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Eyes are turning to the Arctic not just because of the evolving landscape, but for updated military objectives as well.
Canada will begin security talks with allies, including the United States, on how to protect the Arctic from military and economic challenges. Another pressing issue is climate change, as melting ice opens up new shipping routes and opportunities for mineral exploration. More on that below.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Wildfires: Canadian fire chiefs say more resources needed as wildfire threat grows
- Food: Overall prices to rise 3 to 5% next year: report
- Oil and gas: FortisBC pledges net-zero emissions in bid to gain approval for LNG project
- Animal welfare: Ottawa urged to act on import of Cambodian monkeys for labs
- Christmas trees: Drought, heat threaten future of balsam firs popular as Christmas trees
- Desertification: More than three-quarters of Earth’s surface has become permanently drier, UN report says
- Sport: Backcountry ski touring in the Rocky Mountains is always better (and safer) with a guide
- Critical minerals: Struggling to survive ‘the valley of death,’ some of Canada’s emerging critical mineral miners are now fleeing overseas
- Analysis from The Narwhal: Did Trans Mountain actually make gasoline cheaper in Canada’s most expensive city?
A deeper dive
Securing the strait
For this week’s deeper dive, we’re highlighting a visual series. Underexposed is a year-long photojournalism project dedicated to shedding light on the unseen lives of Canadians in every province and territory. Learn more and share your thoughts with The Globe. Photography and story by Gavin John.
The Northwest Passage cuts through Canada’s Arctic, forming an important shipping corridor across the top of the world. It’s also one of the focal points of the Canadian Armed Forces’ Northern operations.
Every year, the CAF deploys soldiers to four locations in the North for a series of activities, called Operation Nanook, intended to show Canada’s presence in what is becoming a more heavily trafficked area. One of these deployments, Nanook-Nunakput, focuses on the shipping corridor.
Cpt Michael deGrasse (left) and 2Lt Erin Cottrell (right) have a quiet moment the Northwest Passage.Gavin John/The Globe and Mail
The waters of the passage, stewarded by the Inuit for thousands of years, are contested. Canada calls the passage an internal waterway, but many other countries consider it an “international strait.” The area is also vulnerable to global warming, which affects its security.
“As the climate warms up, the Northwest Passage becomes more trafficable,” says Major Alex Gagnier, 1CER Task Force Commander. “And when it becomes more trafficable, there’s more economic interest.”
Soldiers from Two Section 1 CER stand around a fire at their observation post next to the Northwest Passage. Soldiers would maintain eyes on the passage 24/7, fog and inclement weather notwithstanding.Gavin John/The Globe and Mail
The threat of accidents and spills is increasing. With the CAF in the area, it’s hoped Canada can more nimbly respond to disaster of any kind north of the 60th parallel. “Forest fires, floods – anything that requires us to get to remote regions quickly,” says Rob Huebert, a professor at the University of Calgary who specializes in Arctic sovereignty and security.
Indigenous knowledge of the land is recognized as an invaluable part of the CAF operations in the Arctic. The soldiers rely on the Canadian Rangers, a subcomponent of the Canadian Army Reserve that in the Arctic largely consists of Indigenous and northern community members.
Many Arctic residents hope that the increased military presence will come with more developed infrastructure, leading to improved quality of life.
Corporal Cynthia Craig from the 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron dangles her feet from a CH-147F Chinook helicopter while on route to redeploy ground troops. Two Chinook helicopters were the primary means for transportation during Operation Nanook-Nunakput, as the snow-free tundra is near impossible to travel because a maze of lakes and rocky ground.Gavin John/The Globe and Mail
Gavin John is a Calgary based photojournalist with an interest in conflict, strategic issues, Canadian defence policy and Indigenous affairs. He is a proud member of Indigenous Photograph and a mentor for Room Up Front, a BIPOC photojournalism program. Read the full story today.
What else you missed
- Eight First Nations in Alberta want Impact Assessment Act review for Pathways Alliance project
- Mexico study’s surprising finding: Killer heat hit harder for the young than the elderly
- Barbados completes world’s first debt swap for climate resilience
- Sea turtles stranded by climate change fill New England animal hospital
- Mammoths were a large portion of North American Ice Age people’s diets, research shows
- Edmonton zoo elephant Lucy gets medical OK as she approaches 50th birthday
Opinion and analysis
David Huebert: Oil is not the problem; burning oil is the problem
The editorial board: Facing the new reality of urban wildfires
The editorial board: The right way for companies to take out the trash
Green Investing
Western Canadian business groups launch legal challenge against Ottawa’s anti-greenwashing rules
Western Canadian business groups have launched a constitutional challenge against Ottawa’s anti-greenwashing provisions, claiming they infringe on corporations’ freedom of speech by quashing debate on environmental issues.
Alberta Enterprise Group and British Columbia’s Independent Contractors and Businesses Association say the federal government’s contentious changes to the Competition Act have already created a chilling effect on corporate communications, including assertions about environmental performance that may be true and verifiable.
- Shell slows investments in offshore wind projects, splits its power division
The Climate Exchange
We’ve launched the next chapter of The Climate Exchange, an interactive, digital hub where The Globe answers your most pressing questions about climate change. More than 300 questions were submitted as of September. The first batch of answers tackles 30 of them. They can be found with the help of a search tool developed by The Globe that makes use of artificial intelligence to match readers’ questions with the closest answer drafted. We plan to answer a total of 75 questions.
Photo of the week
A Monarch butterfly flutters at the Sierra Chincua sanctuary in Mexico on Dec. 4. Thousands of the iconic insects have delayed their arrival to the forests of Mexico State and Michoacan, a situation that could be linked to climate change, according to biosphere reserve director Amado Fernandez.Quetzalli Nicte-Ha/Reuters
Guides and Explainers
- Want to learn to invest sustainably? We have a class for that: Green Investing 101 newsletter course for the climate-conscious investor. Not sure you need help? Take our quiz to challenge your knowledge.
- We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn about what a carbon tax is, what happened at COP29 and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
- We have ways to make your travelling more sustainable and if you like to read, here are books to help the environmentalist in you grow, as well as a downloadable e-book of Micro Skills - Little Steps to Big Change.
Catch up on Globe Climate
- A site for Canada’s nuclear waste
- Science meets tradition
- Entangled in cross-border measures
- Our history of reporting on the environment
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