The North, clearly examined
Independent research and analysis on the decisions shaping Canada's North.
Reporting suggests Ottawa is scoping out arrangements with Brussels short of full membership. The details are developing, but the defence and Arctic dimensions are already on the record.
Mark Carney's latest Forward Guidance video pairs an unusually frank admission of cost with a longer argument about national structure. The most consequential passage may be a single metaphor.
Canada's position on the Northwest Passage has been settled for four decades. The waters of the Arctic Archipelago are internal waters, held through historic title and the 1986 straight baselines. The longer task is keeping a working presence in them, and the Arctic sets its own pace for that work.
With Ottawa's review of the F-35 procurement still open, the comparison with Saab's Gripen E is less a contest between airframes than a question about the mission, the basing model and the industrial relationships Canada is choosing for the next four decades.
Ottawa has committed tens of billions of dollars to Arctic defence capability since 2022. The record so far shows a persistent gap between funding announcements and delivered infrastructure.
Nunavut and Nunatsiavut both emerged from Inuit land claims negotiated a generation apart, but they chose structurally different models of governance.
Federal subsidy spending on northern food access has grown steadily for over a decade. Food insecurity rates in Nunavut remain among the highest recorded in Canada.
Released in 2019 and co-developed with more than 25 Indigenous and territorial governments, Canada's Arctic and Northern Policy Framework set goals to 2030 without binding enforcement mechanisms.
Maritime claims, the law of the sea, surveillance capability and the record of Canadian presence above 60.
Canada's position on the Northwest Passage has been settled for four decades. The waters of the Arctic Archipelago are internal waters, held through historic title and the 1986 straight baselines. The longer task is keeping a working presence in them, and the Arctic sets its own pace for that work.
Continental defence commitments, NORAD modernization, northern basing and the gap between funding and delivered capability.
With Ottawa's review of the F-35 procurement still open, the comparison with Saab's Gripen E is less a contest between airframes than a question about the mission, the basing model and the industrial relationships Canada is choosing for the next four decades.
Ottawa has committed tens of billions of dollars to Arctic defence capability since 2022. The record so far shows a persistent gap between funding announcements and delivered infrastructure.
Land claims agreements, self-government and public government models, and the record of implementation.
Nunavut and Nunatsiavut both emerged from Inuit land claims negotiated a generation apart, but they chose structurally different models of governance.
Northern mining and processing projects assessed against national benefit, regional benefit, Indigenous inclusion and sustainability.
A working standard for evaluating northern mining projects — national benefit, regional benefit, Indigenous inclusion, and sustainability — and why each criterion is harder to satisfy than it sounds.
Two decades of operation have left Canada with high-Arctic mining infrastructure, a documented benefit model and hard-won operating knowledge. Converting that foundation into a durable critical minerals asset is the work of the next decade.
Transportation, energy, housing and food systems in the North, assessed against federal spending and measured outcomes.
Federal subsidy spending on northern food access has grown steadily for over a decade. Food insecurity rates in Nunavut remain among the highest recorded in Canada.
Federal frameworks, estimates, committee records and the machinery through which northern policy is made.
Mark Carney's latest Forward Guidance video pairs an unusually frank admission of cost with a longer argument about national structure. The most consequential passage may be a single metaphor.
Released in 2019 and co-developed with more than 25 Indigenous and territorial governments, Canada's Arctic and Northern Policy Framework set goals to 2030 without binding enforcement mechanisms.
Longer-form examination of how northern policy files fit together, and what the public record does and does not settle.
Reporting suggests Ottawa is scoping out arrangements with Brussels short of full membership. The details are developing, but the defence and Arctic dimensions are already on the record.
A cluster of proposed road, port, and power projects in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are being justified simultaneously as economic, defence, and sovereignty infrastructure.
