Canada Calls for NATO Strategy to Safeguard the Arctic

"70% of Canada’s coastline lies in the Arctic, making the region critical to our sovereignty and national security. As threats in the Arctic continue to evolve, Canada is advocating for a strong NATO strategy to safeguard the region," Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand recently stated on X.

In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Anand says the strategy should be based on a full-blown threat assessment for the region with a focus on Russia.

“There is one country that has 17 military bases in the Arctic and has been approaching Canada’s airspace and maritime domain consistently, and that is Russia,” she emphasizes.

However, it is not primarily the threat from Russia, but the behavior of the Trump administration that has given the impetus to the Canadian initiative, Rob Huebert believes.

He is a professor of political science and director of the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies, University of Calgary.

Changed threat landscape

“Canada is now calling for a NATO strategy for the Arctic mainly because of the disruption and threat posed by the Trump administration's policies,” Huebert points out to High North News and continues:

“Traditionally, Canada has been opposed to a NATO focus on the Arctic due to concerns regarding Arctic sovereignty. The European countries have at various times called for all open Arctic waterways to be accepted as international waterways. These policies have been in conflict with the Canadian position that the Northwest Passage is internal waters."

“Later, Trump’s rhetoric about annexing Canada, as well as US economic policies toward Canada, have convinced Canadian politicians that the greater threat to Canadian Arctic sovereignty probably comes from the United States. At the same time, Canadian policy, as listed in the revised Defense Policy and the Arctic Foreign Policy, continues to recognize the threat presented by Russia and China in the region.”

Likely to gain support

Huebert believes that the Canadian initiative will be well received by NATO countries.

“Given Trump's rhetoric regarding Greenland and Denmark, I suspect that the other European countries and especially the Nordic countries will be very open to a greater role for NATO in the Arctic,” the professor argues.

“At the same time, we should remember that NATO has always had a role in the region. During the Cold War, Canada and the United Kingdom were tasked with providing direct military assistance to Norway is the Soviet Union attempted an invasion. At a later stage, Norway attempted to expand NATO’s focus on the Arctic, but this effort was not widely accepted.”

This time, however, there is a chance of broad support, he thinks.

NATO and NORAD

Huebert also argues that NATO should forge closer ties with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a US-Canadian organization responsible for aerospace warning and control for North America.

“The real challenge facing the Nordic and North American countries is how to modernize their own military capabilities in the face of the long-term Russian threat – and at the same time handle the short-term American disruption of the alliance,” he points out and continues:

“What this really calls for, as I see it, is stronger integration between NORAD and NATO. As the speed and stealth capabilities of Russian missiles are improved upon, and as lessons are learned from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, North Atlantic security will be best served by ensuring that the two organizations have a seamless integration. Prior to the problems created by Trump, there had been efforts to improve the role of Greenland within NORAD. These efforts must continue.”