{"id":492,"date":"2023-05-28T11:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-28T11:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/?p=492"},"modified":"2023-05-25T20:58:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T20:58:37","slug":"northern-premiers-talk-arctic-sovereignty-and-security-at-annual-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/2023\/05\/28\/northern-premiers-talk-arctic-sovereignty-and-security-at-annual-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern premiers talk Arctic sovereignty and security at annual forum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Climate change and its effect on global security also major concern at meetings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Canada\u2019s territorial leaders say they want a greater role in issues such as climate change mitigation and Arctic sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At their annual Northern Premiers Forum, which wrapped up in Inuvik, N.W.T., Wednesday, they also discussed the mining of critical minerals and their role in the future of the Arctic and its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok noted that on recent visits to Alaska and Greenland he was inspired by the rapid development of new infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that in Anchorage last year, he saw the \u201cincredible investment\u201d government has made in airstrips, deepsea ports and rail lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority of Nunavut\u2019s communities remain isolated and only accessible by air or water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe lack of investment [from the federal government] is not [only] making the North vulnerable, but Canada vulnerable in the global picture,\u201d Akeeagok said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re calling on Canada to really step up and start investing on critical infrastructure that we bring forward as solutions. We\u2019re really hoping to see that shift in terms of those investments coming to the North.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a joint communique released after the forum, the premiers noted changing levels of global security as a concern, specifically citing the incursion of Chinese surveillance balloons<\/a> into Arctic airspace earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane noted the Department of National Defence briefed the trio about ongoing upgrades to the critical infrastructure of the defence system for Norad, or the North American Aerospace Defence Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, she said, the premiers expect more meaningful engagement and teamwork between National Defence, territorial governments and Indigenous leaders as defence policy evolves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The premiers also see a role for both the federal government and private sector to invest in \u201cdual-use infrastructure,\u201d including clean energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dual-use infrastructure is defence parlance for transportation networks that can be used for both civilian and defence purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cArctic sovereignty is about making sure that people have the support and the resources so that we can live in the Arctic,\u201d Cochrane said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their joint statement, the premiers said, \u201cNorad modernization could be used as a valuable tool for economic reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The premiers also discussed the ever-present threat and financial burden of climate change, noting the ongoing wildfires in the N.W.T. communities of Hay River and K\u00e1t\u0142\u2019odeeche First Nation and flooding in Fort McPherson, as recent crises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For emergency responses to climate change just for this year, \u201cwe had to put a $50-million contingency [for flooding] based on what we\u2019ve seen trend for the last number of years,\u201d said Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The premiers called on the federal government to create a \u201cnorthern-specific tax credit\u201d to bolster existing credits as a response to the operating costs of mineral exploration in the North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any resource extraction must ensure Indigenous communities and culture are not harmed, they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, the premiers said they want the federal government to work with territorial and Indigenous governments to create regulatory frameworks to ensure their inclusion in \u201ccritical mineral opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ice is receding and we must be prepared,\u201d Akeeagok said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Climate change and its effect on global security also major concern at meetings Canada\u2019s territorial leaders say they want a greater role in issues such as climate change mitigation and Arctic sovereignty. At their annual Northern Premiers Forum, which wrapped…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-habitat"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":494,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions\/494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}