Trump throws down the Arctic gauntlet: get ready for a rocky summer
On Monday, May 6, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a jaw-droppingly aggressive speech to the Arctic Council. In his remarks, he focused on Russian and Chinese activity in the region, but more surprisingly made time to call out the Canadian position in the Northwest Passage, deriding its “illegitimate” sovereignty and reminding the audience […]
North Policy Briefing
Northern Canada facing the climate change challenge in practical, culturally meaningful ways
The threat of climate change to property and infrastructure has become increasingly apparent to Canadians. With increasing intensity and frequency, forest fires and floods are having a devastating impact on all kinds of communities, whether rural or urban. But imagine a world where climate change puts your way of life and cultural identity at risk. […]
Feds, Irving need to clean up their act and find a better PR move than threatening reporters
OTTAWA—Last week the Globe and Mail broke the story about Irving Shipbuilding being allowed to claim a $40-million industrial benefit for a french fry factory as part of a contract to build navy ships. As odd as this might sound, that was not the bizarre part of this news story. Shortly after the Globe and […]
‘The model doesn’t make any sense’: Senators, Inuit orgs call for Nutrition North transformation
A federal program that subsidizes the cost of sending perishable food to remote communities has a “model that doesn’t make any sense” for northerners, according to Senators who live in the territories and the organizations that represent their communities. Following a new study that questioned the effectiveness in the program in Nunavut, some hope that […]
Defence update: Arctic offshore and patrol vessels and the Nanisivik Naval Facility
The first major naval vessels built in Canada since the mid-1990s are now beginning to emerge from the Halifax Shipyards. The Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPV), announced by prime minister Stephen Harper in 2007, are versatile ice-strengthened patrol ships that will be used for a variety of missions including coastal surveillance, SAR, drug interdiction, […]
Time is ticking for MPs, Senators to pass human rights bills
There is an enormous amount of consequential human rights legislation approaching the parliamentary finish line. The time to get it across shrinks daily. Only four sitting weeks remain in this session of Parliament for MPs, five for Senators. Rather than return to Parliament in the fall, MPs will be out hustling for votes. That means […]
No funding makes Indigenous child welfare bill ‘weak, deficient, and broken,’ witness says, but others urge MPs to ‘get it passed’
Regardless of whether witnesses testifying before a House committee studying the Indigenous child welfare bill thought it should live or die, all agreed the law lacked “critically important” funding that would make the intent of the bill hard to fulfill. One of four amendments brought forward by the Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry […]
Super powers cranking up interest in Arctic, Canada asleep at the switch
The world and Canadians, in particular, are asleep about the Arctic. All the super powers are cranking up their interest and asserting a presence in the Arctic. It is a huge, largely unmanned resource-rich territory that is indefensible and, in lieu of its riches, in a rapidly expanding global world, is likely the terrain for […]
Mike Pompeo just gave Canada’s 2019 election one of its more emotional issues, Arctic sovereignty
HALIFAX, N.S.—For a country obsessed with Russian interference in its national elections, Trumpty Dumpty’s America is doing a pretty good job of interfering in ours. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has just given Canada’s 2019 election one of its more emotional issues—Arctic sovereignty. Once again, at least for now, Justin Trudeau has fumbled the […]
