This is a free public lecture. Free parking. Co-sponsored by CIGI and the CIC (Canadian International Council).
Alarmism and paranoia are rampant in the southern Canadian media when it comes to the need to defend the Canadian Arctic. But Canadian interests in the North are ill-served by politicians and nationalists who fuel a flag-waving fervor instead of pursuing concrete policies in the circumpolar world. The twentieth century demonstrated how government reactions to sovereignty "crises" ensured that the North remained Canadian, but national (in)action failed to serve Northerners’ interests or to provide sustainable development. If Canada wants to seize opportunities and take a leadership role in a rapidly evolving circumpolar world, we need to adopt a 3-D approach rooted in defence, diplomacy and development. Modest monitoring and enforcement capabilities, diplomacy, and local capacity-building initiatives must all go hand in hand to make the North more Canadian, and Canada more northern