A prominent Inuvialuit leader has said Canada needs to build a more consistent presence in the Arctic if the country is to defend its sovereignty in the region.
Dwayne Smith, chairman and CEO of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation – which represents Inuit interests in the western Arctic – said the region was a “back door to Canada” and his community was at the forefront of Canadian sovereignty.
In an interview with CBC’s The House on Saturday, Smith said he had told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that communities in his region were seeing an increased presence of research ships from other countries. He also highlighted cases where local communities have alerted the government to the presence of foreigners.
“Many Canadians might say that this place is so far away or so far away, what is the purpose of security and sovereignty in such an area?” Smith told The House host Chris Hall.
CBC News: The House 8:07 How Canada Can Defend the North
Dwayne Smith, chairman and CEO of the Inuvialuit regional corporation, told the House what the government needs to do to protect Canada’s sovereignty in the far north.
The answer, he said, is to honor the modern treaty and protect much of Canada’s territory and resources.
“So I suggest that there needs to be some more consistent long-term federal government strategy in terms of visible presence and more consistent activities and infrastructure engagement in the region – to show that this is Canada.”
Cooperation boosts security, federal officials say
The Arctic has become an increasing focus for countries such as Russia and China, which have invested in northern military bases and assets such as icebreakers.
The federal government, meanwhile, says it is committed to securing its sovereignty in the Canadian Arctic by investing in new patrol vessels and modernizing the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Ottawa has allocated an initial $ 252 million to modernize NORAD in 2021, while this year’s budget has allocated about $ 6 billion to defense priorities that include continental defense.
However, the government has not specified the specific breakdown of how these billions will be spent, with the announcement expected to come “this spring”, according to a statement from the cabinet of Defense Minister Anita Anand.
The federal government has also made a change to Canadian traditional thinking about northern defense, which previously focused on military infrastructure and training exercises. Trudeau, meanwhile, identified close co-operation and investment in the northern indigenous communities as key to security in the region.
“What is this policy and, frankly, the relationship we have built over the last few years in the Crown-Inuit partnership [shows] is [that] “Sovereignty of the North goes through the people who have lived there and who have lived there for millennia,” Trudeau said last month.
Russian paratroopers are pictured during a high-ranking Arctic military exercise in April 2020 (Russian Ministry of Defense)
Conservatives have accused the federal government of not going far enough to devote resources to securing the North.
“Our Arctic sovereignty and security cannot be protected by more liberal empty promises,” Conservative critic Bob Zimmer told the House of Commons this week.
Smith said his community is interested in working with the government on things like housing, but also on additional infrastructure projects, such as the expansion of the Inuvik summer runway, a project of the Department of Homeland Security.
Smith said the cost of widening the Inuvik summer runway is expected to rise because of things like the price of fuel.
“But this should not be a reason for the constant delay of a project that is essential for Canada’s security and sovereignty,” he said.
As for a stronger military presence in the region, Smith said he was not opposed to this more traditional approach.
“We even assumed that a small military base would still be useful from an optical point of view,” Smith said. It may not be economical to keep large forces in the region, he said, but that will send a message of Canada’s commitment.
Add Comment