Minister of National Defence Bill Blair recently announced that Iqaluit, Inuvik and Yellowknife will serve as locations for Canada’s Northern Operational Support Hubs – serving as an extended network of logistical stations, with the goal of expanding Canada’s operational reach, decreasing logistical constraints in the Canadian North, and enhancing overall military support. These operational hubs will incorporate airstrips, logistics facilities, and equipment, permitting the Canadian Armed Forces to “better assert Canadian sovereignty and support greater year-round presence.” Outlined in last year’s defence policy update, Our North, Strong and Free, the Government of Canada will invest $2.67 billion over 20 years to establish all three hubs. These hubs represent a coordinated effort that intertwines defence and human security initiatives within the Canadian Arctic through physical infrastructure – balancing the pace of the Arctic’s geopolitical environment and the safety of Indigenous peoples and Northerners, whose environment continues to drastically change. Infrastructure gaps within the Canadian Arctic have been substantially amplifying human security issues in the north. Investing to address them has been a historically challenging endeavor for the Government of Canada. In addition, Canada’s overall record concerning environmental sustainability and historical injustices against Indigenous peoples when it comes to military infrastructure development is largely forgotten about.
For instance, the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line cleanup is one of the largest environmental remediations in Canadian history, with the entire remediation and cleanup process costing the Canadian state $575 million. After its closure in 1980, remnants of 42 radar stations were left contaminated with waste like oil, scrap metal, radar components, fuel barrels, and harmful chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls and radioactive material. Moreover, during the construction of the DEW Line, Inuit communities who lived in the vicinity of these radar stations and moved off the land in exchange for medical assistance were put into camps like the Northern Affairs ghetto at Frobisher Bay. The creation and construction of the DEW Line was undertaken without consultation with Indigenous peoples and local communities, and with total neglect regarding environmental sustainability. Lessons from the DEW Line are important, because it reflects that when sustainability and local communities are not considered in infrastructure-building, it leads to irreparable damages and security costs that can take generations to overcome.
Minister Blair’s announcement is exciting. It signals that the Government of Canada has finally come to terms with the concept of repairing and revitalizing Canada’s defence and security presence in the Arctic through a holistic security approach that recognizes their mandated obligations to sustainability and Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Yet, the development and construction of all three Northern Operational Support Hubs is going to be a long and painful process – especially when time is of the essence in the current geopolitical environment. Particularly, the fact that the Canadian Arctic building season is roughly May to September due to the Arctic’s extreme environment already inhibits current infrastructure projects. Thus, when discussing the future prospects surrounding these hubs, there are important aspects to consider.
Northern Operational Support Hubs and Environmental Sustainability
First, Canada already has 4 examples of successful operational support hubs located in Germany, Kuwait, Jamaica, and Senegal. These hubs allow the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to move materiel, equipment, and supplies, as well as enhance its ability to respond to crises like natural disasters in a timely manner. They offer a fast, flexible and cost-efficient way to launch and sustain operations, and encompass either an airport, or seaport, or both. The design and functionality of all four hubs correlate with their natural environment, and it should be no different for Canada’s Northern Operational Support Hubs; they must be resilient to withstand the Arctic’s changing natural environment. Currently, Arctic communities, like Tuktoyatuk, are grappling with permafrost thawing and coastal erosion, which are now threatening homes, roads, food sources, and cultural sites, creating ripple effects such as landslides and flooding. For instance, Tuk Island, which protects Tuktoyaktuk’s harbour, is eroding at an average of 1.8 meters per year due to permafrost thaw and increasingly powerful storm waves, and without intervention will be breached by the year 2050. Canada’s Northern Operational Support Hubs must be able to withstand the effects of thawing permafrost and other climate impacts. This should include any landing strip, airport, seaport or energy sources that will be under the confines of all three support hubs.
Second, though all three Northern Operational Support Hubs are urgent endeavors for Canadian Arctic security, this should not prompt the Government of Canada to make any rushed decisions in their implementation that may increase its environmental footprint in the Canadian Arctic. In their recently released Climate Resilience and Environmental Sustainability Science and Technology Strategy, the Department of National Defence (DND) and the CAF have committed to ensuring that new construction and major recapitalization projects meet net-zero emissions and resiliency requirements. Canada’s future Northern Operational Support Hubs must keep the fragility of the Arctic’s natural environment in mind, as people live and rely on it. Canada’s Defence Energy and Environment Strategy also provides DND with renewed direction regarding environmental sustainability in order to improve and manage energy use, and minimizes the CAF’s environmental footprint across a broad spectrum of activities. The design of all three Northern Operational Support Hubs must adhere to these principles, prioritizing energy efficiency and reducing reliance on diesel fuel.
Multi-purpose Functionality in the Canadian Arctic
Furthermore, Northern Operational Support Hubs need to embody what their name reflects. This is why consultations with Indigenous and Northern partners will be so important, because it presents an opportunity to address their security concerns and the challenges that affect their communities. All three hubs need to be multi-use and multi-user, serving the intersecting interests of the military, civilians, Indigenous peoples, the scientific community and economic stakeholders, as outlined in the Government of Canada’s 2019 Arctic Northern Policy Framework (ANPF). Arctic security is inseparable from the well-being of Arctic communities, which is why defence infrastructure needs to fulfill its environmental, social, and economic commitments and obligations. For instance, whether these future hubs have an airport, seaport, or both, they must also be utilized and accessible to northerners and Arctic stakeholders. In the Canadian Arctic, runways that facilitate the take-off and landing of aircrafts vary in their type and quality, and thereby in how they affect critical supply chains and communities. Aside from their geographic location, two key considerations are their surface and length. For instance, shorter runways with a gravel, sand, clay or turf surface may only facilitate the movements of smaller planes. These qualities impact the type of planes able to use them, and in turn the amount of freight that can be transported to isolated Arctic communities. Overall, this is just one avenue to see the notion of multi-purposefulness, but something that needs to be considered in the consultations with northerners.
The Risks of Cost-Cutting
Finally, foundational projects like this are inhibited and destroyed by Governmental cost-cutting and deficient consultations. A perfect example of this is the Nanisivik Naval Facility, originally constructed to “significantly strengthen Canada’s sovereignty over the Arctic” as a year-round fueling station that would be operational by 2012. It is 2025, and this facility has yet to open – and Defence Minister Bill Blair has stated that there is still no opening date. From Iqaluit this past month, Minister Blair acknowledged that “challenges encountered during the naval facility project had shown the government that a better way forward is to make sure defence investments benefit people and communities as well as the Armed Forces”. It is troubling to hear the Minister admit that the Government at that time failed to consider the local context of Canadian Northerners when it came to the creation of the Nanisivik naval facility.
Canada cannot be resilient or capable without modernized infrastructure, specifically Northern Operational Support Hubs, as they are the foundation of Arctic security and benefit our national interests in the Circumpolar North. Yet, time is not our friend, and good-faith consultations need to happen in a prompt fashion, with determination and urgency. The Government of Canada has an onus and duty to consult with various levels of territorial governance when it comes to regional defence investment. The history of the DEW Line and the Nanisivik Naval Facility, serve as case studies when Ottawa does not. Partnership and consultation amongst Canadians should be a strength. We have an obligation, as a country, to listen and acknowledge the opinions and Traditional Knowledge of Indigenous peoples and Northerners during future consultations concerning these hubs, because it is their right. As recently reminded by Nunavut’s Premier following a press conference by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre about military plans for the Arctic, it is unacceptable to think you can open a new military base without consulting the Premier of the Territory you are planning to build it in.
Future governments (regardless of party) need to ensure that future plans for these support hubs are done in consultation with Iqaluit, Inuvik and Yellowknife community members, Indigenous peoples, and other Arctic stakeholders. Plans for these Northern Operational Support Hubs must be definitive and concrete, with capital investment ready. It’s time to recognize that prioritizing resilient, multi-purpose infrastructure that can withstand climate impacts within the Canadian Arctic is going to be expensive. If we are not willing to spend the capital in an efficient, consistent and comprehensive manner, these hubs will be a continuous challenge for future generations of Canadians. The current sense of earnestness to invest in the Canadian Arctic should not come at the expense of sustainability, multi-functionality, and long-term advocacy. All three operational hubs must be designed as multi-user, multi-purpose facilities that prioritize environmental sustainability, meaningful partnerships, and concerns about the Arctic’s ever changing environment, in a way that matches the Government’s commitments to Reconciliation. Furthermore, costs cannot scare us. These are foundational defence endeavors, and they are going to be expensive. Canada must commit to spending the capital to receive the rewards for doing so. These hubs can be our nation-building exercise, where Canada is proactive in the long-term, instead of reactive in the short-term. The era of Arctic attention is here, and Canada needs to get to work.
