THE VIEW | Canada Can't Afford to Lose the North

The north is our strength.

In 1945, Canada's Wartime Information Board published a poster bearing "The New North. This is Our Strength" above a painting by A.Y. Jackson, a founding member of the Group of Seven. It showed the aurora borealis, a convoy of trucks crossing a frozen landscape, a single aircraft overhead. Beneath it: "The doors of the Canadian north open on Asia and Europe. The Alaska Highway, new air fields, oil and mineral developments, make this area a strategic centre both for war needs and the future." 

That was eight decades ago. 

The infrastructure behind that confidence was real. The Alaska Highway had just been built to supply the war effort. For a few years, all eyes were on the north. Then the war ended, and the attention drifted south. The highway stayed, but the broader ambition it represented faded over time. The infrastructure aged. The investment dried up. The north, and the Indigenous peoples who had lived on and stewarded that land for thousands of years, were quietly forgotten. 

More than 80 years later, the world is looking north again. But this time, bridges are being built to last, not abandoned when the crisis has disappeared. And the Indigenous peoples who have long protected these lands and helped uphold Canada's Arctic sovereignty, yet were once overlooked, are now the ones holding the equity

Image: A.Y. Jackson, “This is Our Strength (The New North),” 1945. Wartime Information Board. Collection of the Canadian War Museum (19900076-806).

What's In The North

Canada's north holds a significant share of the country's critical mineral wealth, and is one of the few countries that holds deposits across nearly all of the 34 minerals on its critical minerals list. In uranium, Canada holds roughly 23 per cent of global reserves, the second largest position in the world. It ranks among the top ten global producers of cobalt, graphite, lithium, nickel, copper and zinc. 

These are the materials that keep the modern world running. 

Lithium and cobalt are essential for electric vehicle batteries. Copper is used in power grids, EV motors, wind turbines and solar panels. Nickel is vital for stainless steel and large scale energy storage. Zinc protects bridges, power towers, pipelines and ports from rust and corrosion. Tungsten is used in defence equipment and industrial tools, as NATO countries increase military spending. Platinum group metals are used in catalytic converters and hydrogen fuel cells. Rare earths are in every wind turbine blade and every smartphone. Uranium feeds the nuclear capacity several countries are now expanding rather than retiring. 

Nunavut holds 23 of the 34 minerals on Canada's critical minerals list, with iron ore already in production at the Mary River mine. The Northwest Territories hold 22 of the 34, alongside an estimated 16.2 trillion cubic feet of conventional natural gas and 1.2 billion barrels of discovered oil. Yukon holds 27 of the 34, including copper, zinc, tungsten, nickel and platinum group elements. 

Further south, though nearly everything is south of the Arctic, zinc and copper concentrates from Manitoba and Saskatchewan are travelling by rail to the Port of Churchill for shipment to European markets. 

Churchill is not the only corridor under development. In the central Arctic, a proposed 900 kilometre route would connect Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories to a new deep water port at Grays Bay on Nunavut's Arctic coast, creating the first permanent road and port link between Canada's highway network and the Northwest Passage.⁸ ⁹ ¹⁰ 

The minerals essential to producing cellphones, computers and electric vehicles pass through these corridors. The same materials go into the weapons and defence systems that nations depend on. Without a sufficient and stable supply, economic output slows and defence readiness weakens. 

In 2026, the demand has never been higher. Geopolitical tensions remain unpredictable. And the race for a stable supply system becomes even more critical.

 A Canada That Can Stand On Its Own

We are working towards a Canada that can stand on its own, where Canadians are not left as collateral damage in disputes between competing powers. 

The past two years have made the cost of that vulnerability painfully clear. US tariff actions have disrupted Canadian supply chains. It taught a painful lesson: that even an ally, and our largest trading partner, can become a source of economic instability. And right now, China dominates the critical minerals supply chain, not just through its mineral reserves, but through its control of processing. It refines most of the world's rare earths and a significant share of other critical minerals, including those mined in other countries. This gives China a major advantage: countries may have the resources, but without the capacity to process them, they still depend on China to make them usable. 

History has shown us, time and again, that over reliance on other nations leaves countries vulnerable when turmoil strikes. 

We saw it in the commodity shocks and inflation that followed when war erupted in the Middle East. We saw it again when Russia's invasion of Ukraine drove up electricity costs for UK households. If US-China tensions escalate into wider trade disruption, even the minerals needed to manufacture the batteries in our phones and electric vehicles could become harder to secure. 

The stakes are too high to wait and do nothing.

"A country that can't feed itself, fuel itself or defend itself has few options. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself."— Prime Minister Mark Carney, World Economic Forum, Davos, 20 January 2026⁷

Ottawa has committed $1.5 billion to a Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund and launched a $2 billion Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund to support equity investments and loan guarantees. These are important first steps, but more will be needed to meet the scale of the challenge. Canada has also designated certain critical minerals for stockpiling under the Defence Production Act. Through the G7 Critical Minerals Production Alliance, it is working with allies to diversify supply chains and reduce dependence on China and Russia. 

Canada has learned from its history. Canada knows what's at stake. And Canada is moving. 

But securing critical minerals is only part of the challenge. Canada must also ensure it can access, develop and protect the resources it holds. In the Arctic, that means confronting a bigger question: what does sovereignty mean if the infrastructure and the presence to maintain it are not there?

Sovereignty in the Arctic

This is about more than protecting what is ours. It's about making sure what is ours can be held. 

Canada controls the largest share of Arctic territory after Russia. But Russia never stopped treating its north as central to its national story. Canada did. Russia's Northern Sea Route already moves over 36 million tonnes of cargo a year, cutting the distance between Murmansk and Yokohama by more than half compared with the Suez Canal route.⁶ Russia has stated ambitions to reach 220 million tonnes annually by 2030. Canada's Arctic, by contrast, held strategic value on paper while receiving a fraction of the investment, presence and attention that Russia sustained in its own north across the same decades. 

The potential consequences of that gap grow as climate change reshapes the region. As Arctic ice recedes, the north becomes more accessible, more navigable and more commercially viable. 

That also means it draws attention from every direction, including from allies. The pressure around Greenland earlier this year showed how quickly Arctic sovereignty can move from background diplomacy to live geopolitical tension. It was the United States, not Russia or China, that raised the prospect of acquiring Arctic territory from a NATO ally. 

The Northwest Passage sits at the centre of this challenge. Canada maintains that it constitutes internal waters, a position the United States has never formally accepted. For decades, the disagreement was managed through diplomacy and the assumption that stability would hold.² But as Arctic access expands and geopolitical competition intensifies, that assumption is under greater strain.

“We're working with our NATO allies, including the Nordic Baltic Eight, to further secure the alliance's northern and western flanks, including through Canada's unprecedented investments in over-the-horizon radar, in submarines, in aircraft and boots on the ground, boots on the ice."— Prime Minister Mark Carney, World Economic Forum, Davos, 20 January 2026⁷

One of Canada's clearest expressions of Arctic sovereignty dates to 1947, when the Canadian Rangers were formed to patrol the north. Made up largely of Inuit and other northern Indigenous members, they have spent nearly 80 years conducting sovereignty patrols, search and rescue operations and surveillance.³ Long before new ports or federal investment arrived, they were already protecting the region. 

Yet northern communities in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon continue to face inadequate ports, fragile energy systems and limited connectivity. These infrastructure gaps leave a resource rich region vulnerable as geopolitical competition intensifies. 

New corridors could help close that gap. In the central Arctic, a proposed 900 kilometre route would connect Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories to a new deep water port at Grays Bay on Nunavut's Arctic coast, creating the first permanent road and port link between Canada's highway network and the Northwest Passage.⁸ ⁹ ¹⁰ 

Further south, the Port of Churchill offers an example of what Indigenous owned infrastructure can achieve. Arctic Gateway Group operates the port, the Hudson Bay Railway and related freight and marine facilities. Churchill is the only deep water port on Canada's Arctic coast connected to the national rail network, giving Indigenous communities a direct stake in the infrastructure linking the region to global markets. 

That model is attracting international capital. In October 2026, Dubai based DP World signed a memorandum of understanding with Arctic Gateway Group and CentrePort Canada to explore port operations and a transport corridor connecting Churchill to its global logistics network.¹ The discussions followed the UAE's C$70 billion investment commitment to Canada. “Containers could move by rail to Churchill and on to European markets, with transit times comparable to the Red Sea and Suez Canal route,” says Chris Avery, CEO of Arctic Gateway Group. 

A full expansion would cost $57 billion. 

Federal policy is moving in the same direction. The Building Canada Act and the Major Projects Office aim to streamline approvals and coordinate financing for nationally significant projects. Churchill is emerging as a potential strategic trade corridor, connecting Indigenous ownership, international capital and Canada's broader Arctic ambitions. 

Eight Decades Later

For more than 80 years, Canada has understood the strategic value of its north. What has taken far longer is building the infrastructure, securing the investment and establishing the partnerships needed to realise it. 

The minerals remain. The geography remains. So does the vision of the north as a gateway between Asia and Europe. What has changed is that the pieces are finally coming together: transport corridors are advancing, federal approvals are evolving, Indigenous equity is reshaping ownership, and global demand is growing. 

Long before today's infrastructure took shape, Inuit negotiated the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, the largest land claims settlement in Canadian history.⁴ The 1945 poster imagined a future for the north. Then the momentum faded. 

Eight decades later, the world is looking north again. Corridors are being built. Indigenous peoples hold equity. Sovereign capital is arriving. Canada cannot afford to let this moment pass. 

The north is Canada's strength. 

It was then, and even more so now.

The View is an editorial by Mark Magnacca, Co-Chair and CEO of the Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum.

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