N.W.T. premier presses for northern infrastructure at Arctic symposium
Luke Carroll | CBC News | Posted: April 12, 2022 8:15 PM | Last Updated: April 12, 2022
Last week's Arctic Encounters Symposium gathered leaders from Arctic nations
The way to establish Arctic sovereignty and security is with infrastructure such as roads, says N.W.T. Premier Caroline Cochrane.
"If you need people to get to the Arctic and you can't if your one airport in the Arctic is closed down, at that point you need to have the infrastructure — we need road systems to communities," she said.
"So there's a benefit to Canada if they provide the infrastructure such as roads to make sure that they have Arctic security."
This was one of the premier's takeaways from the Arctic Encounter Symposium in Anchorage, Alaska, where Arctic leaders discussed security, economic development and infrastructure. Ambassadors, premiers, Indigenous leaders and U.S. Senators attended the event.
Cochrane said infrastructure such as roads has become more necessary as a result of the pandemic, when airline travel was interrupted.
"It didn't impact them like it did us," she said.
"In the South people don't even realize it, they take it for granted."
International interest in the Northwest Passage
Another infrastructure project discussed at the symposium was the Northwest Passage, a shipping route through the Canadian North that connects the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The route has opened up as a result of melting ice, providing a faster and shorter trade route from North America to Asia.
Cochrane noted that Iceland and Greenland were particularly interested in the route as a way to avoid the economic hardships both countries face from sanctions on Russia.
"If their major exporter is Russia, how could they use the Northwest Passage to actually get things into Canada?" Cochrane said.
The issue is there are essentially no major deepwater ports established along the route and Cochrane said building one is not a priority for her government.
However, both the N.W.T. and Nunavut want to discuss the development and Cochrane believes it could become a more prominent subject in Canadian politics.
"Because the sea is opening up and the opportunities and the challenges are coming really quickly," Cochrane said.
Militarization
Arctic nations also took the opportunity to discuss boosting military spending in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
That was the message from the Arctic nations' top ambassadors and U.S. senators at the same conference.
Nine leaders, including U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and several ambassadors, spoke at a 40-minute news conference last Friday.
Both Finland and Norway's ambassador said their countries are buying more than 50 F-35 fighter jets each in response to Russia's invasion, and they say they foresee a more militarized future in the Arctic.
Kate Durand, an assistant deputy minister with the Yukon Government, was at the event as well.
In an interview with Dave White, host of CBC's Airplay, she said Russia's aggression in the Ukraine does create complications for Arctic nations.
However, she said Russia's actions appeared to unify the leaders in attendance.
"There seems to be a strong acknowledgement that that cooperation is certainly challenged at this time, but despite that, strong willingness from all parties that continue to work together," she said.