Work begins on new Canadian Rangers, JTFN facility in Yellowknife

A new Canadian Rangers headquarters is being built in Yellowknife’s Engle Business District with $136 million in federal funding.

The 9,200 square-metre building will also house “elements of Joint Task Force North,” Ottawa said in a news release, as well as offices, classrooms, a hall and “space for vehicle maintenance and warehouse storage.”

Formally, the project is catchily titled the National Defence Multipurpose Facility.

It was first announced in 2018, when the building contemplated was slightly smaller and the cost anticipated to come in under $100 million.

Originally expected to open this year, the building is now forecast to be complete by 2027.

Roughly 520 construction jobs will be created while the facility is built, the federal government said in a news release.

“Currently, some components of Joint Task Force North and 1 CRPG are distributed amongst several disconnected temporary sites in Yellowknife,” the federal government stated, using an abbreviation for the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group.

“This project will consolidate these units in one secure compound, providing the necessary space to support their current and future operations and enhance collaboration more efficiently.”

National defence minister Bill Blair and northern affairs minister Dan Vandal were due to appear at a groundbreaking ceremony at the site on Wednesday.

Blair said the building would be “a significant step toward a more robust military presence in the region,” following Canada’s recent announcement of a new defence policy geared toward defending the North.

Vandal said the finished facility will “provide the Canadian Rangers with better, more modern facilities to carry out their work.” Across the North there are 2,000 Canadian Rangers in 61 patrols, plus 1,400 Junior Canadian Rangers.

NWT Liberal MP Michael McLeod called the new building “good news for Canadian Armed Forces members deployed to Yellowknife, and for this entire territory.”

Yellowknife has been trying to quickly build housing to cope with a shortage. The idea of more than 500 jobs being created – at the same time as other major projects like Giant Mine’s remediation – means pressure on that system may well remain, even as new builds open.

On Wednesday, the federal government (which gave $8.4 million to Yellowknife this week to speed up timelines for new housing developments) insisted it was doing its part.

The military says it is assessing its property nationwide to find land or even buildings that can be repurposed for housing.

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