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The Canadian Rangers

A Living History

by (author) P. Whitney Lackenbauer

Publisher
UBC Press
Initial publish date
May 2013
Subjects
Canada, Native American, Security (National & International)
Categories
About Northwest Territories , About Yukon , About indigenous people or experiences
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780774824552
    Publish Date
    May 2013
    List Price
    $34.95

Library Ordering Options

Description

The Canadian Rangers stand sentinel in the farthest reaches of our country. For more than six decades, this dedicated group of citizen-soldiers has quietly served as Canada’s eyes, ears, and voice in isolated coastal and northern communities from coast to coast to coast.

 

How does this minimally trained and lightly equipped force make a meaningful contribution to national defence and to building sustainable communities? One of Canada’s leading experts on northern issues answers this question using official records, extensive interviews, and on-the-ground participation in Ranger exercises. In this meticulously researched history, Lackenbauer reveals why the Rangers have evolved into a flexible, inexpensive, and culturally inclusive way to promote sovereignty, security, safety, and stewardship. This unique organization reflects a successful partnership between the modern state and residents of remote communities, a partnership rooted in local knowledge and crosscultural understanding.

About the author

 

P. Whitney Lackenbauer is associate professor and chair of the Department of History at St. Jerome's University in the University of Waterloo, and a faculty associate with the LCMSDS.

Peter Kikkert recently completed his M.A. at the University of Waterloo and is a Ph.D. student in history at the University of Western Ontario.

 

P. Whitney Lackenbauer's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Dafoe Prize, The Dafoe Foundation

Editorial Reviews

As any good historian would, Lackenbauer has researched his subject exhaustively, as evidenced by the extensive introduction, numerous maps and fascinating archival photos and a staggering 123 pages of footnotes. But this level of academic thoroughness doesn’t affect the book’s readability, and the result is an engaging history of a uniquely Canadian institution.

Canadian Geographic Magazine

Librarian Reviews

The Canadian Rangers: A Living History

This fully researched and well documented book provides a history of the Canadian Rangers. Since 1942 the coastlines of Canada have been guarded by a unique group of volunteers, initially a revived Pacific Coast Militia Rangers then morphing into the Canadian Rangers. The mandate and mission of this unpaid, minimally equipped, but dedicated and skilled group has remained the same over the decades: to ensure that Canada’s security, sovereignty, safety and stewardship remain inviolate. They are Canada’s boots on the ground in remote northern regions and vast Arctic areas. This book narrates the Rangers’ oscillating existence, conditions and roles through times of attrition or expansion, through Cold War and post Cold War and into the 21st century.

Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. BC Books for BC Schools. 2013-2014.