The Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces will discuss planned federal investments at town halls next month in Yellowknife and Inuvik.
The Town of Inuvik previously announced a town hall at the Midnight Sun Complex on April 21 at 6pm.
On Wednesday this week, several Yellowknife MLAs posted on Facebook that a town hall is also planned for Yellowknife on April 23.
After this article was first published, a City of Yellowknife spokesperson said the venue for the April 23 event still remains to be confirmed. In a similar follow-up email, a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence said a town hall that some MLAs said would take place in Dettah will not in fact go ahead.
Industry minister Caitlin Cleveland deleted a Facebook post that previously referenced events in both Yellowknife and Dettah. DND said more information about the Yellowknife event will follow.
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“Learn more about planned infrastructure investments tied to Norad modernization and continental defence and ask questions directly,” Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan wrote on Wednesday, adding the meetings will “complement ongoing engagement with Indigenous partners.”
During a visit to Yellowknife last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a $35-billion plan to invest in defence and infrastructure in the North.
Of that funding, $32 billion is a recommitment of funding the federal government pledged toward modernization of the North American Aerospace Defence Command, or Norad, in 2022.
Yellowknife Mayor Ben Hendriksen has described Carney’s announcement as “a level of investment that none of us have seen in our lifetimes” while Conservative Party critics have expressed skepticism.
Earlier this month, the Department of National Defence hosted a meeting with local businesses to discuss the federal government’s first defence industrial strategy, which aims to grow Canada’s domestic defence industry.
