Canada should increase its military presence in the arctic

Journalism in Canada has suffered a devastating decline over the last two decades. Dozens of newspapers and outlets have shuttered. Remaining newsrooms are smaller. Nowhere is this erosion more acute than in the coverage of foreign policy and international news. At Open Canada, we believe this must change. Many of us, after all, come from somewhere else and have connections that reach around the world. These events not only pose an immediate threat to the lives and property of Northerners, but can also impact the security of communities more broadly by severing the crucial transportation and communication links on which Northerners depend.

Other climate change effects, including increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, melting permafrost, and changing sea ice conditions, can have an impact on food security, make transportation and travel more difficult, and endanger the stability and functioning of delicate ecosystems.

The remoteness of Arctic and Northern communities also poses a challenge with regard to critical infrastructure CI and emergency management EM considerations, which are likely to be exacerbated due to climate change. Melting ice could contribute to an increase in search and rescue requirements within the North.

As such, monitoring capabilities of ice conditions and icebergs will need to be augmented to support the increased marine traffic through Northern waterways and to proactively limit EM response requests through cohesive mitigation and prevention efforts.

CI requirements will increasingly need to consider a changing demographic and environment to ensure continued provision of essential services and capabilities. Specifically, robust CI is required in order to support communications, EM and military capabilities, and safe transportation within the region. Every year, more ships, including large government research vessels and commercial cargo vessels, navigate Northern waters.

Tourism vessels are also not uncommon in the Canadian Arctic. In , Northerners saw the first transit of a modern, passenger, foreign-based cruise ship through the entire Northwest Passage. Although the warming of the Arctic and the North offers economic opportunities, which would bring much needed socio-economic development, employment and infrastructure investments that are acutely lacking in the region, higher levels of activity could bring the potential for damage to unique ecosystems and may also increase the risks associated with increased movement of people and goods, the pursuit of interests by foreign state and non-state actors in Canada's Arctic and northern territory, and human-induced disasters.

It is not difficult to imagine, for example, how a naturally-occurring or human-induced disaster in the Arctic Archipelago would place tremendous strain on the capacities of all levels of government, as well as on local communities, to support affected people and minimize the damage to affected wildlife, infrastructure, and ecosystems.

While Canada sees no immediate threat in the Arctic and the North, as the region's physical environment changes, the circumpolar North is becoming an area of strategic international importance, with both Arctic and non-Arctic states expressing a variety of economic and military interests in the region. As the Arctic becomes more accessible, these states are poised to conduct research, transit through, and engage in more trade in the region.

Given the growing international interest and competition in the Arctic, continued security and defence of Canada's Arctic requires effective safety and security frameworks, national defence, and deterrence. In particular, easier access to the Arctic may contribute to greater foreign presence in Canadian Arctic waterways. On this matter, Canada remains committed to exercising its sovereignty, including in the various waterways commonly referred to as the Northwest Passage.

Similarly, Canada's Arctic and natural resources are attracting interest from foreign states and enterprises. Foreign investment, research, and science have the potential to improve the lives of Northerners. However, some of these investments and related economic activities could seek to advance interests that may be in opposition to those of Canada.

Recognizing that economic growth and investment in the Arctic supports good jobs, healthy people and strong communities, there are also security risks associated with these investments that could impact the well-being of Northerners. Canada will continue to balance needed economic development while ensuring that security in the Arctic and the North is maintained.

While the circumpolar Arctic can and should continue to benefit from a deeply ingrained culture of international cooperation, this cooperation must not result in complacency at a time of increased interest and competition from both Arctic and non-Arctic states who see the region's political, economic, scientific, strategic and military potential. In some cases, states with interests in the Arctic are using a broad range of military capabilities and other state-controlled assets as they work to collect intelligence and position themselves to access or control sensitive sites, infrastructure, and strategic resources — potentially under the appearance of productive activities.

In addition, rapid changes in military and strategic technologies including remotely-piloted systems, as well as the rise of competition in new domains such as space, artificial intelligence, and cyber, are likely to have a significant impact on the way states pursue their interests, and gives them the ability to project military force in the Arctic and North America.

The long-term objectives of some of these states remain unclear, and their interests may not always align with our own. Canada's interest is to maintain the long-standing peace and stability in the region. While Canada is open to cooperation with other states regarding the Arctic, our security priority will always be the protection of Northerners and our broader national interests against competing interests. Taken together, the opportunities, challenges, increased competition, and risks created by a more accessible Arctic require a greater presence of security organizations, strengthened emergency management, effective military capability, and improved situational awareness.

Meeting these demands necessitates a collaborative approach among all levels of government, as well as with Northerners, including Indigenous peoples, and in cooperation with the private sector where relevant to ensure that the region can prosper and that it continues to be a zone of peace and cooperation.

One of the primary objectives of the Government of Canada is to protect the safety and security of Northerners and safeguard the ability to defend both the Canadian Arctic and North America now and into the future.

To meet this goal the Government of Canada will continue to advance the following objectives:. This approach is needed to secure Canada's wider interests in the region, and to protect the people and communities who call the Canadian Arctic home.

The complexity of the Arctic security environment places a premium on collaboration between all levels of government, local and Indigenous communities and peoples, and trusted international partners. Keeping pace with the evolving safety, security, and defence challenges facing the Arctic and its peoples requires improving the ways we work together.

To further our collective ability to operate and respond to the unique safety and security challenges in the Arctic, safety and security organizations at all levels will continue to work together to identify common priorities, synchronize planning, and enhance our interoperability, including in fora such as the Arctic Security Working Group.

Through Operation NANOOK, the Canadian Armed Forces delivers training, develops partnerships, and helps improve the readiness of federal, territorial, Indigenous, and municipal partners, as well as international partners.

The Canadian Armed Forces also shares a number of facilities with local and federal partners, including a state-of-the-art cold-weather training facility in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, and Natural Resources Canada's Polar Continental Shelf Program.

Its primary role is to provide a military presence in those sparsely settled Northern, coastal, and isolated areas of Canada which are not otherwise served by the Canadian Armed Forces. The Russian air force in the north has been strengthened with long-range reconnaissance aircraft, air-to-air refuellers and fighter jets. China also now has northern ambitions as well as a growing icebreaker fleet. The United States and Canada have not followed suit.

The U. Coast Guard. The last time the U. President Joe Biden will no doubt see the Arctic through the lens of climate change. Canada needs a sensible, affordable but practical armament strategy for the North. In Canada, numerous promises have been made to increase military capability in the North, but little has been accomplished. The planned northern naval base at Nanisivik, Nunavut, is now to be an unmanned refuelling depot.

No one knows when it will be built. The Polar-class ship promised by former prime minister Stephen Harper has now been pushed back another decade. We continue to fly obsolescent CF fighters from four semi-permanent bases in the Far North and use the decades-old CP Aurora for long-range reconnaissance. Our submarines are incapable of operating under the ice. There are two main reasons Canada needs a sensible, affordable but practical armament strategy for the North.

First, we claim large swaths of the Arctic Ocean north of the Arctic Archipelago. Claims without military backup are useless when it comes to the open sea. Which translates into loss of sovereignty. No one is going to launch a war in the Far North. But we do need to project some force to back up our climatic and environmental policies and claims to undersea resource. And to show the Americans that we are doing our bit.

All that calls for reinforcement sufficient for the tasks at hand. Get the latest stories on military history, veterans issues and Canadian Armed Forces delivered to your inbox. The service considered transforming the area into a key base for Arctic operations. That would have involved the construction of a 3,meter paved runway, hangars, fuel installations and other infrastructure, but the project was abandoned.

The construction of a polar icebreaker, while expected to continue, has fallen almost a decade behind schedule. Frozen Pathways. By David Pugliese. Monday, Apr Canadian Defence Ministry.