Thank you for the question.
Remember that, when I was the minister of National Defence, I made it a top priority to work on protecting the Arctic and ensuring its sovereignty.
As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I'm now continuing this work. I can assure you that I'll be working with Canada's current Minister of National Defence, Mr. McGuinty.
I'll also work with the other countries that believe in the need for Arctic sovereignty, especially given the current geopolitical situation. We're currently seeing a Russian threat near the Arctic Circle.
I have been working closely with our like-minded partners—Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland—to ensure that we are together advocating for greater NATO focus on the Arctic. Indeed, in Sweden recently, the United States joined a meeting of those countries. We together issued a statement that indicates and underlines our forward-looking work together, given that the geopolitical environment is indeed seeing the Russian threat moving further and further north towards the Arctic Circle.
I will also say on the NATO point that, yes, NATO came forward with an operation called Arctic Sentry earlier this year. That is on a permanent-presence basis. That is a very important initiative. Indeed, when I was opening the consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, earlier this year, it was very important to discuss not only Canada's commitment but also NATO's commitment to the security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark and Greenland. At the same time, NATO should have a full-blown strategy relating to the Arctic. Sentry is not a strategy. It is an exercise in operation. I raised this issue with Secretary General Mark Rutte and in the meeting in Sweden, as I just mentioned, of the “Arctic seven”. We will be working with like-minded countries within NATO towards that full-blown strategy for NATO on the Arctic.