“Mon pays, ce n’est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver,” Gilles Vigneault sings — my country is winter.
asserted
country → sing → ?
Canada is shaped by cold, distance and northern regions inhabited by resilient people.
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Canada → shape → people
Whether we embrace it or not, we are a polar nation.
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we → embrace → it
Sovereignty over nearly 10 million square kilometres must be demonstrated: we must prove we can protect the vast North, develop its resources and create opportunities for its people.
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we → demonstrate → people
We must stop thinking small.
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We → stop → ?
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The North holds immense underdeveloped resources coveted by other nations, yet Canada has limited means to monitor the region, deter adversaries or respond to incursions.
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Canada → hold → incursions
A northern strategy needs four priorities: deterrence, defence of the territory, resource development and corridors for transportation and communications.
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strategy → need → transportation
The first two require forces able to deploy nationwide and operate seamlessly with allied polar nations, plus permanent — or at least persistent — northern basing, with First Nations as full partners.
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two → require → partners
When the U.S. oil tanker Manhattan transited in 1969, Canada called it internal waters; Washington disputed the claim and went through, and Ottawa protested.
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Ottawa → transit → claim
The dispute remains: Canada considers the passage internal waters, while the United States considers it an international strait.
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it → remain → ?
How will we react when adversaries transit these “internal” waters?
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adversaries → react → waters
Sovereignty means having an answer beyond protest.
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Sovereignty → mean → protest
Whatever one thinks of climate change, northern temperatures have risen and keep rising.
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temperatures → think → change
Climate change, as University of Calgary Arctic security expert Robert Huebert puts it, has “converted the Arctic from a barrier into a corridor.”
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Huebert → put → corridor
That corridor leads to resources other states want secured.
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states → lead → resources
Russia leads Arctic development, with dozens of vessels able to operate in and under ice; China calls itself a “near-Arctic” state and, as of 2022, holds equity in more than two dozen Canadian mining companies.
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China → lead → companies
The Arctic is also a route to challenge the United States through a lightly defended Canada.
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Arctic → challenge → Canada
“Lightly defended” is no exaggeration.
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defended → defend → ?
Based in Yellowknife, the Canadian Armed Forces’ Joint Task Force North covers the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Arctic Ocean — nearly 40 per cent of the country’s land mass — with about 300 personnel.
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North → base → personnel
The Canadian Rangers, a lightly armed part-time reserve of nearly 5,000, are the eyes and ears of much of the North, where every operation, resupplying a community or maintaining a radar, is a sovereignty operation.
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operation → resupplye → radar
The nearest fighter bases able to answer a NORAD emergency, Bagotville, Que., and Cold Lake, Alta., are many flying hours away.
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bases → answer → emergency
In contrast, the United States keeps several military bases in Alaska and more than 20,000 active-duty personnel.
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States → keep → Alaska
Canada cannot exercise northern sovereignty principally from southern bases.
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Canada → exercise → bases
Security underpins trade, but infrastructure underpins security.
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infrastructure → underpin → security
The unmanned radars, drones and undersea sensors used at present help identify threats, but the Canadian Armed Forces are poorly placed to manage a major northern crisis.
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Forces → use → crisis
Canada has no year-round ice-free Arctic port, and the deepwater facility at Nanisivik never became fully operational before the military began shutting it down in May.
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military → have → May
Against that record, the March 12 announcement of $40 billion in northern investment is a real opportunity: infrastructure in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, expanded forward operating locations at Yellowknife, Inuvik and Iqaluit, and upgraded Arctic airports.
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announcement → expand → Yellowknife
But promise must now become action.
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promise → become → ?
Much of our prosperity depends on extracting and delivering resources, some of them in the North.
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Much → depend → North
Distance and climate make that difficult; the private sector can help.
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sector → make → ?
Indigenous partners must share in the returns, and dual-use projects stretch public investment by serving communities, commerce and national defence.
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projects → share → communities
In 1968, Lt.-Gen. Richard Rohmer proposed an east-west mid-Canada corridor from Labrador City, N.L., through Flin Flon, Man., to Fort Nelson, B.C., with highways, railways and communities to draw Canadians northward.
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Rohmer → propose → Canadians
Ontario is exploring the Ring of Fire; Quebec has its Plan Nord.
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Quebec → explore → Nord
Newer concepts run south to north: from southern Manitoba to an expanded port at Churchill, or through improved facilities at Port Nelson.
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concepts → run → Nelson
Either shortens the route to Europe against the haul to Atlantic or Pacific ports.
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Either → shorten → ports
Grays Bay, on Nunavut’s Coronation Gulf, shows how these objectives can converge: a 230-kilometre all-season road toward the Northwest Territories border, a deepwater port on the Northwest Passage and an airstrip.
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objectives → show → Passage
It could become Canada’s first overland link to a deepwater Arctic port, with royalties to Indigenous partners.
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It → become → partners
It is also a reminder that development alone does not guarantee sovereignty.
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development → guarantee → sovereignty
The road and port would help unlock the Izok Lake and High Lake zinc-copper deposits, which is owned by MMG Limited, a company controlled through a majority interest by China Minmetals, a Chinese state-owned enterprise.
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which → help → Minmetals
Canada needs northern investment, but it must understand who ultimately controls strategically important resources.
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who → need → resources
…and 4 more, not listed.
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