Nowrth section

Ottawa & policy

Federal frameworks, estimates, committee records and the machinery through which northern policy is made.

Reading the Prime Minister's tariff address: Reassurance, candour, and a new iron spine

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.

By Nowrth Staff·September 10, 2026·7 min read

Ottawa & policy

A framework without a deadline: Assessing Canada's Arctic and Northern Policy Framework

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.

By Nowrth Staff·August 24, 2026·5 min read

Daily briefing

The Northern playbook

Five developments worth your attention.

Law of the seaCanadian waters: The Northwest Passage and the work of holding it
Canada holds the waters of the Arctic Archipelago as internal waters, and keeps that position intact through the 1988 Arctic Cooperation Agreement while the United States and the EU see the passage differently.
Continental defenceBuilding presence: Canada's Arctic defence investments and the infrastructure gap
NORAD modernization is a 20-year, $38.6-billion program announced in 2022, with its main surveillance capabilities scheduled well into the 2030s.
ImplementationTwo Paths to Self-Determination: Public Government and Indigenous Self-Government in the North
A new ten-year Implementation Contract under the Nunavut Agreement was signed in March 2025, thirty-two years after the original land claim.
Food systemsThe cost of distance: Food security policy in Canada's North
Recent survey data put food insecurity at roughly 76 per cent in Nunavut, against sustained growth in Nutrition North subsidy spending since 2011.
To 2030A framework without a deadline: Assessing Canada's Arctic and Northern Policy Framework
The Arctic and Northern Policy Framework reports through an annual Leadership Committee, without a legislated compliance mechanism for its 2030 goals.