The Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System (CFARS) was established in 1978.  Amateur radio volunteer operators and their stations are used but the frequencies in uses are outside of the amateur radio allocations and amateur radio call signs are not used.  CFARS is allocated its own official frequencies by Industry Canada and its own identifiers.  

CFARS has existed in various forms since about 1946, mostly under the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).  It was integrated into the Civil Defence Communications Organization and made up about 500 licensed radio amateurs across Canada, providing communications assistance in search and rescue, assistance during civil emergencies and operating weekly nets regionally and nationally.  One of its most well-known activities was to enhance moral by providing phone patching - linking the phone network via amateur radio - and thereby allowing personnel in remote or foreign areas to communicate with home.  One has to keep in mind the state of radiocommunications and telephones from 1946 to the advent of satellites and more recently of email.  I remember my brother calling home from the Hall Beach Dew Line station around 1981 or so, and hearing the echo and time delays.

In the United States a similar system is operated called the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS).  That system is managed by the US Army and US Air Force but sponsored by the United States Department of Defense.  It is comprised of a volunteer force of over 3,000 amateur radio operators.  Its origins stem back to 1925 when it was essentially a reserve for the US Army Signal Corps.  The function of MARS is similar to that of CFARS, including the provision of morale radiograms and phone patches to members of the armed forces serving in Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War and the first Gulf War.  

CFARS, as we now know it, came into being in 1976.  It would

• operate on specifically allocated frequencies outside the amateur radio spectrum;
• provide membership to include military installation stations, military amateur radio unit/club stations and a number of designated volunteer affiliated licensed amateur radio operators;
• operate using quasi-military voice and operating procedures;
• operate on several different radio nets, for example: a Northern net, a Maritime or Her Majesty's Canadian Ships net, a United Nations Canadian Contingents nets, a National net, and a Training net; and
• use international call signs while operating within its own framework.

The Yellowknife Amateur Radio Society was at one time a member of CFARS but its membership in that group has expired.  While the Society has the technical capability to participate in CFARS activities, its participation has been sporadic and after an assessment in April 2023, the Society does not have the manpower to participate effectively.  We do however encourage members of the Society or amateur radio operators in the North to participate if they have the time and equipment.  The CFARS websites below give information on how to apply for membership.

Sources:

• http://www.cfarsoperations.ca/ 
• http://www.cfarsoperations.ca/public.php
• https://web.archive.org/web/20120927001210/http://www.commelec.forces.gc.ca/inf/new-bul/vol56/article-17-eng.asp