Canada’s foreign affairs minister is engaging northerners about plans to develop an Arctic foreign policy.
Mélanie Joly was in Yellowknife last week to meet with NWT Premier RJ Simpson, Indigenous leaders, chambers of commerce and other residents.
“I wanted to make sure that I would be here to hear people,” she told Cabin Radio.
“I’m very much aware that there is a difficult history with Indigenous people and foreign policy in the Arctic and that’s why I think it’s really, really important for the foreign minister to be here to have these conversations to make sure that this foreign policy is developed together.”
Joly said among the key issues northerners have raised are the bans on seal products in the US and European Union and their impact on Indigenous communities.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
‘We need to make it happen’
She said leaders in the NWT also highlighted the need to complete the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
The NWT government has said it is working on an updated business case for the two-lane all-season highway ahead of funding talks with Ottawa.
“We need to make it happen,” Joly said, adding the federal government plans to “step up” infrastructure investments.
“The future is bright for North Americans because yes investments are coming and I’m here to share that story.”
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Calls for the long-awaited highway between Wrigley and Norman Wells heightened after resupply barges destined for the Sahtu were scrapped this summer due to historically low water levels. Leaders from the region are set to meet with NWT ministers in Yellowknife this week to advocate for completion of the highway among other priorities.
Increasing Arctic tensions
Joly said the new Arctic foreign policy will strengthen Canada’s ties with other Arctic nations and increase security.
She said it is needed due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has created “a security crisis.” She said if Russia invades a Nato member country it could put Canada at risk of being involved in “what could be a really important conflict.”
Joly added that China has also increased its Arctic presence.
“For a long time we had a … high north low tension approach,” she said. “Things have changed now and we can’t only consider them as being business as usual.”
“It’s my job and the job of the government to make sure that people are safe here and that we’re sending a message to the world that this is our territory, that these lands and waters are ours and those of Indigenous peoples,” she added.
Infrastructure and security
Joly said the new policy will go hand-in-hand with Canada’s defence policy, which was updated in April. That update included new defence spending and a commitment to build infrastructure that can be shared between the armed forces, territorial governments and northern communities.
“Clearly what we’re saying is, for the first time in decades, we will invest in defence, we will invest in our security and we will invest particularly in our North,” Joly said.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“We’re also showing our allies that we’re also doing our work.”
Some critics have highlighted that the defence policy update does not reach the Nato commitment to spend two percent of GDP on defence. Canada has committed to reach that spending target by 2032.
“I think the last time you saw so many investments in our bases here and in our fresh infrastructure was during the Second World War and the Cold War and it was all about nation building at the time. Well. hey, we’re back in that time where it is indeed for security reasons that we need to invest in infrastructure,” Joly said.
