Northern premiers outline priorities ahead of meeting with Prime Minister

With Canada’s premiers set to meet with the Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa this week, the three territorial premiers are laying out their priorities for the meeting.

Discussions were initially going to focus on what was already a fractious trade relationship with the United States. Carney met with his provincial and territorial counterparts virtually throughout 2025.

But that was then.

In the days leading up to the premiers’ meeting with Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump’s overt desire to take control of the Danish territory of Greenland grabbed international attention. World leaders responded, taking issue with the Trump administration’s messaging and reasoning regarding a potential takeover of the island.

The issue has, once again, raised the importance of Canada’s sovereignty in its own part of the Arctic. The three territorial premiers stressed the role that their jurisdictions, and people, play in that conversation.

“Up here, we have infrastructure that [was] built in the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, and not a lot since then,” Northwest Territories Premier R.J. Simpson said.

Simpson said asserting sovereignty in the Arctic isn’t only about establishing a military presence, but investing in the people who live there too.

“When you look at a map and you see infrastructure there, you see highways and communities, that’s sovereignty,” he said. “That’s our role, is [to assert] Canada’s sovereignty in the North. That’s what the people of the North do every day.”

For Nunavut Premier John Main, the Greenland issue is more acute. Earlier this month he said Nunavut stands in solidarity with Greenland, adding that fresh interest in the island is “deeply concerning.”

With Main present, Nunavut House Speaker David Joanasie even helped raised the Greenland flag at the territorial legislature. Roughly 70 Iqaluit residents also took part in a rally in support of Greenland.

“There’s familial links between Nunavut and Greenland,” Main said in an interview with CBC News. “[There are] strong links through Inuit ancestry and Inuit culture across both jurisdictions.”

Yukon Premier Currie Dixon is also in an interesting position, with Alaska right next door to the territory. Dixon said the territory’s relationship with the state has been caught up in the bigger Canada-U.S. conflict, but addedt he will use the opportunity this week to see what role the Yukon-Alaska relationship can play.

“There will continue to be a relationship between Yukon and Alaska,” Dixon said, providing the example of a team from Alaska travelling to Whitehorse for the upcoming Arctic Winter Games.

“That competition will be fierce but friendly.”