Canada's military plans to be in the Arctic 'on a near permanent basis,' says commander

Canada intends to expand its military training regime in the Arctic, deploying a variety of forces in the region for up to 10 months a year, starting this year, the military's operations commander says. 

Lt.-Gen. Steve Boivin says the military's signature Far North exercise — Operation Nanook — will see additional elements created, resulting in a greater, consistent presence in a region that is increasingly the focus of geopolitical rivalry. 

The plan, says one defence expert, is an unprecedented opportunity for the Liberal government to not only demonstrate Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, but to rally NATO allies behind the country.

Michael Byers, an expert in the Arctic and geopolitics at the University of British Columbia, says major allied nations should be invited in greater numbers than they have in the past as a signal of solidarity at a time when the Trump administration has said it wants to use economic force to annex Canada — and possibly military force to swallow Greenland. 

Boivin says inviting allies is part of the plan "when it makes sense" to have them join, but the intention is a national objective to get more Canadian boots on the ground, warships in the water and planes flying over the vast expanse of territory.

"We want to be in the Arctic on a near permanent basis," Boivin told CBC News in a recent interview. "The current approach to Operation Nanook puts us in the Arctic for five to six months a year. We're looking at being there 10 plus months per year."

The Liberal government has put an increased emphasis on the Arctic, appointing a specific minister in this week's cabinet appointments and dropping an extra $420 million into the Department of National Defence budget to create a greater sustained military presence in the Far North.

Boivin said the order to expand Operation Nanook predates the Liberal government's funding announcement. Military staff was told last September to draw up a revised, expanded schedule that will see seven training regimes (instead of the usual four) conducted under the annual exercise.

The first exercise under the expanded training plan — Operation Nanook-Nunalivut — took place in February in the vicinity of Inuvik and Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories. It involved 450 Canadian troops as well as approximately 110 armed forces members from the United States, Belgium, United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Byers says the token presence of allies is important, but in the current geopolitical climate it could be leveraged to Canada's advantage even further.

"One could think imaginatively about how our allies could support Canadian sovereignty," said Byers, who added he could see Canada extending an invitation to host a larger contingent of Danish troops for an exercise that would encompass not only the Canadian Arctic, but also Greenland.

"If there's political will, there's a lot we can do in the short term that doesn't involve spending billions and billions of dollars on new equipment." 

Inviting larger numbers of European allies to conduct cold-weather exercises on Canadian soil would be a subtle, but unmistakable signal to the Trump administration that Canada has allies at its back.

But Byers says that doesn't mean the United States should be shut out of the Canadian Arctic.