Foreign Affairs Committee on Jan. 29th, 2026

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Chair, I think it's perfectly legitimate to give my turn to Ms. Idlout.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Qujannamiik.

Thank you so much, Alexis, for sharing your time. I really appreciate it.

I want to ask about a specific project that's been supported by the Nunavut Association of Municipalities. The association drew up a resolution asking for the federal government to fund a search and rescue base in Sanirajak.

Premier Main, could you speak to that, to how that would help keep the Arctic secure and to how that could maybe be beneficial to better foreign relations, knowing that Canada is doing what it can to keep the Arctic secure?

[John Main]

The Nunavut Association of Municipalities is an important stakeholder to us as a government. We work with it on any number of different issues, including community, public safety, infrastructure and recreation. It's an important group, and we do take its resolutions seriously.

I'm not going to speak specifically to Sanirajak. I think I'll speak more broadly in terms of the territory as a whole.

We recognize that search and rescue capabilities are important and that safety for harvesters is important. If you look at the map of Nunavut, you'll see that there are no links in between communities. However, there are links. People are travelling back and forth between communities by boat and by snowmobile. That's Inuit traditional knowledge in action. Those trails do exist; the routes do exist. As a government, we have an interest in wanting to support the safety of our residents, no matter where they are. Search and rescue is one of those key assets that we need in every community so that when emergencies do arise, human lives and safety can be protected.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

This is a question for both of you.

Do you think that the $1-billion Arctic infrastructure fund will be enough to help keep the Arctic secure?

[John Main]

It's encouraging to see that Arctic infrastructure fund being allocated, but I think the proof will be in seeing where the money goes and how it's given out. If it's disbursed widely, I doubt that it will be enough to meet our needs. If it's targeted properly, it's an encouraging first step.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

We next go to MP Kronis.

You have five minutes.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Thank you very much for being here. This is an incredibly interesting session, and it's a really important one. I appreciate your candour and your sharing your experiences with us.

One of my nephews is a Rubik's cube fan. Sometimes, when you're sitting there and you can't solve a puzzle, one of the things you need to do is turn the cube around. The incredible thing about looking at this country from the perspective of the north and the perspective of the Arctic is that it helps get us off the idea that we have one neighbour. In the Arctic, you have seven or eight neighbours and China, which is showing an awfully close interest in the goings-on up there these days.

I think the topics you're bringing up around quality of life are very important, but I thought we might take a bit of a deviation from that in one round.

Could you share with us some of the things you see as you look across the ocean and into other countries, through your cultural relationships with other indigenous peoples who are in the northern parts of those countries? Share with us the really valuable things those countries are doing in their north that we should maybe consider doing in ours.

I'm happy to have either one of you start on the interesting projects and things they're doing. How are their norths changing, and what should we be doing to respond?

[John Main]

That's a great question. If you look around the circumpolar north and the circumpolar Arctic, and you look at Nunavut, for example, you'll see just a staggering lack of infrastructure and investment.

I spent a brief time in Norway when I was still a student. Look at the highway up to Tromsø. It was extremely expensive for the government. Engineering-wise, it was a huge challenge. They took it on and it's built, and now you have a city there in the high Arctic that is flourishing.

I believe your committee should be looking at these other jurisdictions that have invested in the past decades. It didn't happen overnight. They put in place this foundational infrastructure for their north, and they're reaping the rewards. That's what we from Nunavut have been advocating for. We've been advocating for these types of foundational investments in terms of building the country north. They haven't happened yet. We're looking for them to start sometime soon.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Do you have an example?

[R.J. Simpson]

I haven't travelled extensively to the circumpolar world, but I've looked at maps and I see the infrastructure on the maps, and there's a notable gap in Canada's Arctic. When I was down in the United States, in D.C., with the rest of the premiers, I spoke with a lot of our allies down there—we have a lot of allies and a lot of representatives—and even they expressed concern that Canada's Arctic is the soft underbelly of North America when it comes to security. I think we need more security infrastructure. Because of the population density of some of the other Arctic nations, they can do more with things like education. Once we get that infrastructure in place, we can start looking at those.

I'll say we do some things well in the north. I think reconciliation and working with indigenous peoples is one of our highlights that we can share with the rest of the world.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

That was actually going to be my follow-up question, because the impact of development and investment in the north will inevitably be population growth. I'm wondering if you're concerned about the special culture of the north in Canada being diluted.

What measures can we take, or what can you do to help preserve that unique culture and your way of life as that development happens?

[R.J. Simpson]

I would start by saying I'm not too worried about population growth. You have to be a certain type of person to live in the north, and there are plenty of opportunities. There are already more jobs than there are people, and we can't get people to move north because it's cold. However, there's a lot that we can do and that we need to do in terms of preserving cultures, education, language and all of those types of things.

Given the time, I'll hand it over to Premier Main.

[John Main]

As a non-indigenous person, I'm not really comfortable answering that question. However, in terms of dilution of demographics, Nunavut is 85% Inuit in population.

In terms of population growth, though, we are already dealing with the challenges. Our communities, some of them, if you look at them per capita, are the most rapidly growing places in all of the country, and it's organic growth. We have a very high birth rate in our communities—not all of them—so we're dealing with the challenges that come with that, in terms of housing, drinking water, energy, economic opportunity. We already have that population growth happening. If there are foundational investments in infrastructure that bring more investment and population growth to the north, we will make sure we're keeping up with that growth. However, we would welcome foundational investments in infrastructure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

Next we go to MP Tim Watchorn.

Welcome to the committee. You have five minutes.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I had to go to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to talk about infrastructure. I'm a civil engineer, so I'm passionate about infrastructure. I think it's very important to talk about it.

I would like to talk about one project in particular, Mr. Main, the Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit project, a hydroelectric project that will significantly reduce hydrocarbon consumption, thereby making your energy sovereignty more dependent on electricity.

How is the project progressing? Is it progressing to your satisfaction? How is the federal government's $20 million investment to begin analyzing this project helping you?

[John Main]

I'll just state that the Nunavut government is not the proponent of that project. It's being led by an Inuit-owned company, and our energy utility is playing a supporting role. It is engaged, working very closely alongside the proponent.

The need to get off fossil fuels in our power generation is there. We have four major projects that we've identified across Nunavut. Two of them are port and/or road projects, and two of them are energy related—the Iqaluit hydroelectric project and the Kivalliq hydro-fibre link, which would connect us to Manitoba's hydro grid. All four projects are being led by Inuit companies. In terms of economic reconciliation, it's quite striking for us, as a territory, that we have these major developments that are being led by Inuit-owned interests.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

I think this is a model that should be replicated elsewhere. We're already starting to see it in the west. I think it's very productive for local communities.

You mentioned infrastructure. I'm a member of the Standing Committee on National Defence. We decided to invest heavily in defence, to the tune of $8 billion over the next five years and $73 billion over the next 20 years, to modernize our defence infrastructure.

Mr. Simpson, earlier you mentioned dual-use projects. What would be the priority of dual-use projects in terms of investments in the north?

[R.J. Simpson]

When it comes to dual-use infrastructure—and I've had this conversation with Minister McGuinty as well—I don't expect the federal government to know what the communities need for dual-use infrastructure, so they need to talk to us. I don't know what the military needs for its dual-use side of this, the security side, so there really needs to be collaboration.

However, if you're going to have military installations increase their presence in communities, we'll probably need better municipal roads, an upgrade to the water treatment plant, maybe more community facilities for recreation—things like that. That's really where I see the dual-use infrastructure, as well the things like airports and runways. Those are more the typical DND things that they would like to see. We're trying to encourage them to see that there's more to that than just airports.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

Premier Main, what are your thoughts?

[John Main]

In terms of transportation and infrastructure like ports, roads, power generation and water reservoirs, these are the types of things we see as fitting into the dual-use aspect. We've been having interesting discussions around what part of the dual use needs to come first. Which one is the dog that pulls the sled? Is it the military interest that is the primary driver and then the civilian aspect is a little thing that's tacked on the side, or is it the other way around in terms of how we look at this?

That's where, similar to my colleague, we have been engaged in conversations with the Department of National Defence to try to understand better. We've also been in conversations with our Inuit organization partners in Nunavut to come to an agreement and put forward a shared position on this issue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

We will go next to MP Michael Chong to start the third round of questions.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills North, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you again for appearing. There are a lot of interesting topics being discussed here.

I'd like to talk again about infrastructure, because it's come up so much. Specifically, I'd like to talk about waste water and water treatment infrastructure.

You have Yellowknife, Hay River and Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. In Nunavut, you have Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Pangnirtung and dozens of other smaller communities. I once hiked across Baffin Island. I flew into Pang, as they say, and then went up the Weasel River, and I was surprised to see in Pangnirtung that the waste water and water treatment was all by truck moving between each home and the plant, but my understanding is that other communities do it differently.

I understand as well that in many parts of the north, communities are exempt from the nationally regulated water and waste-water treatment standards and there have been issues with providing safe drinking water with waste-water effluent discharges and the like. In 2021, I think, in Iqaluit there was a scare about the water treatment system when it got fuel contamination in it.

What needs to be done in your communities, whether it's Hay River, Yellowknife, Inuvik, Kimmirut, Iqaluit, Pangnirtung or the other several dozen fly-in communities, to ensure that people have basic safe drinking water and that sewage effluent is managed at national standards?

[John Main]

It's a big issue. Our key concern is around the drinking water. Obviously, the waste water is a concern for us, or a need, but the top priority between those two is obviously the drinking water.

What we need is sustained infrastructure funds from our federal partners that are flowed to us in a way that's appropriate for our realities. When you look at building a new water treatment plant, one of the communities I represent, Whale Cove, went through what I believe was nine years of not constant but on and off again boil water advisories.

Recently we got a new water treatment plant, and it's state of the art. It was done with a component of federal funding. That federal funding was provided to us in a way that was flexible. It didn't have a ton of strings attached because it's complicated to build infrastructure in Nunavut where we only have shipping available in limited summer months. We're able to do it as a territorial government in terms of the drinking water; we just need access to the quantity of funds we need. The ballpark we need in Nunavut is about $600 million as of today.

[R.J. Simpson]

I can say that in Hay River, where I live, we need a water treatment plant. The territory is in a position where a lot of infrastructure was built in the sixties and seventies and now replacements are coming due. Things are not the same price they used to be, and it was the federal government often paying for it in the past. We don't have those deep pockets in Inuvik. Because of the landscape there, they don't have underground services. They have a utilidor, which is basically an above-ground piping system that's enclosed. I know they are going through the process of having to replace that piece by piece, and that is tens of millions of dollars, so that's a significant impact on the community.

In places like Yellowknife, underground infrastructure is often just so expensive because it's rock, and to blast through the rock is cost-prohibitive. I guess money is what we need to upgrade all of these things from the old technology.

Thanks.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills North, ON]

I'll just note that there's a lot of money flowing from the federal government to municipalities in the south of Canada for waste-water and water treatment systems. I know that in my riding and in ridings in the region I represent in southern Ontario, waste-water and water treatment plants have been funded to the tune of hundreds of millions of federal dollars and more over the last decade.

The federal government is in the business of funding waste-water and water treatment systems. I would note that I think it has a particularly unique responsibility to the three territories, because they are not independent sovereign orders of government like the 10 provinces are. They are essentially closer to the federal government and its responsibilities than are the 10 provinces, yet we fund significantly municipalities and municipal systems in provincial areas of jurisdiction.

Chair, I just make that point. Thank you.