Air Command and CF Northern Area also maintain a chain of Forward Operating Locations at various points across northern Canada, capable of supporting fighter operations. Elements of CF-18 squadrons periodically deploy to these FOLs for short training exercises or Arctic sovereignty patrols.
The Canadian Forces were reduced during the 1990s from a high of 85,000 personnel in the late 1980s to the present force levels. Coinciding with personnel and equipment reductions was the politically-controversial decision to close a number of bases and stations which were obsolete or created duplication.
A small number of these "closed" facilities have actually continued operating as before, however for reasons of cost and administrative efficiency (or in the case of radio and radar facilities - automation) they have been absorbed into other nearby bases and therefore do not qualify for a separate designation. For example, the CF Leadership and Recruit School at St. Jean, Quebec, is now a lodger unit of CFB Montreal, and the former CFS Masset is a detachment of CFS Leitrim. Other facilities, such as the former CFBs Aldershot and Wainwright, are now used as training grounds for reserve/militia units.