Iqaluit to be home to Canadian Arctic military support hub
Defence units to also be built in Inuvik and Yellowknife, federal Defence Minister Bill Blair says
Iqaluit will be one of three sites, along with Inuvik and Yellowknife, for new operational support hubs to serve “critical military objectives” in the Arctic.
“Each of these locations has been identified as an ideal site for the network based on their geography and the strong military ties that only exist here in this community,” Bill Blair, the minister of national defence, said at the military’s Iqaluit Forward Operating Location near the airport on Thursday.
The announcement — made inside a hangar where a Royal Canadian Air Force jet was parked — was attended by about a dozen officials along with Canadian rangers.
The hubs are a key pillar of the Liberal government’s $81.1-billion defence policy that was introduced in April.
They will cost $2.67 billion over 20 years and the money will go toward airstrips, logistics facilities, and equipment to help the Canadian Armed Forces better “assert Canadian sovereignty,” said a Department of National Defence news release issued with the announcement.
The price tag rose from the $218 million that was initially planned for the project after “discussion” with local partners, Blair said.
“Today’s announcement is an important step towards the work that we need to do to fortify our defence capabilities,” Premier P.J. Akeeagok said at the announcement, adding that the hub in Iqaluit will include “multi-purpose infrastructure” that will meet the needs of the local community.
That would include operational support for emergency response, search and rescue operations, and infrastructure like roads and housing that could be used for civilian purposes as well, Blair said.
Currently, the Canadian Armed Forces has four operational support hubs, all of them overseas — in Germany, Kuwait, Jamaica and Senegal.
When asked, Blair didn’t specify the timeline for those projects to be completed, but said there is “an urgency to making those investments.”
The military has tried to learn from the experience of the Nanisivik Naval Facility, Blair said. The completion of that facility has been delayed multiple times over the past two decades and is now in limbo.
Blair’s announcement comes a month after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre came to Iqaluit to pledge to build a permanent military base in the community within the first two years if he becomes prime minister.
“I think he sees the political necessity of at least attempting to demonstrate that he cares,” Blair said of Poilievre’s visit.
“This is not about slogans. It’s about the hard work that we have to do together.”
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.
