Prime Minister Stephen Harper gets a hand stepping off a small iceberg in Resolute, Nunavut, on Wednesday. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has resumed his Arctic odyssey, finally reaching Resolute, Nunavut.

After he was grounded for a day in a rustic lodge in Manitoba due to bad weather, Harper arrived Wednesday in one of Canada's northernmost communities to rally troops taking part in Operation Nanook.

The annual sovereignty exercise in the Eastern and High Arctic has become a showpiece of Canada's northern prowess.

"As the strategic importance of Canada's Arctic grows, the work undertaken by Operation Nanook is more valuable now than ever before," Harper said in a statement.

"With other countries becoming more interested in the Arctic and its rich resource potential, and with new trade routes opening up, we must continue to exercise our sovereignty while strengthening the safety and security of Canadians living in our High Arctic."

Military exercise ends this week

The prime minister arrived hours after two CF-18 fighter jets shadowed a pair of Russian military aircraft as they flew to within 56 kilometres of Canada's northern border — a periodic occurrence.

The Prime Minister's Office used Tuesday's incident north of Inuvik, N.W.T., to plug the government's planned $16-billion purchase of 65 new stealth fighters.

The military exercise, meanwhile, has been underway since Aug. 6 and wraps up this week.

It includes presence patrols in air, land and sea, but also a simulation exercise on what would happen if there was a fuel leak in the waters.

Harper was expected to observe both elements of the exercise before departing later for the Northwest Territories.

Around 900 Canadian Forces soldiers are participating in the operation. It also includes 600 personnel from the U.S. navy, Coast Guard and the Danish Royal Navy, who are involved for the first time.

Canada, the United States and Denmark do not agree about their respective maritime boundaries in the North, but the government's recently released Arctic foreign policy statement downplays the disputes and describes them as "discrete boundary issues" that are being managed.

The government's military plans for the North include six new patrol ships, a heavy icebreaker and a beefed-up Canadian Ranger contingent.

One longtime Arctic researcher said the government is placing too much focus on the military.

'Creative stewards of this region'

Harper often quotes Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in his speeches about the North, but John England, the Northern Research Chair at the University of Alberta, notes that Diefenbaker's northern vision was about the development race, not the arms one.

"There is 50 years of Arctic research already conducted," said England. "We should be promoting scientists as being the creative stewards of this region."

While in Resolute, Harper reiterated Canada's commitment to the next generation of advanced remote-sensing satellites.

The RADARSTAT Constellation mission involves three satellites expected to launch in 2014 and 2015.

Close to $500 million is being spent on the program, which allows the monitoring of land and navigation routes in the North.