Arctic security doesn’t require Canadian Forces return to Churchill, military says

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This article was published 15/08/2022 (1223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The Canadian Armed Forces remain frosty to the idea of an Arctic base in Churchill, saying the polar-bear capital doesn’t meet operational needs.

“There are no current plans for increased permanent presence the Churchill or Kivalliq regions,” wrote Capt. Anne Côté, referring to northern Manitoba and its neighboring Nunavut region.

On Aug. 8, the head of Canada’s military hosted colleagues from other Arctic nations to discuss “the evolving security environment in the Arctic, opportunities for enhanced co-operation.”

The military arranged interviews with Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre about the meeting, but declined a chat about the possibility of Churchill being involved, saying there is nothing to discuss.

“Strengthening Arctic security is strategically important for North American defence. We need to have capabilities in place that can protect that sovereignty going decades into the future because as we’ve seen with Ukraine, the rules-based international order can rapidly change,” Côté wrote.

“The Canadian Armed Forces is always reviewing its current posture and infrastructure in the North.”

The town, 1,600 kilometres north of Winnipeg, counts just 900 residents. But it used to house more than 6,000 people, largely driven by a Cold War-era base where American and Canadian troops tested rockets.

Town officials have long pushed for a returned military presence to shore up its economic and Arctic sovereignty, arguing the Hudson Bay Railway makes it a practical destination for storing military equipment.

The idea has long been floated by parliamentarians, and was endorsed by Conservative leadership frontrunner Pierre Poilievre’s Manitoba campaign, also touting the idea of shipping oil from the Port of Churchill.

“He also feels that there’s a role in national defence and national security for Churchill, so I’m expecting to see some more policy on that as we go forward in this leadership campaign,” MP James Bezan, Poilievre’s co-lead for Manitoba, said last month.

Eyre’s predecessor gave the idea the cold shoulder during his February 2018 testimony to the Senate defence committee.

“I don’t have a military task in Churchill,” Gen. Jonathan Vance said at the time, arguing there needs to be a strategic reason for putting resources in the community.

“Sometimes, there’s a wistfulness there, that Churchill doesn’t have a military base or that somehow we should be there more.”

Vance had argued there is a sufficient presence of Canadian Rangers to patrol the North and conduct search-and-rescue operations, while a refuelling site exists much further north in Nanisivik, Nunavut.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca