![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WK3DMSFXVDOUCSMCJDKUB2OQ5A.jpg\")
Nunavut Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks with Inuit elder Qaapik Attagutsiak, 99, in her tiny home during a visit to Arctic Bay, Nvt., on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019.THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Sean Kilpatrick <\/p>\nOTTAWA \u2014 As Canada plans an ambitious expansion of defence and economic activity in the Arctic, regional experts are asking whether it has enough diplomats to build the ties it wants in the North.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Arctic is a geopolitical hot spot,\u201d said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. \u201cThe (Global Affairs) department does not have huge bench strength when it comes to Arctic diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at how the Liberals have both cut back and restaffed positions across the North in recent years.<\/p>\n
Closing an expert centre<\/p>\n
In 2023, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau closed the Canadian International Arctic Centre, a hub for diplomacy across the region that had been operating within Canada\u2019s embassy in Norway since 2009.<\/p>\n
In a briefing note obtained by The Canadian Press, Global Affairs Canada cited \u201chigh costs in Oslo\u201d and anticipated savings of $550,000 per year.<\/p>\n
The department argued its Arctic team would work better out of Ottawa, particularly on shaping policies that aligned with the Biden administration.<\/p>\n
Nunavut Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks with Inuit elder Qaapik Attagutsiak, 99, in her tiny home during a visit to Arctic Bay, Nvt., on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019.THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Sean Kilpatrick <\/p>\n
\u201cThe hybrid work model has demonstrated the department\u2019s ability to engage worldwide through technology \u2026 diminishing the relative advantage of operational staff located in the field,\u201d says the briefing note.<\/p>\n
Artur Wilczynski, who served as Canada\u2019s ambassador to Oslo from 2014 to 2018, said CIAC helped him prepare for the posting by registering him in conferences and introducing him to \u201ckey\u201d Arctic contacts.<\/p>\n
Wilczynski called the decision to close CIAC \u201cincoherent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to develop a cohort of people who actually have a deep understanding and knowledge of a very complex and diverse region,\u201d he said. \u201cYou do not get that from a Zoom call.\u201d<\/p>\n
A regional policy<\/p>\n
In December 2024, the Trudeau government released an Arctic foreign policy that committed to boosting domestic and international collaboration to face down emerging foreign threats.<\/p>\n
The policy said the region was \u201cno longer free from tension\u201d because of increased geopolitical instability following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Ottawa appointed Virginia Mearns as Arctic ambassador last year and promised new consulates in Greenland and Alaska.<\/p>\n
The government of Prime Minister Jean Chr\u00e9tien created the role of Canadian ambassador for circumpolar affairs in 1994. The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper shelved the role in 2004.<\/p>\n
The policy\u2019s release followed several incidents in the region, including a high-altitude balloon from China crossing into Canadian airspace in 2023.<\/p>\n
Ottawa has since promised billions of dollars for defence and new infrastructure for northerners.<\/p>\n
Wilczynski argues that buildup needs to be accompanied by a commensurate increase in the number of diplomats in order to build circumpolar contacts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that there is a more immediate and proximate security, economic and political interest for Canada and Canadians than the Arctic,\u201d said Wilczynski, who also worked as an executive in Canadian intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvesting more in our diplomatic presence in the region is part of a strategy that recognizes the interests that Canada has in relationships with our Arctic partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new consulate<\/p>\n
In February, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand opened Canada\u2019s first consulate in Greenland\u2019s capital, Nuuk. Due to the shortage of available buildings, the Canadian consulate operates out of the Icelandic consulate.<\/p>\n
A briefing document obtained by The Canadian Press estimates the operating cost of the consulate at $8.76 million over five years \u2014 roughly $1.75 million annually. That includes staffing and the use of various services.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/W7PL3CMZWBFKBFCT3EFP5NBQUQ.jpg\")
Greenland Canada Denmark Greenland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt, left, Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand, and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, right, meet in front of the newly opened Canadian consulate in Nuuk, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. <\/p>\n
The consulate originally was intended to employ three full-time equivalents. But the consulate has only one staffer and it\u2019s not clear if that is due to budget cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese figures were prepared for planning purposes \u2026 and may be temporarily higher than the actual costs incurred during implementation due to a number of factors, including employing fewer staff than originally planned,\u201d Global Affairs Canada said in a media statement.<\/p>\n
The department did not say when the consulate in Alaska will open or how many staffers it will have.<\/p>\n
\u2018Key contacts\u2019 lost<\/p>\n
Part of Canada\u2019s goal in Arctic diplomacy is to give northerners a voice in international platforms so that federal policies reflect their concerns.<\/p>\n
Ottawa helps facilitate this through the Global Arctic Leadership Initiative, which connects Inuit and northern people with projects and conferences abroad and funds their travel.<\/p>\n
An internal Global Affairs audit reported in May 2025 that closing the Canadian International Arctic Centre deprived the Global Arctic Leadership Initiative of \u201ckey contacts in the Arctic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis led to a certain loss of expertise, outreach and support for the missions,\u201d says the audit, adding that means fewer opportunities for \u201cIndigenous and northern speakers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obed said this shows the shortcomings in Ottawa\u2019s approach to engagement with Inuit. Obed said there is \u201cuntapped\u201d potential in the region and Inuit can help Canada make new contacts around the North Pole.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese new times require greater administrative and political and policy footprints in order to do it right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nordic outreach<\/p>\n
Marc Lanteigne, a political scientist from Montreal, is a professor at the Arctic University of Norway in the northern city of Tromso and teaches at the University of Greenland.<\/p>\n
He said Canada has made itself more visible in Nordic capitals in recent years by sending larger and more varied delegations to the annual Arctic Circle assembly in Iceland.<\/p>\n
Canadian foreign ministers have also met with their five Nordic counterparts in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot to contribute, not only in our particular corner of the Arctic, but (across) the region as a whole,\u201d Lanteigne said from Tromso, which sits on the same latitude as Yukon\u2019s northern coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere I\u2019m standing right now, everyone\u2019s talking about the green transition and how we can balance that with the ongoing need for fossil fuels. These are really areas where I get asked, \u201cWhere\u2019s Canada in all this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
How many diplomats are needed in the north?<\/p>\n
Lanteigne said people in Greenland and Norway are troubled by the \u201cvery sudden\u201d rise in international interest in the Arctic, driven by the prospect of new shipping routes and U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s talk of annexing Greenland, Canada and Iceland.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the issues regarding sovereignty and regarding the livelihoods of the people of the Arctic sometimes get lost in the crush,\u201d Lanteigne said.<\/p>\n
He said Trump\u2019s threats have elevated Canada\u2019s status in the region as a partner in economic co-operation and education.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SZ2WXPTKFZA4NLYQXEV63PJFYE.jpg\")
Anand Greenland Greenland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt, centre, talks to the press during a press conference with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen and Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand, left, in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. <\/p>\n
Lanteigne said Canada does not necessarily need a large diplomatic cohort in places like Nuuk and Anchorage \u2014 as long as those on the ground make connections for Indigenous communities, businesses, climate-change researchers and development experts.<\/p>\n
He said this type of \u201cpara-diplomacy\u201d is more important in an age of geopolitical tumult.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur capitals are right now in opposition, but we are facing a lot of similar concerns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat will need to be done with Anchorage is to basically identify areas of mutual concern \u2014 of which there are many \u2014 and try to stick to that particular menu, even though it is going to be a bit tricky.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
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