Washington frames United States ownership of Greenland as a matter of national defence, but Canadian Inuit worry what this could mean for their Arctic homeland. 

“The relationship Denmark has with the U.S. for Greenland is in many ways similar to the relationship the U.S. has with Canada for shared military considerations in the Arctic,” Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed said in an interview with iPolitics. 

U.S. President Donald Trump is justifying his annexation ambition by saying Denmark hasn’t done enough to secure Greenland against foreign threats.

For Obed, that same reasoning could be used to justify threats to the Canadian Arctic, Inuit sovereignty and the country in general.

He said the federal government has made a few moves recently to reinforce its presence in the region, including developing an Arctic foreign policy, appointing an ambassador, referring a hydropower development to the Major Projects Office and awarding military contracts to Inuit communities. 

“There are bits and pieces that are moving and positive, but we are looking for something more transformative,” he said. “We see every day other global actors acting with more urgency to assert dominance and power over the Arctic.”

Canadian Inuit are not interested in aligning themselves with any other nation state, according to Obed, and many watch on with concern as Chinese state-owned companies eye mining projects in the region or Russian vessels glide through northern waters. 

“We want to work with Canada.” 

Obed is urging Ottawa to fast track infrastructure development in the Arctic in a way that will benefit local communities, as Inuit are the first line of the defence in the country’s north. 

He also hopes that, in an act of solidarity with Greenland Inuit, Immigration Canada could help facilitate Inuit mobility across the ancestral circumpolar homeland.

Canadian Arctic under threat, says retired CAF colonel

“This is the worst security situation that Canada has experienced in my lifetime, and I’ve been involved with the military since 1966,” retired colonel and former commander of the Canadian Forces in the Arctic, Pierre Leblanc, tells iPolitics. 

Leblanc lived in the Arctic for almost a decade, and is now working on security projects as a consultant for the Canadian government.

He says if the U.S. was really concerned about its national security, it could add to its existing military bases and infrastructure Greenland, without needing to own the Arctic island. 

“This is not about securing the Arctic, it’s about territorial expansion,” said Leblanc. “They may also be contemplating critical minerals, rare earths.” 

Leblanc says the $1-billion for an Arctic Infrastructure Fund in the recent federal budget won’t be enough to secure the region.

iPolitics has reached out the national defence and the Crown-Indigenous relations minister for comment but had not heard back by publication.