By Peter M. Sanderson, 2 April 2025
1. Arctic Sovereignty Bases.
The Inuit (the people) live in four homelands (nunas), map #1 below (Credit: Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami via Statistics Canada). -
The federal gov’t is responsible for protecting the sovereignty and the environment of these homelands. But when you look at map #2 (provided by author) below, you wonder what their criteria is. As it is in the centre, Resolute should be the main Arctic base, while Banks Island is the natural guardian of the Northwest Passage. Why have no federal funds been spent here?
Consultations should have started yesterday. The military base at Resolute and the naval base at Banks Island would be multi-year projects, after our Nanisivik experience, Canada should create an international consortium of Arctic marine construction specialists from the Netherlands, Norway and Finland to get the job done, see reference #1. We should also think about the future, by building a basin for fishing boats while we are building the naval base, plus foundations for a fish plant, school and civic centre. Since Norway has provided the use of the Arctic industrial port of Grotsund to US submarines, for crew change and resupply in the Eastern Arctic, we should anticipate a future ‘ask’ in our Western Arctic. The Arctic is melting, if Canada is not ready for the volume of ships traveling east and west through our pristine NW Passage, it will become a 1,450 km long sewer – a failure of fiduciary responsibility by the federal government. -
2. NW Passage rules to protect the environment.
With the Panama Canal in the news, I read the treaty relating to the turnover of the canal. It is short, in plain English, an easy read and a testament to President Jimmy Carter. If you want to get the shipping community on side, the NW Passage should adopt the same rules as the Panama Canal. Admittedly, the NW Passage will be more of a full-service marine ‘toll road’ that provides: advanced navigation aids; weather and ice reports; ice breaker service; salvage tug service; chemical clean up service; and medical rescue/ambulance flight service. In the new Arctic, there will be lots of Inuit employment opportunities.
3. Greenland and the Unification of the North American Inuit.
When I saw map #3 (Credit: Asybaris01 on Wikimedia Commons), I had an epiphany. The ‘Greenland issue’ is not about the location of a strategic island – it’s about righting a long overdue wrong – it’s about unifying the N.A. Inuit.
If Greenland’s fate was to decided in a card game played by Russia, China, the USA and Canada, the universe has dealt Canada four aces:
Ace of hearts: GG Mary Simon, who is Inuit, when you read her bio you realize she was born to lead this project;
Ace of diamonds: Canada is the only country with a fleet of Arctic OPVs that can patrol Greenland’s EEZ;
Ace of clubs: The Inuit homelands are fully functional with governance over resources;
Ace of spades: The Canadian Resource Industry’s decades long record of collaboration with Indigenous communities, can now be flaunted – completed projects can be visited and shown to be left better than when they arrived – “respect for the land.”
References:
1. https://www.navalreview.ca/2025/02/the-nanisivik-naval-facility/
