Canadian Rangers - Chain of Command

Chain of Command

The Canadian Rangers became part of the Canadian Army in October 2007, having previously been under the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff for the Canadian Forces. Canada's army commander, known as the Chief of the Land Staff (CLS) is the Canadian Ranger National Authority (CRNA). The CLS has a small cadre of CRNA staff in Ottawa. These CRNA staff act as a conduit for information, assist with general development and improvement, assist in generating, modifying, and maintaining policy which addresses the unique nature of the Canadian Rangers (including administrative policy, unit establishment and structure, training policy, and logistical policy), and with the financing of the Canadian Rangers. These staff are not directly within the chain of command, but are instead seen as the technical and advisory link between the Canadian Ranger units and the CLS.

Command and control of the respective Canadian Ranger units (known as Canadian Ranger Patrol Groups (or CRPGs)) is devolved from the CLS down to his subordinate commanders of the various land force areas (LFAs). There are five CRPGs and each CRPG corresponds to one of the LFAs (as seen below) The CRPGs tend to be provincially oriented, apart from 1 CRPG, which covers the whole of northern Canada above the 60th parallel, and 4 CRPG which covers the four western provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba). Each CRPG has a headquarters and a number of patrols. The patrols tend to be centred on remote communities throughout Canada and are frequently named after the town or village they are from (the Terrace Patrol, in British Columbia, for instance).