The winter sun hasn’t yet risen above Inuvik’s jagged horizon of black spruce trees, but already, more than 150 nervous soldiers have gathered in a community recreation centre.

Tables clear of their breakfast and fingers fiddle with pens, a giddiness akin to the first day of school settles over the room.

Few have traveled this far north before, more than 200 kilometres above the Arctic Circle in Canada’s Northwest Territories. For some, the trip here marked the first time they had ever been on an airplane.

“You are here to be exposed to the Arctic environment,” Lt Col Darren Turner, the land taskforce commander, tells the group, which snaps to attention when he enters. “You are here to demonstrate our sovereignty and that we can protect and defend our territory from all threats.”