Prime Minister Mark Carney announced investments into the military’s infrastructure and presence in the Arctic and into Nunavut infrastructure while visiting its capital of Iqaluit on Tuesday — the first domestic trip of his leadership of Canada.
Carney announced Canada will be working alongside Australia to build an early warning radar system along the Canada-U.S. border into the Arctic. Canada is investing more than $6 billion into the project, money that was already outlined in the modernization plan for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) announced in 2022.
He is set to speak further about the announcement at 1:30 ET in Iqaluit.
“The radar system’s long-range surveillance and threat-tracking capabilities will detect and deter threats across the North,” reads a press release from Carney’s office. Australia, it said, is a “long-standing defence partner” and will help make sure the system is developed and deployed quickly.
The federal government says it’s also investing $420 million in new money to protect Canada’s sovereignty of land, water and sea. The money will allow the Canadian Armed Forces to have a “greater, sustained and year-round” presence in the Arctic, and will expand its training and deployment in the North, the release said.
Carney also announced new infrastructure investments worth $253 million in the North: $94 million to upgrade power plants in Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Igloolik and Iqaluit; $74 million for affordable housing; $66 million to build and repair homes; and $20 million to Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation for the first phase of its hydroelectricity facility outside of Iqaluit.
Carney had meetings scheduled Tuesday with Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok as well as Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
“The announcements today will strengthen Canada’s Arctic security, bolster partnerships with our closest allies, unleash the North’s full economic potential and reaffirm reconciliation efforts with First Nations, Inuit and Metis,” Carney said in the release. “We are strong, united and sovereign.”
