Iqaluit to be home to Arctic military support hub
Defence units to also be built in Inuvik and Yellowknife, federal Defence Minister Bill Blair says
Premier P.J. Akeeagok, left, and National Defence Minister Bill Blair answer questions in Iqaluit Thursday after the announcement of three military support hubs. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Updated March 6 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Iqaluit will be one of three sites, along with Inuvik and Yellowknife, for new operational support hubs to serve “critical military objectives” in the Arctic.
“Each of these locations has been identified as an ideal site for the network based on their geography and the strong military ties that only exist here in this community,” Bill Blair, the minister of national defence, said at the military’s Iqaluit Forward Operating Location near the airport on Thursday.
The announcement — made inside a hangar where a Royal Canadian Air Force jet was parked — was attended by about a dozen officials along with Canadian rangers.
The hubs are a key pillar of the Liberal government’s $81.1-billion defence policy that was introduced in April.
They will cost $2.67 billion over 20 years and the money will go toward airstrips, logistics facilities, and equipment to help the Canadian Armed Forces better “assert Canadian sovereignty,” said a Department of National Defence news release issued with the announcement.
The price tag rose from the $218 million that was initially planned for the project after “discussion” with local partners, Blair said.
“Today’s announcement is an important step towards the work that we need to do to fortify our defence capabilities,” Premier P.J. Akeeagok said at the announcement, adding that the hub in Iqaluit will include “multi-purpose infrastructure” that will meet the needs of the local community.
That would include operational support for emergency response, search and rescue operations, and infrastructure like roads and housing that could be used for civilian purposes as well, Blair said.
Currently, the Canadian Armed Forces has four operational support hubs, all of them overseas — in Germany, Kuwait, Jamaica and Senegal.
When asked, Blair didn’t specify the timeline for those projects to be completed, but said there is “an urgency to making those investments.”
The military has tried to learn from the experience of the Nanisivik Naval Facility, Blair said. The completion of that facility has been delayed multiple times over the past two decades and is now in limbo.
Blair’s announcement comes a month after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre came to Iqaluit on Feb. 10 to pledge to build a permanent military base in the community within the first two years if he becomes prime minister.
The base was part of Poilievre’s plan to “take control of our North, secure all of our borders and stand on our own two feet,” he said in February.
The proposed base would be big enough to host a full Royal Canadian Air Force command unit and to launch and land new F-35 fighter jets and Poseidon P-8 surveillance aircraft.
“I think it would make sense if the protection of the Arctic is done by the military,” Amittuq MLA Joelie Kaernerk said of Poilievre’s proposal Thursday in the legislative assembly.
“This is very important now and it’s becoming more dangerous. [We] start worrying about armies coming or something,” he said, adding that he would like to see more military infrastructure in the high Arctic.
Unlike Blair’s announcement on Thursday, Akeeagok did not attend Poilievre’s event at the Iqaluit Airport. Afterward, he asked for the Conservative leader’s “explicit recognition” that his Arctic platform will be developed in partnership with Inuit.
“I think he sees the political necessity of at least attempting to demonstrate that he cares,” Blair said Thursday in criticizing Poilievre for not notifying the Nunavut government of his plans before making the promise.
“This is not about slogans. It’s about the hard work that we have to do together.”
Note: This article was updated to include more information on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s proposal and comments from MLA Joelie Kaernerk
As everyone can see, there must be an election in the offing. All of the “announcements” being made are almost identical to what the Conservatives have announced previously. I think the NDP/Liberals are in desperation mode.
They have to get their ideas from some where. Most of what is being promised i have heard Pierre say first.
Z
And the naysayers fail to recognize the obvious as usual
Name one single piece of legislation and/or policy PP has been able to get implemented…
Do they need to ask the people of the north or is that only for the cons?
Why should they need ‘consent’ when it comes to national defense? Of course, the liberals will undoubtedly pretend to ask, but don’t read too much into it.
Yea very well said, and every base should be recognized that it’s on stolen land! Our home on native land!
Nonsense.
Remember this little Land Claim Agreement thingy?
I think some Inuit and Feds had negotiations and… Agreed.😱
Besides, if trouble comes knocking, who you gonna call?
Ghost Busters or Nunavut “Power Rangers”?
Indeed, they ceded their land to Canada. So, the idea that this is stolen land is factually untrue.
This can be found in the NLCA. I posted it yesterday but the luminaries at NN decided not to allow the comment, being the purveyors of ignorance they are. I doubt a single journalist at this publication has ever read the Agreement.
I’ll support that when I see the first Inuk stand up in the leg and express regret for his or her ancestor’s replacing the north’s original inhabitants. Population replacement should be acknowledged.
You mean the Tuniit?
I don’t think your claims are substantiated by known history. Even surface level googling will shoot down your story.
How about Inuit oral history?
From ‘Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut’: “Before there were any Inuit, the first people were called Tuniit. They were strong, but the Inuit killed them and took their land away.”
No, they don’t, and that is as it should be.
Consent of any one of Canada’s ethnic groups is in no way needed when acting for the good of the whole.
Nice to have, but not necessary.
This is a dumb decision. Nunavut was not founded on the premise that Iqaluit should suck up everything “good” that creates wealth. We talk of defending the Northwest Passage. So build it in Resolute – which already has substantial infrastructure and is on the NWP. Or build it at the terminus of the Gray’s Bay Road, when built – also on the NWP. This decision is just easy and stupid. Let’s hope a new federal government reverses it.
Kenn, you off all people should be able to consider the practical realities of Arctic infrastructure before calling this decision “stupid.”
Resolute, while strategically located, would require billions in additional investment—paved runway, deep-sea port, expanded tank farms, and even basic contractors to support that work—to function as a viable military hub. 10x so for Gray’s Bay, which doesn’t even exist yet other then a line on the map.
Iqaluit, on the other hand, already has critical infrastructure in place: a deep-sea port, an international-standard paved airport, and established businesses to support rapid military expansion. This investment allows Canada to strengthen its Arctic presence now, not decades down the line, addressing immediate security concerns in a timely manner.
The goal here isn’t just sovereignty—it’s also about capability!
A large military base needs a sizeable civilian population to support it or the cost is much higher. The more remote, the more expensive. Iqaluit is the only NU place that offers population with a deep sea port in Canada’s eastern arctic. Plus it has the military grade extra thick, reinforced runway that’s extra long and can land heavy transports and bombers.
Imagine one day when things have escalated to the point, where we get to sit in our homes and look out to the bay, and we watch rockets firing off to the fat north-north, north-west, north-east. What a spectacle that would be!
Oh look, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s another photo op. Premier P.J. Akeeagok and his Liberal pals pose in a hangar, looking like they’re about to challenge Putin to a thumb war.
Politics is supposed to be about real work, real change, not this endless parade of staged grins and jet-backed platitudes for later. This Premier’s obsession or addiction to staged photo ops needs an intervention.
Politics is about a lot of things, electoral politics, sadly, necessitates an extraordinary amount of image management. Granted, for some governments this becomes a preoccupation that detracts from the real work you mention.
Noise pollution?
Less animals around?
Sounds like time to ask Ukraine for advice on how to defend an airport.
Why is this one welcomed but not the conservatives announcement?
Oh, I don’t know, maybe because the only thing the current conservative leadership can offer is TRuDeAU BaD and nothing else
If you haven’t paid attention and are unable to even acknowledge the incompetence and corruption of this government I’m not sure what value you have to add here?
Help me out?
No useful wildlife around the land anyway.