Military says it has finished last of its Arctic DEW line cleanups

YELLOWKNIFE – The military says it is finished cleaning up the last of its old DEW Line sites strung across the Arctic.

The radar installations were built by Canada and the United States during the Cold War to monitor the continent’s northern frontier.

While they haven’t been used in a generation, the stations have remained littered with debris, some of it toxic.

Treasury Board President Tony Clement was in Yellowknife to announce that all 21 sites controlled by the military have now been cleaned up.

The cleanup cost $575 million over 25 years.

Another 21 sites are the responsibility of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.