Lake (Hearst), Northern Ontario, to participate in a variety of activities. For many of the participants, this symposium offered their first introduction to the rich culture and traditions of the First Nations People. Traditional activities included sweat lodges, medicine teachings and a feast, as well as more contemporary topics such as drug and alcohol awareness, risk management and safety training.

Funding from the Government of Canada’s Millennium Bureau made this weeklong adventure possible.

Nunavik 2000 Expedition

On July 1st, 2000, a group of 80 young army cadets from across Canada and Junior Canadian Rangers from Quebec, set out on an extraordinary 500-km voyage by canoe down Leaf River in Nunavik, Northern Québec.

The group of young adventurers (aged 15-17) gathered in Longue Point (Montréal) for pre-training on June 27, 2000, before setting out on their much publicized expedition. The young Canadians started their gruelling 21-day canoe trip in Umiujaq (Minto Lake) and ended in Tasiujaq, and carried with them a token from the Governor of Ungava Bay to present to the Governor of Hudson’s Bay.

The Nunavik Expedition was not for weak or inexperienced outdoorsmen. The young adventurers covered between 20 and 60 kms a day, with about 20 portages between the start point and the finish line. They experienced at least one capsized canoe, one split and broken canoe, several wrecked paddles, millions of mosquitoes and black flies, and lots of rough water and high winds – meaning the group had to get out and walk along the shore, guiding their canoes by a rope.

The cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers also had to eat and prepare military rations and fresh fish caught along the way, erect their tents to sleep outside under the stars, and learn to overcome the various language barriers between the Francophones, Anglophones and Inuit.

In the end however, the young Canadians experienced a huge sense of satisfaction and pride in achieving their goal. By working together to accomplish this major expedition, the army cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers learned many valuable lessons such as the importance of leadership, self-discipline, self-reliance and taking initiative. They also proved that they could do what many thought was impossible – recreate the arduous conditions of their predecessors and survive.

Visit www.cadets.net/est for photos and personal accounts from Expedition Nunavik.

Operation Memoria

On May 28, 2000, six Junior Canadian Rangers and five Canadian Rangers came to Ottawa for a special commemoration service called Operation Memoria or the Repatriation of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

In honour of the millennium, the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces decided to exhume the remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier from the war fields in Vimy, France. Members of Canada’s military and veterans organization escorted the unidentified remains home to Ottawa where the body laid in state for several days in Canada’s Parliament. Thousands of ordinary Canadian citizens visited Parliament Hill to pay their respects while various members of the Canadian Forces kept a 24-hour vigil.

On May 28th, 2000, an official state funeral was conducted and the body of the Unknown Soldier was laid to rest in a permanent sarcophagus at the base of the Canadian War Memorial (cenotaph) in downtown Ottawa.

The Junior Canadian Rangers and Canadian Rangers assisted the public by directing them to prayer desks and to commemorative books where they could leave their comments. They also assisted with the veterans and disabled persons who attended the state funeral and ceremony. Smartly dressed in their uniforms, these youth and adult leaders were wonderful ambassadors to the south for the Canadian Rangers and JCR Programme.