Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Joe Stover has lived in Churchill since 1987, and says he has long viewed the town as a place of significance when it comes to national security and sovereignty.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that he isn\u2019t ruling out military action is just so concerning,\u201d said Mr. Stover, a former port worker who is now in the tourism industry.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially this term, he\u2019s following through on a lot of the crazy stuff that he\u2019s talked about, and so far his administration is just complicit in letting him do whatever the heck he wants,\u201d he said between daubs.<\/p>\n Mr. Stover said Trump\u2019s foreign policy boosts the profile of a planned multibillion-dollar port expansion<\/a> at Churchill that could enable new trade routes through the Arctic, a project that has seen years of false starts.<\/p>\n Churchill is not in the Arctic \u2013 it\u2019s about 140 kilometres south of the Manitoba-Nunavut border \u2013 but it certainly gets as frigid in the winter, and is renowned for the polar bears that symbolize the Far North. It\u2019s also played a decades-long role as a supplier for the Arctic.<\/p>\n Churchill’s deep-water port is connected by more than 1,000 kilometres of track and has an airstrip that handle any size of aircraft. The Arctic Gateway Group has owned and operated the port and the Hudson Bay Railway since buying both in 2018.<\/p>\n Arctic Gateway Group (AGG), which operates the port and the railway that serves it, is planning the proposed expansion to bolster exports of everything from critical minerals to fertilizer to energy products, seeking markets in Europe, the Middle East and South America as climate change makes more northern shipping routes navigable.<\/p>\n This is a tall order for a port that is currently ice-free for just four months a year, and requires major upgrades. Not everyone is on board with the idea.<\/p>\n But now, with Mr. Trump repeatedly declaring his desire for Greenland after musing about absorbing Canada, Churchill\u2019s potential to help defend the country\u2019s sovereignty has come into sharper focus, too. This is not lost on residents, who wonder how it may affect them.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Louise Lawrie visits the library at the Town Centre Complex in Churchill. Mrs. Lawrie\u2019s grandparents came to Churchill in the 1930s, and she has lived in the region all her life.Matt Horseman\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n \u201cI think the worst part is the uncertainty,\u201d says Louise Lawrie, a retired teacher and community volunteer who has lived in the region her whole life. \u201cI mean, you wake up and listen to the news and think, what\u2019s next? You think it\u2019s got to stop, it\u2019s got to turn, and it\u2019s just not doing that. It\u2019s affecting the whole world, this wanting to take over Greenland.\u201d <\/p>\n Ms. Lawrie and her husband, Gavin, are generally supportive of increased development and trade, but worry about the pressures it will bring on the town, which currently has limited public services and now supports a tourism economy.<\/p>\n Ottawa unveiled its Arctic Foreign Policy in late 2024. It was aimed at deepening co-operation with regional Arctic allies, including Denmark and the United States. The policy addresses security worries as Russia and China vie for polar territory.<\/p>\n If the U.S. ceases to be a friendly ally, the policy may require some rewriting. <\/p>\n These are the stakes as Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government\u2019s Major Projects Office decide whether Churchill \u2013 the old port, railway and a series of other potential onshore and marine investments \u2013 will receive funding and fast-track approvals for its expansion along with other projects across the country that could be deemed in the national interest. <\/p>\n Chris Avery, CEO of the Arctic Gateway Group, at the company’s office in Winnipeg’s Union station. AGG is planning the proposed port expansion to bolster exports and seek markets in Europe, the Middle East and South America as climate change makes more northern shipping routes navigable.<\/p>\n The chaotic events of past two weeks at the hands of Washington show the importance of moving quickly to shore up Canada\u2019s north, said Chris Avery, chief executive officer of AGG. He said his biggest fear is Canadians believing they can revert back to historical ties with the U.S. once Mr. Trump leaves office.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re talking about Arctic sovereignty and Arctic security and, frankly, Canadian security. One of the parts of security is \u2013 and we\u2019ve seen this trend in the world \u2013 where nations are using their economic power to dictate their agenda and to dictate their wishes onto other nations. It\u2019s a wake-up call for Canada,\u201d Mr. Avery said at the company\u2019s office in Winnipeg\u2019s Union Station.<\/p>\n He lists Churchill\u2019s attributes: It\u2019s a deep-water port connected to more than 1,000 kilometres of track, it can house more people than it does today, it\u2019s plugged into the power grid and broadband internet, and it has a 2,804-metre airstrip that can handle any size aircraft.<\/p>\n Mr. Avery said the port could help serve the new fleet of submarines the Department of Defence is shopping for. <\/p>\n The operators of the port at Churchill, Man. are planning a multibillion-dollar expansion to bolster exports to global markets. The town\u2019s mayor says the lack of investment over years has underestimated the strategic value of the facility.<\/p>\n The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n In its major project push, Ottawa has designated the potential development as \u201cChurchill Plus,\u201d as it may also include a corridor for energy products, new hydro power and fibre optic lines to the north, an all-weather road to the south and icebreakers.<\/p>\n AGG has owned the port and the Hudson Bay Railway, which extends to Churchill from The Pas, Man., since buying them in 2018 from the previous owner, Denver-based OmniTRAX. Churchillians still bristle at how the U.S. company let it fall into disrepair. <\/p>\n AGG, owned by 29 First Nations as well as local governments in Manitoba and Nunavut, is upgrading the port facilities after having repaired rail lines that washed out in the muskeg almost a decade ago, severing an important transport link.<\/p>\n Churchill is one of AGG\u2019s owners, and for its chairman and longtime town mayor, Mike Spence, there\u2019s a personal connection to seeing the project through. Growing up here, he recalls the town\u2019s large U.S. military presence in the Cold War years.<\/p>\n Driving his pickup on ice-covered roads on a bright and crisp January afternoon, he points to where armed forces buildings and other facilities once stood on plots of land in sight of the vast frozen expanse of Hudson Bay.<\/p>\n Until the 1970s, it was a base for Canadian and U.S. armed forces stationed across the Far North to protect the continent from any threats from the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n In its heyday, the town had a population of more than 5,000. Now, fewer than 1,000 live here. Tourism is currently the main industry as people arrive from around the world to glimpse polar bears, belugas and the Northern Lights. <\/p>\n Fewer than 1,000 now live in Churchill, a fifth of its peak population, and tourism is now the key industry for the remote Manitoban town known as the ‘Polar Bear Capital of the World.’<\/p>\n A now-defunct radar station, known locally as the Churchill ‘Golf Balls,’ sits on a ridge near the shores of Hudson Bay.<\/p>\n A Via Rail passenger train reaches its final stop in Churchill, part of the Hudson Bay Railway, which extends from The Pas north to Churchill. <\/p>\n That has replaced grain shipping, which dwindled in the last decade after the Canadian Wheat Board was dissolved. The aged, concrete elevator still dominates the view east from the main drag, though no grain has shipped in recent seasons. In the past year, the port has sent off test shipments of zinc concentrate from a Hudbay Minerals Inc. mine in northern Manitoba.<\/p>\n Mr. Spence said consecutive governments have talked a good game about Arctic sovereignty and security and Churchill\u2019s role, but have failed so far to deliver on promises. \u201cCanada hasn\u2019t paid attention \u2013 you talk the talk but you don\u2019t walk the walk.\u201d<\/p>\n But this time, it\u2019s different, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said. \u201cThe stars have aligned\u201d with Canada seeking new trade routes from a port on the Prairies, he explained, and with U.S. sabre-rattling forcing the country to get serious about protecting the North.<\/p>\n \u201cThough there\u2019s been a lot of hype about Churchill in the past, I don\u2019t think you\u2019ve ever heard a prime minister talk about it before,\u201d Mr. Kinew said in an interview. \u201cPrime Minister Carney has been clear about Churchill being part of his thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n In November, Mr. Carney and Mr. Kinew announced the two governments will combine efforts and expect planning and design of a strategy to be completed this spring. They\u2019ve contributed $262.5-million to the work.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n The port’s aged concrete grain elevator still dominates the view east from downtown Churchill, though no grain has shipped in recent seasons.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DP2MFKGMGBAH3BHRAMD7PCI52Q.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/JY6WQRA7MVDJDPYHACDL7CNGAU.JPG\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/H62LRQGM7JF73HYC2H6FFFJLHM.JPG\")
<\/p>\n