For Aviator Stephane Jacques, Christmas eve is a special night.
However, it's not for the typical reasons. You see the surveillance operator at the NORAD facility at 22 Wing/CFB North Bay will not be opening any presents early on Christmas eve because tonight he has a very important annual duty to perform. He will be assisting his NORAD colleagues in tracking Santa Claus when he enters Canadian airspace.
"We are incredibly honoured to be able to have the opportunity to track Santa Claus on Christmas eve," Jacques told BayToday.
"Not many people get to do it, so we got chosen and we get to work over Christmas and one of the bonuses is we get to track Santa."
This opportunity brings the aviator back to his childhood.
"It is really cool because I remember writing Santa Claus as a kid and now it has kind of come full circle and I get to track him when he comes into Canadian airspace," admits Jacques.
Canadian and American members of NORAD have been tracking Santa’s Journey for the past 65 years from various locations in both countries. Since 1983, 22 Wing/CFB North Bay has been the focal point for tracking Santa within Canada.
"Usually, he comes in over Labrador," notes Jacques.
“Our team has trained hard all year preparing for this no-fail mission. We are excited to begin tonight and look forward to working with the CF-18 crews from 3 Wing Bagotville and 4 Wing Cold Lake to provide Santa with a safe flight while in Canadian air space, ensuring the “jolly old elf” can deliver presents to all who believe.”
While the whole process is considered quite "Top Secret" the military does share some information on this very special track and ID mission.
"We have radar, satellites, Santa cams and our fighter jets and we use all these tools to track him," explained Jacques.
"Once we identify that unknown track we send out our fighters to get an official visual identification of Santa Claus on his sleigh with his nine reindeer."
He says despite the global pandemic, the military has confirmed Santa is and will be safe when entering Canadian homes silently this Christmas.
"Santa is wearing a special Christmas mask along with his reindeer," he said.
"He's been visiting our houses for a long time and sources say Santa is actually a bit of a 'germaphobe' well before the 2020 pandemic."
NORAD has been tracking Santa since December 24, 1955 when local Colorado Springs kids started calling the Air Operations Centre for Santa Claus due to a misprinted newspaper ad.
The phone number rang into the Continental Air Defense Command now referred to as NORAD. NORAD has since turned the event into an annual program that is recognized worldwide.
To track Santa's journey you can follow along at noradsanta.org
