In December 2024, Ottawa announced a new Arctic policy articulating that it must invest more people and resources to enhance its sovereignty over its vast High North—comprising 25 percent of the entire Arctic. Then-Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly argued that “the evolving security and political realities in the region mean we need a new approach to advance our national interests and ensure a stable, prosperous, and secure Arctic, especially for the Northerners and the Indigenous Peoples who call the Arctic home.” Between the lines, Joly’s statement acknowledged what many Arctic observers have long argued: Canada has not done enough to ensure its Arctic sovereignty.
Realizing Canada’s new Arctic policy will require a whole-of-society approach reflective of sovereignty’s inherently interwoven geopolitical, socioeconomic, security, and cultural factors. The good news is that, as Ottawa faces its Arctic sovereignty problem, it can avail itself of existing actionable policy recommendations to help accomplish this ambition. To implement these recommendations, however, Canada must invest in its Arctic now to attract long-term, sovereignty-enhancing development.
Recognizing the Sovereignty Continuum
Sovereignty is a “contested continuum,” not a dichotomy. History warns that de jure sovereignty—legal claims, treaties, lines demarcated on maps, and even international recognition—does not necessarily translate into de facto sovereignty, or who has sufficient on-the-ground authority to deter internal and external threats. Limited domain awareness—achieved through resilient, persistent presence and influence—reduces a state’s ability to mitigate borders’ porosity. Such presence and influence require not only the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), but modernized infrastructure, logistics, and quality of life.
Ottawa has struggled to achieve this aspiration. A 2023 RAND report concluded that, “The Canadian Arctic…is sparsely populated and poorly maintained outside Nunavut’s capital, Iqaluit.” Ottawa’s deficient presence is reflected through isolated, eroding infrastructure, inadequate support for Indigenous Peoples and Northerners, and limited socioeconomic prospects. These factors collectively inhibit the all-domain awareness Canada must possess to enhance its Arctic sovereignty. The consequences of inaction could be damaging: Canadian security experts Gaëlle Rivard Piché and Bradley Sylvestre’s May 2023 study warned that its permeable Arctic is “significantly vulnerable” to “hybrid threats” spanning the civilian-military spectrum.
Actionable Policy Recommendations Exist
Canada’s new Arctic policy asserts, “We will improve [North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)] interoperability and increase the collective understanding of the evolving security situation in the Arctic and enhance the alliance’s cold-weather capabilities.” Evidence suggests that Ottawa’s resistance to NATO involvement in its Arctic is indeed thawing. In a January 2025 national poll, 42 percent strongly agreed that securing the Arctic is an issue “of national importance.” The same survey found 51 percent backed partnership with allies, and 74 percent supported private-public cooperation. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent overtures to join the European Union’s “ReArm Europe” initiative suggest that Canada is trying to fulfill this promise.
University of British Columbia’s Michael Byers has suggested that Canada could welcome a more persistent NATO presence through increasing Arctic exercise frequency, participating countries, training, and scope. “One could think imaginatively about how our allies could support Canadian sovereignty,” Byers said, adding that “If there’s political will, there’s a lot we could do in the short term that doesn’t involve spending billions and billions of dollars on new equipment.”
A 2022 study similarly proposed that Canada and other NATO Arctic states should deepen security cooperation including “high-level exchanges to exercises, to joint training, to maritime domain awareness and safety activities.” RAND researchers Michael Bohnert and Scott Savitz have added that expanding a modernized NORAD to Greenland and integrating Danish and Greenlandic personnel into its operations could simultaneously strengthen Canadian Arctic sovereignty, enhance NATO’s northern front’s all-domain awareness, and increase collective deterrence burden-sharing to reduce costs and enhance efficiencies. Collectively, these recommendations, if pursued, could establish Canada as a NATO leader in polar training, enhance pro-Canadian presence, influence, and situational awareness, and better prepare its allies to support its Arctic sovereignty in the event of Arctic hostilities.
In September 2024, Canada launched its first Canada-Nordic Strategic Dialogue (C-NSD) to discuss common Arctic and High North security issues. This provides Ottawa with at least two strategic opportunities. First, institutionalizing C-NSD could coordinate Arctic security burden-sharing and bolster Canada and Nordic states’ respective sovereignties through exercises, knowledge exchange, and enhanced interoperability. Second, all Nordic states are members of the UK-led decade-old Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), designed for rapid Northern response in advance of NATO. Observers generally agree that the JEF has to-date proven to be a successful, agile, burden-sharing Northern European deterrence force. Royal United Service Institute’s Ed Arnold and Robbie Boyd recently argued that Canadian JEF membership “would enhance political and military cooperation in the north and make the JEF a true Euro-Atlantic framework, thereby increasing its presence, operational effectiveness and deterrence capability” in protecting JEF members’ respective sovereignty.
Invest in People Now for Sovereignty Dividends Later
People are fundamental to sovereignty. Operationalizing these recommendations will require Ottawa, like Washington, to prioritize significant Arctic infrastructure investments and commercial collaboration, from airports to hospitals and schools, to raise residents’ quality of life, reduce logistics costs, and enhance all-domain awareness. Canada and other Arctic states, as the Arctic Economic Council has concluded, must invest now so as to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) that could provide commercial development, expanded job opportunities, and security. Only then will Canada tangibly enhance its Arctic sovereignty.
Ottawa’s recent promises include investing in paid Arctic youth internship programmes, powerplant upgrades and replacements in Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Igloolik, and Iqaluit,” and “long-term predictable funding” to support community housing and utilities development. Laval University’s Frédéric Laserre has recommended reviving the “northern corridors” concept: regional hubs, such as Iqaluit and Churchill, networked with smaller communities to improve logistics, infrastructure more broadly, and reduce costs. An example, the Grays Bay corridor project establishing a connected Arctic deep-water port, recently resumed construction. In May, Ontario government officials suggested developing a new deep-water port in James Bay, vastly closer to Toronto than Churchill and requiring only a 12-mile-long connection to the Ontario Northland Railway. But these schemes need follow-through if they are to attract long-term dividends. Canadian taxpayers and Canadian Arctic sovereignty alike will suffer if these projects are abandoned or further delayed.
What are some dividends and how do they enhance Canadian Arctic sovereignty? The Center for Naval Analyses’ Joshua Tallis, Cornell Overfield, and Heidi Holz have suggested several potential dividends that could attract additional FDI: encourage investment by allied and partner state-affiliated policy banks; launch an Arctic FDI transparency initiative to both expedite certain FDI and deter malign actors’ efforts; and ultimately establish an Arctic Development Bank to help Arctic Canadians help themselves on their terms. These recommendations focus on strengthening institutions, infrastructure, economics, and the social cohesion necessary to enhancing Canadian Arctic sovereignty.
Canadians and policy researchers have spoken. Now it is time for Ottawa to act.
