Prime Minister, NATO secretary general to visit Nunavut, with spotlight on Arctic defence

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO,) will be visiting Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, on Thursday.

The two plan to discuss climate change and its impacts on defence and security, among other topics, "especially in the Arctic," Trudeau's office said.

Stoltenberg will also visit Cold Lake, Alta., with Trudeau.

"Together, we will continue working closely with allies and partners to address today's threats and security challenges, defend our values and way of life, and reinforce the rules-based international system now and into the future," Trudeau said in an Aug. 19 news release about the visit.

The stop in Cambridge Bay is significant because Canada has been attempting to avoid the Arctic security issues, said Rob Huebert, associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary. Huebert is also a senior research fellow with the Centre for Military Security and Strategic Studies.

"There have been statements since February when the war resumed that the Russians are not a land threat to Canada. Of course, that is not the threat," said Huebert, adding the real threat is "maritime and aerospace."

Cambridge Bay puts Trudeau and Stoltenberg right at the gateway of the Northwest Passage through the High Arctic Islands, which is expected to become more accessible to maritime traffic as Arctic ice melts.

At the same time as the official visit, the Operation Nanook-Nunakput military exercise, with more than 200 troops in Cambridge Bay to survey the NW Passage, is also in full swing.

"This is a good chance to show the Secretary General what Canada has been doing," Huebert said.

"He has never shown up for this before. But the exercises tend to be focused on constabulary requirements, SAR [search and rescue], pollution control, response to wildfires and flooding ... there tends to be very little attention to the war fighting capabilities that Putin now requires us to have."

Huebert said he suspects this week's visit is an effort to push Canada into taking that threat seriously.

NATO involves 30 member states, 28 European and two North American, with two new Arctic members, Finland and Sweden, have agreed to defend each other against attacks by third parties.

"All of the northern NATO members have been much more serious," said Huebert.

While in Cambridge Bay, Trudeau said he and Stoltenberg would also visit one of the sites of the North Warning System (NWS,) a part of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), a joint organization of Canada and the United States.