Northern and Arctic Security and Sovereignty: Challenges and Opportunities for a Northern Corridor

Abstract

KEY MESSAGES

• Key issues related to Canada’s security and defense agenda, which involve critical and essential infrastructure development, must be considered in the development and implementation of a Canadian Northern Corridor (CNC).

• Canada’s northern and Arctic security and defense agenda is related to several key policy domains that are relevant from a CNC perspective. These include infrastructure development, climate change, Indigenous sovereignty and natural resource development.

• A CNC will gain international attention and be internationally recognized as a strategy for Canada to assert its sovereignty over its Arctic territory, including the internationally disputed Northwest Passage.

• The CNC advocates for the inclusion and participation of Indigenous communities. Thus, Indigenous Peoples will also carry a significant role in the monitoring and surveillance of accessibility within and to the North, improved through enhanced infrastructure development.

• Canada’s investments in Arctic defense infrastructure are modest compared to those of its Russian and American neighbors. A CNC, potentially adding strategically important infrastructure in the Canadian North, will directly tie into the discourse of Arctic security and power relations.

• In addition to natural disasters, the Canadian North is at significant risk of human-made disasters that pose serious prospective challenges for northerners and for federal and territorial governments. The CNC will likely foster the development of surveillance and monitoring assets.

• The CNC rights-of-way could trigger security concerns regarding the impact of foreign investment as a security threat, especially if natural resource development is coupled with the development of strategic transportation hubs, such as ports along the coast of the Arctic Ocean.

• CNC transportation infrastructure would also become a part of Canada’s defense strategy as it forms a potential key asset in the defense and safeguarding of Canada’s northern and Arctic regions.

• Future research should identify the role of dual-use infrastructure (infrastructure that satisfies both military and civilian purposes) in the CNC context and also examine to what extent security and defense stakeholders should be involved in the CNC’s planning and implementation.