Every year, the Canadian Armed Forces deploy soldiers to Canada's Arctic for a series of activities that are broadly called Operation NANOOK. One of the main reasons for doing this is to show that Canada is present and active in the area. And this is becoming increasingly more important to our country for at least two reasons.

One, climate change is making the area more accessible and navigable. So there's growing interest in it as a global shipping route. And two, the waters, specifically the Northwest Passage, are contested. Canada claims them as internal waterways, but many other countries continue to argue that the passage is an international strait.

This should not surprise anyone.

So I am of the strong opinion that this is a critically important operation for Canada. In fact, it's very possible that we're not doing nearly enough. The North can feel pretty far away from Middle Island in Lake Erie (which is the southernmost point of our country). And that's because it is. But it should never be out of mind.

If you're interested in this topic, I would encourage you to take a look at this photo essay by Gavin John, published in the Globe and Mail. Gavin takes incredible photos and you can find more of his work here and here.

Cover photo by Gavin John

I have never been to the Canadian Arctic, but it's something that is on my list and that I plan to do. And because of some random dinner conversation over the weekend, I have just added Eureka, Nunavut to my weather app so that I can keep tabs on what is the coldest place in Canada.

The average annual temperature is close to -20 degrees celsius, but as you can see from the above screenshot, it's a bit colder than that right now. I have it placed next to Rio de Janeiro in my app for dramatic effect.

First established in 1947, Eureka is a research community / weather station at 80°N with apparently no permanent population. Staff rotate through it with more people coming in the summer months. There is no sunlight between October and February.

It is the third northernmost settlement in the world after Alert (which is also in Nunavut on Ellesmere Island) and Nord in Greenland. But again, Eureka is on average the coldest.

The weather station was established in partnership with the United States. Prior to this, we had very little data from the north. But there was a general understanding that having it would be valuable for improving forecasting across the continent.

So on April 7, 1947, six people showed up on the shorelines of Eureka, built some temporary structures (apparently they were done in time for dinner), and started reporting weather data. Now that data is available on my phone whenever I want it.