Good morning — Drin Gwiinzii (drin gweezee), Ullukkut (oo-LAH-kkut).

It’s a real pleasure to be here in Inuvik today. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

I want to acknowledge the many leaders in the room—elected leadership as well as those who are leaders in communities and in business.

I want to start with a quote from the Northwest Territories chapter of the federal government’s Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, launched back in 2019, that I’ve repeatedly gone back to and still find relevant:

“It is time for Canadians to look North; to look beyond the cultural mythology we have created about the Arctic to its real potential to add to Canada’s social and economic strength and global advantage.”

That’s where my conversation with you begins.

Enough with the mythology of Canada as an Arctic country without the means to move around or bring energy to the Arctic.
And enough with the mythology of Canada as an Arctic country if political leadership does not recognize the historical imbalances that have left Northern communities systemically disadvantaged and underperforming in social and health indicators.

The theme of this conference—Sustainable Communities for a Secure Arctic—cannot be just a tagline. It must be a national imperative.

If Canada intends to ensure itself a secure Arctic, we need to invest in the communities—and in the Canadians—who call the North home. If we want Canadian sovereignty in the North to be more than rhetoric, we need to make it real—on the ground, in policy, and in people’s lives.

And today, the why has never been clearer.

Evolving geopolitical threats. Accelerating climate change. The global race for critical resources.

These forces have made one thing painfully obvious: the days of assuming that 40% of Canada’s landmass and 75% of its entire coastline is empty, too harsh, too far away, too expensive—those days are behind us. The reality is that Canada’s Arctic is underprotected, underexplored, undeveloped, underaccessible, and undersupported.

Presence matters. People matter.

But here’s the thing—we in the North have been saying this for years. These aren’t new insights. So if we’ve long known the why… then we have to ask: why not? Why haven’t we seen the action needed to turn these challenges into opportunities?

Let me offer a few reasons—because we can’t solve a problem we’re not willing to name.

First, cost. Yes, building in the North is expensive. But the costs we’re talking about aren’t outrageous compared to other national priorities—like high-speed rail or EV manufacturing subsidies. The question isn’t whether we can afford to invest in the North. It’s whether we can afford not to.

Second, national politics. I’ll be diplomatic. Federal governments tend to focus where the votes are. And Northern projects don’t deliver obvious political wins in the South. That’s a communications challenge. But today, the Arctic is no longer a niche concern. Canadians increasingly understand that distance is not a defence strategy. Look at a globe from the top down and tell me we aren’t on the front line of geopolitical risk. That shift in awareness opens a door—and we need to walk through it.

Third, Northern politics. Again, I’ll try to be diplomatic. As a public government, I know that the GNWT—and the federal government as well—are tied to the history of colonialism and associated racism. We are still living with the reality of colonialism in our structures and racism in some of our mindsets. But we must find ways to trust new generations of leadership, new generations of educators, and new ways of working together—across governments, regions, and jurisdictions. We can’t afford duplication, delay, or division. Our strength lies in our partnerships—whether political, social, economic, or a combination—and in our ability to advocate to the rest of Canada with one voice.

The Council of Leaders is an example of a step in that direction, and we need to keep building on that momentum.

The stakes in this moment are high—not just for the North, but for the country.

During his election night speech, Prime Minister Carney offered a vision I think we should reflect on:

“We will chart a new path forward because this is Canada and we decide what happens here.
We will need to think big and act bigger. We will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven’t seen in generations.”

Now let me try to paraphrase this, northern style:

We will chart a new path forward because this is Canada’s North, and we decide what happens here. We will need to think big, think together as Northerners, and act both bigger and more together than ever before. We will need to do things previously thought impossible—at speeds and with levels of partnership we haven’t seen before.

Every major issue facing this country—energy security, food security, Arctic sovereignty, strategic infrastructure development, climate resilience—runs through the North. And the communities here are not obstacles to progress. They are essential to it.

So what does it mean to invest in sustainable communities as a matter of national security?

It means creating a secure foundation for Canadian people. And if this is a time of generational opportunity, then it must also be a time when we answer some of these big questions with a solution-oriented mindset.

Canadians need housing. What can all levels of government do to help increase the supply of housing across the full spectrum of need? We must continue to work together—as we have begun to do through the Council of Leaders—to ensure we are maximizing resources and not duplicating efforts.

Canadians need health care. Let’s be proud of what we can do well—like bringing together Indigenous, land-based healing and western medical traditions—and let’s also stand up for federal programs like NIHB.

Canadians need to keep pace in education. Policy changes—such as those to Jordan’s Principle funding announced in March—must reflect the realities of the territories. The same holds true for the Inuit Child First Initiative. We are not provinces. We face distinct and often more complex challenges. The last residential school in Canada closed in the NWT in the 1990s, and today we have the highest proportion of residential school survivors in the country. The federal government must not only avoid the disproportionate impacts of one-size-fits-all policies—it must begin to see educational and social supports for the North through a different lens.

Sustainable communities also mean communities with reasonable transportation accessibility—whether by all-season roads, upgraded runways, or both.

It also means addressing an energy system that is not on the North American grid, that in fact operates on approximately 27 regional or community-sized grids, and that costs more to ratepayers than anywhere else in Canada.

It means supporting Indigenous governments that are already leading major projects—from natural gas to renewables, from roads to research.

It means recognizing that traditional knowledge isn’t a “nice to have”—it is sovereignty. Traditional knowledge is knowledge of lands that are otherwise largely unknown to other ways of knowing. It is knowledge of survival.

And sustainable communities across the North means working with Indigenous governments who are self-governing, land owners, traditional land users—or all three.

All of this: the homes, the health centres, the schools, the roads that link us, and the energy that powers us—as well as our collaborative and co-management systems of governance—this is what makes our communities sustainable, sovereign, and secure.

That’s the message we need to send. And we need to send it together.

Inuvik is the perfect place to be having this conversation. You’ve seen firsthand what it means to build in the Arctic—from satellite stations to highways, from runways to multiple energy solutions. You’ve shown what collaboration across governments can accomplish.

Let’s keep working together. And let’s make sure the rest of Canada doesn’t just look North—but truly sees it, understands it, invests in it, grows with it, and believes in it.

Mahsi cho. Quyanainni. Thank you.