A moon dog hung low over the horizon. It showed up on the first day of the Canadian soldiers’ patrol, and the Inuit rangers guiding them in the country’s far north spotted it right away: Ice crystals in the clouds were bending the light, making two illusory moons appear in the sky. The Inuit rangers told the platoon to pitch their tents and hunker down. “If it gets worse, we’re going to be stranded,” said John Ussak, one of the Inuit rangers, recalling how the soldiers wanted to keep going, but backed down. Canada is now on a mission to assert its hold on its Arctic territory, an enormous stretch that was once little more than an afterthought.

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Persons: ”, John Ussak Locations: Canada