Foreign Affairs Committee on Oct. 7th, 2025

[Brigadier-General Daniel Rivière]

Mr. Chair, what I've seen over the past year, especially with the announcement of these critical infrastructure investments, is a lot of consultation by the various organizations within National Defence that are responsible for carrying out these projects.

I certainly see it with respect to NORAD modernization, which includes a number of projects, not just infrastructure platforms. I see it in northern operational support hubs as well. A lot of consultations are done locally, in the north, in the various communities. I see it in the NORAD northern basing initiative as well.

So we've held numerous consultations, precisely to ensure that things are done respectfully. I've seen it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you.

Next, we will go to MP Michael Chong.

You have five minutes.

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

Thank you.

I would like to continue discussing our sovereignty in the north. I want to understand what the Government of Canada's position is on the foundation of our sovereignty in the north. Is it the 1670 Hudson's Bay charter in Rupert's Land and subsequently the transfer of that land to the Government of Canada in 1870, or is it something else?

Some argue that the Hudson's Bay charter only includes the lands that drain into Hudson's Bay and therefore excludes a significant part of the Arctic archipelago and that a stronger claim to our sovereignty is found when the Inuit affirmed Canada's claim to the lands of the Arctic in the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

What is the Government of Canada's view?

[Robert Sinclair]

I'm not in a position to comment or reply in terms of the legal basis under the 1670 Hudson's Bay agreement.

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

Could you perhaps come back to the committee with that? I think it's pretty important if we're trying to understand what the basis in law is, both internal law and international law, for our claim to the internal waters of the Arctic archipelago. I think it has to start with our sovereignty over the lands in the Arctic archipelago. That would be useful information for the chair to have.

[Robert Sinclair]

I would be happy to come back with that.

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

I want to focus on these internal waters because we see what the U.S. Navy is doing to the south of us off the coast of the south of Florida and in the Caribbean. We know that they have interests in the Arctic. We know previously they've transited through our waters in 1985. There were reports that former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, argued for a freedom of navigation operation through Canadian internal waters in 2019.

Has the Government of Canada gamed out a scenario where a U.S. warship transits through our internal waters in the coming months?

[Eric Laporte]

I can say that, yes, we have gamed it out, but I'm not in a position to provide the response here.

I would, however, also point out that beyond the transit that you mentioned in 1985, a U.S. warship did transit in 2023 but did so by asking for permission and with Royal Canadian Navy personnel on board.

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

I'm not talking about transits with permission. I'm talking about transits without permission under the assumption that these are international waters. That's really the concern that I and others have.

[Eric Laporte]

I can say we've gamed it out, and....

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

Okay, but you can't tell us what the scenarios and the response would be from government.

[Eric Laporte]

It's best to leave a chance for the government of the day to respond.

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

Has Canada thought about working with other states on our claims that these waters are internal waters to Canada? States like Panama, Egypt, states surrounding the Malacca strait in Asia—are we working with those states on getting their support for our claim?

[Robert Sinclair]

Those efforts are led by the legal bureau within Global Affairs Canada, and I don't have that information. I'm happy to come back.

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

Yes, that would be helpful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

You have time for a short question, please, and a short response.

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

I'm fine. I'll get the next round.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

We go next to MP Mona Fortier.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier—Gloucester, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us today, and I'd especially like to thank them for their service. I know they're working very hard on the Canadian Arctic strategy.

This committee is currently undertaking a study on Canada's Arctic foreign policy and related efforts to secure our Arctic sovereignty. In that context, as a committee, we are in the process of determining where we should focus our efforts. A lot of investments have been made. We listed them earlier, and I'm sure we could do more.

My question is open to all the witnesses.

If you had to recommend that we focus our efforts on three areas or three concrete measures for the findings of our study, what would they be? Based on your expertise, where should we be putting our efforts right now?

[Robert Sinclair]

Thank you for the question. Certainly, my recommendation would be, as you're doing, to engage with Arctic and northern partners and to hear their perspectives, first and foremost. As well, I think that getting perspectives from others, such as Greenland, would be of use to the committee.

Perhaps I can turn to my colleagues for other recommendations, following the effects of climate change, in particular, as well as the impacts on ecosystems, livelihoods and, if I could term it this way, the human security of Arctic residents and northerners.

[Eric Laporte]

Mr. Chair, I really don't have much to add to what Mr. Sinclair said. My recommendation was to speak with our Arctic allies as well. There is Greenland, but there are also the other Arctic countries.

I don't know if the Brigadier General has any suggestions as well.

[Brigadier-General Daniel Rivière]

That is certainly the case, Mr. Chair.

In my area, north of 60, in the three territories, the challenges we have are mostly power sustainment and mobility. Any investment in capabilities that will enable us to deploy our forces is therefore welcome. As I mentioned earlier, we can't be everywhere at the same time. The territory is immense. Investments in logistics for sustainment and military mobility would be at the top of my list.

There's everything related to climate adaptation and to what I mentioned. Investing in runways, for example, would be a great investment that would support logistics and our mobility.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier—Gloucester, ON]

Geopolitics is changing a lot. We know what's going on in Ukraine, and there's also pressure from China.

Are there concrete measures that we should implement with our allies to ensure that we have some sovereignty in the Arctic?

[Eric Laporte]

I thank the member for her question.

We see that within NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the allies have put in place a number of concrete measures to defend territory in Europe, and we are contributing to that defence with our brigade in Latvia.

As far as the Arctic is concerned, I would say that on the Canadian side, we are currently strengthening a dialogue and coordination between us and all our other Arctic allies: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, among others.

In 2024, Canada launched a forum for discussion among foreign ministers to address security issues among committed allies. This forum reflects what is happening on the national defence side. There was a defence ministers' meeting, which Mr. Blair has attended in the past. Many meetings were also held with senior officers, as well as with representatives of the intelligence services. So there's much more collaboration in that context to better understand what's going on.

[Robert Sinclair]

I will add that Minister Joly hosted her counterparts and Premier Akeeagok in Iqaluit about a year ago. It showed our allies the Canadian reality of the Arctic, which is very different from that of the Nordic Arctic.