Canada’s Arctic sovereignty: Why it matters, and why time matters more

Former chief of defence staff Tom Lawson argues that decades of Arctic sovereignty rhetoric without adequate investment have left Canada vulnerable, as melting ice opens new shipping routes and other nations eye the region's resources.

Unless you have spent long hours flying over Canada’s Arctic, it is difficult to grasp its scale, its harshness, or its emptiness. And yet this forbidding territory is becoming one of the most strategically important parts of our country’s future.

Why does it matter? Who else is interested in it? And what must Canada do to protect its sovereignty?

The supply flight from the air base in Trenton, Ont. to Canadian Forces Station Alert, the northernmost station on Ellesmere Island, takes roughly the same time as to fly from Trenton to Ireland. And from about an hour north of Trenton onward, there are almost no settlements to see; only rock, ice, water, and wilderness.

Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, more than 36,000 islands north of the mainland, is home to just 25,000 people. By comparison, the United Kingdom is six times smaller in area and home to 70 million people. Many of these islands are ice-covered year-round, and the most northerly endure months of continuous winter darkness. This land may look empty and inhospitable, but it is far from worthless.

For decades, scientists have known the Arctic holds vast reserves of oil, gas, and critical minerals. Climate change and advancing technology are now making those resources increasingly accessible. At the same time, melting ice is opening maritime routes through the waterways between the islands.