NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

Canadian Forces Station Inuvik:

Opened on 12 March 1961 as Naval Radio Station Inuvik, replacing the former NRS Aklavik. Located 123 miles north of the Arctic Circle, NRS Inuvik served as a communications research station, part of Canada’s National Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) organization.  Initially a tender of HMCS Gloucester near Ottawa, the station also served as a search and rescue centre for the northern region.

On 10 September 1963, the name of the station was changed to Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Inuvik.

As a result of the Unification, the station was re-named CFS Inuvik in 1966.

On 1 April 1970, Inuvik turned its transmitter site over to the Department of Transport for use as a Telecommunications station as a part of the station’s conversion to a micro-wave relay network station, which went active the following fall.

As a result of a modernization of communications, CFS Inuvik closed on 1 April 1986, despite the objections of the Town of Inuvik. The base had a compliment of 267 personnel and at that time was the largest military installation in the northern Canada. It was feared that the closure of the base would be devastating to the town and about 700 people did end up leaving the town.

In compensation, a Forward Operating Location was established at the Inuvik Airport, a pre-deployment staging ground for CF-18 fighter jets.

The remainder of the station property was turned over to Department of Transport.

Some of the former station’s buildings remain in use by the Town of Inuvik, including many of the PMQs.  The transmitter and receiver sites remain in use by the Department of Transportation.

Nothing remains of the operation site today, which was located at the end of Navy Road, north of Inuvik.

Source material: “Sentinel” Magazine from August 1974 & “Badges of the Canadian Navy” by LT (N) Graeme Arbuckle, Communications & Electronics Museum site – www.c-and-e-museum.org, Town of Inuvik web site – http://inuvik.ca/living-in-inuvik/community-profile/inuvik-history, Sentinel magazine, July-August 1970, Radio Communication and Signals Intelligence in the Royal Canadian Navy web site – http://jproc.ca/rrp/inuvik.html & Canada’s National Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) organization web site – http://www.tscm.com/cse.html.

Naval Radio Station Aklavik:

Opened in 1949 as a radio station in Canada’s National Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) organization. The station closed in March 1961 and personnel transferred to the new facility at NRS Inuvik. The property was turned over to the Department of Transport on 9 August 1961.

Nothing remains of the former station today.

Source Material: Canada’s national Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) organization web site – http://www.tscm.com/cse.html, Communications & Electronics Museum site – www.c-and-e-museum.org. & information supplied by the Aklavik Band Council.