OTTAWA — The leader of the national organization representing Inuit says the federal government must bring them to the table when it makes its plans to surge defence spending in the Arctic.
While Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Ottawa’s growing focus on defending the Arctic will boost living standards in the region, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami head Natan Obed says Canada still isn’t treating the Inuit as equal partners.
Obed says the defence infrastructure constructed in the North early in the Cold War was “built based on agreements that the Canadian government made with the U.S.” and “radically changed” Inuit lives by allowing the “Canadian government to coerce Inuit off of our lands into settled communities.”
Obed also warns that American rhetoric about Denmark not doing enough to develop Greenland — which the Trump administration openly covets — is likely going to be directed at Canada.
Obed notes Denmark included Greenland representatives in the delegation it sent to the White House and he doubts Ottawa would take the same approach in similar talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Anand says the Arctic is Canada’s front yard and “security imposed without partnership is not sovereignty.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2026.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
