Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed Canada to think about Arctic security

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This article was published 19/03/2022 (1014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

P.J. Akeeagok says he knows all too well about securing Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.

The Premier of Nunavut was born and raised in Grise Fiord, a tiny community on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island created by the federal government in the 1950s through the forced relocation of Inuit families — widely seen as a move to assert Canadian sovereignty in the High Arctic during the Cold War.

“My family was directly relocated up there for that sole purpose of making a claim for Canada, so I know first-hand the importance of sovereignty, and although there’s a dark history to it, I’m very fortunate to call Grise Fiord my home,” Akeeagok said in a recent interview with the Star.

“I cannot stress this importance enough, that when we’re talking about Arctic sovereignty, it’s about the people that call this beautiful place in Canada our home, that really Canada uses to become an Arctic nation.”

In Canada, there has been renewed interest in territorial integrity in the Arctic as climate change creates new waterways in the Far North, improving access and drawing interest from other countries eager to explore commercial opportunities, including tourism and untapped reserves of oil and gas.

But after decades of under-investments and a lack of sustained attention by successive governments in Ottawa, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has now thrust the issue of Canadian Arctic sovereignty and security into sharper focus.

The Far North has become a “key area of concern” given Russia’s actions, chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre told the Ottawa Defence Conference last week.

“Clearly it’s going to become a new frontier,” Guy Thibault, the retired vice chief of the defence staff who now serves as chair of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, told the Star.

“And we should be very worried about what Russia is doing, not only in Eastern Europe but around the world, and China’s interest up there.”

Russia has been further militarizing its own northern regions in recent years, Eyre said last week, including reoccupying abandoned Cold War bases. And China — which is not an Arctic country — has indicated it wants to develop Arctic shipping lanes. It joined the Arctic Council, an international body that fosters co-operation among Arctic countries, as an observer in 2013.

The evolving geopolitical situation leads to key questions including: What is required to maintain Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic? What is required to protect the North, especially if it were to one day become a conflict zone?

The federal government has said that Canada’s claim of sovereignty in the Arctic is partly based on the long-standing presence of Inuit and other Indigenous peoples.

“First and foremost, Arctic sovereignty for Canada is directly related to Inuit land use and occupancy,” said Natan Obed, president of national organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

Obed and the territorial premiers say that for Canadian sovereignty to therefore be maintained, the federal government must invest more in critical infrastructure for the people who live in the North. Obed said a more equal partnership with the Inuit is also required.

And to protect that sovereignty, new defence capabilities are needed, and fast, say military experts.

Defence Minister Anita Anand, who plans to visit the Arctic in the next few months, “believes that although the threat of an invasion of our Arctic is low at the current time, the threat level could change and we must be ready for any possible scenario,” according to a recent statement to the Star.

The territorial premiers successfully pushed this month to include Arctic sovereignty and security as an agenda item at an upcoming meeting of Canada’s provincial leaders.

“This is about us doing our jobs as leaders of the three territories saying this is important, it’s always been important, and the countries in the circumpolar area have been investing heavily in the Arctic and it’s time that we in Canada do the same,” said Yukon Premier Sandy Silver in an interview.

The issue will also be a topic of study next week at the Senate committee on national security and defence.

The heightened scrutiny on the North comes as Canada and six other member states said this month they would not participate in the Arctic Council, which Russia currently chairs, given the invasion of Ukraine.

But the burning question as to whether Russia would invade Canada through the Arctic is a topic of debate among defence experts.

“The Canadian Arctic is probably the last place where we need to worry about a Russian invasion,” said Michael Byers, Canada research chair in global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia.

“For the simple reason we’re actually a long way from Russia. It’s a big ocean, and there’s not much that Canada offers to Russia. They export the same resources we do, so it’s difficult to see a motivation.”

But the fact that Russia actually invaded Ukraine changes the thought process on a potential attack elsewhere, says David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

“Lots of people thought that there was no chance that Russia would invade or be shelling Russian-speaking Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine right now, so I think we need to seriously reassess some of our assumptions about what we’re confident Russia will or will not do,” Perry said.

Russia’s ambassador to Canada, Oleg Stepanov, told the Star on Jan. 27 that Canada should not see Russia as a threat, while also denying that his country would invade Ukraine.

In line with her mandate letter last year from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Anand has promised to deliver in the near future a “robust package” to modernize the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) with the United States.

This will include the replacement of the North Warning System. Completed in the 1980s, the system is a collection of radar sites throughout the North designed to detect air incursions, mainly Russian bomber aircraft approaching over the Arctic.

Canada and the U.S. are aiming to develop a new system to detect more sophisticated airborne threats, including longer-range missiles and hypersonic weapons that can travel at incredibly fast speeds.

Canada has continued to face calls from NATO leadership to beef up its defence spending, and Anand has promised to deliver options ahead of the federal budget this spring.

Byers said the North Warning System has been due for a major update “for several decades now,” and the current situation with Russia has undoubtedly made it more urgent.

“It wasn’t a priority, the Cold War was over,” he said. “It will now be a front-of-mind issue for the U.S. military and therefore for Canada … It will cost somewhere in the five to 10 billion (dollar) range to Canada alone.”

The statement from Anand’s office also pointed to investment in six new Arctic and offshore patrol ships, “including HMCS Harry DeWolf, which recently circumnavigated North America and proves Canada’s ability to project force in our North.”

NORAD this month completed Operation Noble Defender, an air defence operation over the Arctic that was announced in February prior to the invasion of Ukraine. And every year, the military conducts Operation Nanook, its main training exercise meant to assert Canada’s sovereignty in the North.

As Canada works to modernize and likely add defence capabilities, the “overarching hope” is that the Inuit will play a “more participatory and meaningful role” in what is happening in their homeland, said Obed.

Imminent threat of an attack or not, the territorial premiers have seized on the opportunity to get their demands front and centre for greater federal investments, saying you can’t have sovereignty in the North without sustainable support for the people who live there.

“Northern security is not just about robust military presence — it’s also about building strong, resilient communities through significant investment in critical infrastructure like roads, ports, telecommunications and energy,” Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane said in a statement to the Star.

Military capabilities are important, but “investing in people is something I’m really excited about,” Akeeagok said, pushing for funding for better housing among other critical infrastructure.

“There’s been nation-building infrastructure investments right across the country, right when the rail tracks were being built, but you look to the North, and that nation-building hasn’t been completed at all,” he said.

“Timing is of the essence as well … With this threat now very alive and right there, it’s really an opportunity for us to make these major strides.”

With files from Tonda MacCharles

Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @JacquesGallant