In late September, members of 39 Combat Engineer Regiment (39 CER) found themselves in the northern part of Haida Gwaii in support of Canadian Forces Detachment (CFD) Masset, a remote communication site that supports Canadian Forces Station Leitrim in Ottawa.

A team of 88 members from 39 CER consisting of reservists from units all over B.C., were tasked with replacing an old bridge and making other infrastructure upgrades.

Exercise Haida Sapper was led by Lieutenant-Colonel Jim Julien, and took place from Sept. 23 to 28.

Along for the journey were a number of military units from across Western Canada, including 12 Field Ambulance, 39 Service Battalion and HMCS Discovery.

About CFD Masset

The arrival of the Sappers and other support trades to Masset was a bit of a throwback to when there was a much larger military presence on what were formally known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Established initially as a naval radio station in 1942, there were nearly 300 serving members located at CFD Masset as recently as 1997. Now there are only a handful of Canadian Armed Forces members serving in the local area. Nevertheless, the detachment is a strategically important base that provides signal intelligence to both the Canadian Forces Intelligence Branch and the Communications Security Establishment.

It is important to keep CFD Masset strategically viable and maintain the infrastructure in the area.

Given the geographical location of Masset, and the reduced military personnel on the island, it can be difficult to readily address infrastructure concerns. With the dire need to replace a bridge on one of the main service roads of the detachment, and the necessity of a boardwalk in another site, the request was made for outside support.

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