Citing growing interest by China and Russia in the Arctic as global warning makes the region more accessible, Canada on Friday said it would focus on building stronger alliances with other nations in the region, particularly the United States.
“For many years, Canada has aimed to manage the Arctic and northern regions cooperatively with other states as a zone of low tension,” according to a statement by the Canadian government.
But more recent developments, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, had “shaken the foundations of international cooperation in the Arctic,” the statement said.
Canada has long debated how best to assert control over its vast but very sparsely populated Arctic.
The policy statement calls climate change “the overarching threat” to that control. Warmer temperatures and thinning ice make it increasingly likely that it will soon be possible in the summers for ships to regularly travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean by way of an Arctic route known as the Northwest Passage.
Canada’s government said the country was committed to increasing military spending in the Arctic, including a 5 billion Canadian dollar, or $3.6 billion, upgrade of defense systems used by the North American Aerospace Defense Command — a joint operation of the two countries.
The Canadian foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, was scheduled to discuss the country’s deepening engagement on Arctic issues during a news conference on Friday.
A warming Arctic climate is already playing havoc in the region. Melting permafrost threatens coastal communities with inundation and unstable sea ice is limiting the ability of the Inuit, who dominate the region, to hunt.
China has already declared its interest in becoming an Arctic power and many experts say that may be partly driven by the prospect of an expansion of mining being made commercially viable by a less icy Arctic.
China, which also has an Arctic cooperation agreement with Russia, regularly sends “dual purpose” ships into the area to conduct scientific research and to collect military intelligence, according to Canada’s government.
It also listed a number of joint military exercises by China and Russia, as well as Chinese incursions into airspace patrolled by the United States, to underscore how the Arctic is become an increasingly active theater of global competition.
While the Canadian government said that “close partnership with the United States is essential to the maintenance of a secure, strong and well-defended North American homeland,” it also doubles down on a longstanding Arctic dispute between the two countries.
The United States and several other countries regard the Northwest Passage as international waters. But the Canadian government’s statement reiterates the position that “the waters of Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, including the various channels comprising the Northwest Passage, are internal waters of Canada by virtue of historic title and in accordance with international law.”
The statement does, however, commit Canada to resolving another dispute with the United States over a portion of the Beaufort Sea now claimed by both countries but offers no details on how that will be achieved. And it commits Canada to working out the final details with Denmark over the border of a tiny, uninhabited island both countries claim.
Canada also plans to revive the office of Arctic ambassador and open diplomatic posts in Alaska and Greenland. The ambassador would be Canada’s top Arctic official and would work with Indigenous groups and governments throughout the region.
Natan Obed, the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national body for the largest group of Indigenous people living in the high Arctic, said he was pleased that the government had consulted Indigenous groups in forming its policy.
Still, he said, he believed that a key step for Canada to increase its presence in the region must be to significantly improve the infrastructure.
He said that 49 of the 51 Inuit communities in the high Arctic lack road connections to anywhere else in the region.
The communities also, Mr. Obed added, lack deep seaports, leaving them accessible only by airfields built mainly during World War II and the Cold War that are now often in poor repair. Sewer and water systems are also inadequate in many Inuit settlements.
“If Canada wants to assert its sovereignty it needs to deal with the basics,” Mr. Obed said. “There is a long way to go and I hope this isn’t lost on the Canadian government.”
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