Canada can’t afford to sleepwalk on Arctic defense, experts say

Canada’s new defense partnership with Australia expected to strengthen Five Eyes alliance amid growing threats from Russia, China

Canadians should be unhappy that their political leaders haven’t taken Arctic and national defence more seriously until recently, says an expert on Arctic security.

There is, therefore, an urgency behind Canada’s newly announced defence partnership with Australia to build a $6-billion advanced radar system in the North for better surveillance and threat detection, said Alexander Dalziel, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an Ottawa-based policy think tank.

The partnership with Australia is expected to leverage that country’s expertise in naval and airborne surveillance, particularly in regions where radar detection is complicated by the Earth’s curvature.

There is an increasing interest in the Arctic with a warming climate making the Northwest Passage more navigable and mineral resources more accessible. Russia and China have developed hypersonic missiles and advanced submarine technologies, while U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken explicitly about his desires to annex both Greenland and Canada.

The Arctic over-the-horizon radar system being co-developed with Australia will provide long-range surveillance, tracking potential threats from the Canada-U.S. border up to the Arctic Circle. It’s not expected to be ready until 2028.

A separate polar over-the-horizon radar system is planned to extend coverage beyond the northernmost approaches to North America, including the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is projected to be ready for 2032.

Dalziel said the collaboration will deepen Canada’s long-standing ties with Australia under the Five Eyes intelligence alliance — a security partnership between Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand — while supporting North American defence priorities alongside the U.S.

“We really are at the moment in international politics where we should be working with others to share collective problems. Canada and Australia have good dialogue in spades through the Five Eyes alliance,” Dalziel said.

“Bringing the Australians in is the diversification we should be doing, in terms of national defence in the Arctic. If others can provide us with radars and the best technology to get us up to the Norad standards, that’s a good thing.”

Despite the progress, Dalziel warns Canada’s military still lacks a sufficient footprint in the Arctic. He said Canada must act quickly to address emerging threats.

“There is no question that we have been sleepwalking for quite some time, and that won’t work,” he said. “Arctic strategy is an opportunity to build Canada, strengthen our military capabilities, and deepen our ties with NATO.”

The shift toward broader Arctic partnerships, including Australia, marks a significant change in Ottawa’s approach, Dalziel said. Historically, Canada has been cautious about involving foreign allies in the region due to longstanding disputes with the U.S. over control of the Northwest Passage.

Now, the Five Eyes alliance is seen as key to securing Canada’s Arctic.

“This is about making sure we get things done — on time and on budget,” Dalziel said.

There are other reasons Canada maybe have been interested in partnering with Australia on this project.

“Australia is going through their own exercise of bulking up their capabilities,” said Michael Wernick, former clerk of the Privy Council and former deputy minister at the Department of Northern Affairs.

He noted Australia’s recently announced plan to arm itself with anti-ship missiles and advanced targeting radars after three Chinese warships were spotted in waters off its mainland in February.

“They’re far enough south that this problem of the horizon and the curvature of the planet is something that they’ll have experience with and they probably have some pretty good technology to offer,” he said.

After Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the plan to spend $6 billion for the Arctic radar system, Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout raised concerns that the federal government’s focus on international partnerships could neglect the needs of northern Canadians.

“It’s frustrating that Canada is promising to invest more in another country’s capabilities rather than its own people’s,” she said, comparing the $253 million in funding for Nunavut infrastructure Carney announced against the commitment to work with Australia.

Wernick echoed the need for Canada to strengthen its own capabilities.

“We need to do it for our own purposes, for our own sovereignty,” he said. “We cannot coast on other people’s capabilities to stand on guard, as the national anthem says.”

Located in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, Nunatsiaq News is dedicated to covering affairs in Nunavut and the Nunavik territory of Quebec since 1973. It has been a partner to ArcticToday and its predecessors since 2016.