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“I didn’t realize until now what 8 Wing does in Alert and what Alert does for Canada…[this] is something very important and I appreciate the work that the folks do in here,” said John Williams, mayor of Quinte West, Ont.
Mayor Williams travelled to Canadian Forces Station Alert, Nunavut, with Colonel Russ Williams, commander of 8 Wing, Trenton, Ont., in mid-September.
“At the end of the day, when you are trying to communicate what it is that we do in Alert, it’s imperative that the civilian leadership understand as well so they can spread the word,” said Col. Williams. “It’s hard to spread the word when you haven’t seen it first-hand. When it comes to Alert, you have to see it to believe it.”
The Air Force took over responsibility for CFS Alert on April 1, 2009 and the station is now part of 8 Wing’s organization; the wing is located in Quinte West.
The visit coincided with the semi-annual replenishment mission – Operation Boxtop – that is supported by 8 Wing and 16 Wing Winnipeg. The operation ferries thousands of litres of fuel, tons of equipment and commodities as well as personnel from the south through Thule Air Force Base in Greenland to Alert.
It was 13-hour journey from Trenton in the back of a CC-130 Hercules, with stops in Iqaluit and Thule. Joining Mayor Williams and Col Williams were the Honorary Colonel of 8 Air Maintenance Squadron, Fern Villeneuve, and senior wing personnel.
Major Sylvain Giguère, station commanding officer, and MWO Darryl Foster took the visitors on a tour to see the operations that keep the 55-person outpost running – from the massive generators that heat and power the station to the sewage and water works plant.
They travelled to the Global Atmospheric Weather Observatory run by Environment Canada seven kilometres south of the station. The lab measures, among other things, important air pollution data in support of national and international climate studies on greenhouse gasses. They also visited memorials to those who lost their lives in air crashes at Alert during its almost 60-year history.
“I think it was pretty exciting,” said Mayor Williams. “The whole experience was something I’ll always remember.”
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