Canada's purchase of Inuvik hangar applauded by northerners and Arctic security experts
Canada's purchase of Inuvik hangar applauded by northerners and Arctic security experts
The Canadian government has purchased a strategically located aircraft hangar in Inuvik, N.W.T., for $8.6 million — a move that's being met with relief by northerners and experts on Arctic security who were alarmed by foreign interest in the facility.
"I think it's the best idea the government of Canada has had in a long time," said Clarence Wood, Inuvik's mayor.
The 21,000-square-foot hangar, which went up for sale two years ago, was previously leased by the Department of National Defence, a long-standing arrangement that ended in 2021 when the department cancelled its lease. The government reportedly came under pressure from the U.S. to buy the facility after it went up for sale, because of apparent Russian and Chinese interest in the site.
Former Nunavut senator Dennis Patterson, long an advocate for better Arctic security, told CBC that during his time on the Senate, he was frustrated by the lack of attention paid to the issue. He pointed to a study of it by a Senate committee that involved a visit to Inuvik, crediting that as something that helped Canada "wake up" to the strategic significance of the hangar.
"I've been shouting into the wilderness on this issue," he said.
It annoys me to no end that our federal gov't seems to require a push from the US to do something like protect our northern regions.
Jfc already.
@girlfreddy Persinally, i feel we let the USA push us around too much. Who are we protecting on our north? who's interests do we serve? I am old an tired , but we more to angry with Charles de Gaulle than Leonit Brezhnev. and NATO and the USA did not come to our help in October 1970. What will big subs do? did they help in afghanistan? will subs help First Nations save their territories in the face of massive climate change fires? clean water. not weapons. jmho
I think we're protecting the northern passage. With everything melting, a lot of shipping traffic will start going through there, and we want that income.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Canadian government has purchased a strategically located aircraft hangar in Inuvik, N.W.T., for $8.6 million — a move that's being met with relief by northerners and experts on Arctic security who were alarmed by foreign interest in the facility.
On Wednesday, Daniel Minden, director of communications for the office of the minister of National Defence, told CBC the federal government did an analysis of the hangar's strategic value and "found a clear interest in acquiring the facility" — a marked change from the department's position in April 2023 that the hangar was useful but not essential.
He pointed to a study of it by a Senate committee that involved a visit to Inuvik, crediting that as something that helped Canada "wake up" to the strategic significance of the hangar.
It'll also be important for the F-35s Canada is purchasing, according to Rob Huebert, the interim director for the Centre of Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary — as will the federal government's project to extend Inuvik's runway from 6,000 to 9,000 feet (or 2,743 metres).
Huebert told CBC the significance of the sale comes from several other factors as well: the hangar's proximity to the NORAD base at the Inuvik airport, especially in the wake of pledges to modernize NORAD; the capability it gives the military to house F-35s and other aircraft within the Arctic circle; and the message it sends about the federal government's commitment to defend the Arctic.
Wood, Inuvik's mayor, told CBC he's been writing letters to the Department of National Defence for several years about the hangar and other Arctic security-related issues.
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