The Canadian government has launched a new Arctic foreign policy, which will involve appointing an Arctic ambassador and opening new consulates in Greenland and the U.S. state of Alaska.
The new foreign policy document released on Dec. 6 outlines Canada’s updated Arctic policy, which involves closer collaboration with the United States on the “North American Arctic.” When announcing the new policy, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said it comes at a time when foreign states like Russia and China are increasingly making incursions into the region.
“Canada is an Arctic nation, and we are at a critical moment,” she said. “The Arctic is no longer a low-tension region. We live in a tough world, and we need to be tougher in our response.”
The
policy says since Canada first launched its Arctic and Northern Policy Framework in 2019, strategic competition has intensified around the globe. The document warns that the Arctic is increasingly a theatre of interest for many non-Arctic nations, saying the region is being impacted by climate change and will be an increasingly viable shipping route by 2050.
The policy says Canada plans to name an Arctic ambassador to advance the country’s polar interests in multinational forums and engage with Arctic and non-Arctic states. Canada will also set up consulates in Anchorage, Alaska, and Nuuk, Greenland to increase bilateral ties with the regions.
Ottawa also seeks to engage in boundary negotiations with the U.S. over the Beaufort Sea, while implementing the boundary agreement reached between Canada and Denmark over the Hans Island in 2022.
During the new policy announcement, Defence Minister Bill Blair said Canada’s defence policy will provide the Canadian Armed Forces with the “tools that they need to reinforce our sovereignty in the region,” while also giving northern communities access to the infrastructure.
In its defence policy
update released in April, the government noted the most “urgent and important task” the Canadian Armed Forces faced was asserting its dominance in the country’s northern regions. The government announced that it had set aside $1.4 billion over the next 20 years to acquire specialized maritime sensors to conduct ocean surveillance in the Arctic, $222 million to build a new satellite ground station in the Arctic, and $218 million for northern operational support hubs to establish a greater year-round presence in the region.
Blair also said the government’s $38.6 billion plan to modernize the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) would “continue to improve seamless interoperability” with the United States. Those investments are going towards establishing a new surveillance system to complement the North Warning System, additional air-to-air refuelling aircraft, infrastructure upgrades at airfields used to support NORAD operations, and new funding for science and technology.
The release of the Arctic policy comes at a time when Canada is under mounting pressure to increase its military spending to meet NATO’s target of 2 percent of GDP. Canada is one of just
eight countries in the 32-nation alliance that is not expected to meet the NATO target this year, spending just 1.37 percent of GDP on defence.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
said in late November that the country is on a “clear path” to meet the spending goal, but no plan has been publicly released yet.
The Arctic foreign policy was months in the making, and its announcement comes at a time when Canada is under pressure to react to the incoming U.S. administration. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened Canada with tariffs over border security and has been critical of countries who do not pull their weight in the NATO military alliance.
