THE GREAT NORTHERN DILEMMA: THE DISCONNECTION BETWEEN CANADA'S SECURITY POLICIES AND CANADA'S NORTH LE DILEMME DU GRAND NORD : LE FOSSE ENTRE LES POLITIQUES DE SECURITE DU CANADA ET LES REALITES DU NORD CANADIEN A Thesis Submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies of the Royal Military College of Canada by Elizabeth Anne Sneyd Sub-Lieutenant (ret'd) In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in War Studies April 2008 © This thesis may be used within the Department of National Defence but copyright for open publication remains the property of the author. 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The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. •*• Canada ii This thesis is dedicated to the late LCol (ret'd) Dr. John K. Marteinson, a teacher, a mentor and friend. It was he who really introduced me to Canadian defence policy as a field of study and who encouraged me to write about the North in the first place. This is for you, John. v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks to Dr Joel Sokolsky for his willingness to be my thesis supervisor, and for his patience with the work's actual construction. My thanks to Colonel (ret'd) Alain Pellerin and the Conference of Defence Associations Institute for opening my eyes to the Canadian political process by taking me on as their intern for 2006-2007 and for letting me research the Arctic as part of my duties. Also, my thanks to Clare Stewart and Carl and Iain Sneyd not only for their support, but also for their editorial skills. Most of all, my thanks to my fiance Steven, without whom I would be lost. DISCLAIMER This is an academic work. Opinions expressed or implied in this publication (where not otherwise cited) are the author's own, and do not represent the views of the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Military College of Canada, or of the Conference of Defence Associations and the Conference of Defence Associations Institute. Errors are the author's own. vu viii ABSTRACT Sneyd, Elizabeth A. M.A. (War Studies). Royal Military College of Canada. November 2007. The Great Northern Dilemma: The Disconnection between Canada's Security Policies and Canada's North. Supervisor: Dr. Joel J. Sokolsky. The Canadian government's approach to security in Canada's North is traditionally focused strictly on matters of sovereignty and defence, despite the expression of wider concerns, namely, societal and environmental issues, by the Territorial governments and by the aboriginal peoples of the regions. Through policy analysis, through study of the implications of past security-related events, and through examination of key players inside and outside of the region, this thesis presents a comprehensive look at the broader security situation in Canada's North today. This thesis argues that the federal "security" policy approach in this region reflects, firstly, the imposition of Canadian national security objectives on Canada's North rather than the integration of Northern security needs into the broader Canadian security policy. The federal approach also reflects the lack of a coherent, "whole of government approach" in federal policies concerning Canada's North. This disconnection between security policy and the region it purports to serve has become increasingly obvious as Canada's North has once again become an area of international interest. This paper concludes that the federal government needs to work directly with the inhabitants of Canada's North to create a long-term strategy that encompasses a much wider range of security issues, and thus ensure that Canada's North is kept secure for all Canadians, in particular those who live there. Keywords: Canada's North, security policy, human security, environmental security ix X RESUME Sneyd, Elizabeth A., M.A. (Etudes sur la conduite de la guerre). College militaire royal du Canada, septembre 2007. The Great Northern Dilemma : The Disconnection between Canada's Security Policies and Canada's North (Le dilemme du Grand Nord : le fosse entre les politiques de securite du Canada et les realties du Nord canadien) Superviseur : M. Joel J. Sokolsky, Ph.D. La politique de securite du gouvernement du Canada dans le Nord se circonscrit traditionnellement autour des questions de souverainete et de defense, en depit des preoccupations plus globales - relatives a la societe et a l'environnement - manifestoes par les gouvernements territoriaux et les peuples autochtones de la region. Cet ouvrage examine les politiques, analyse les implications des evenements passes en matiere de securite et passe en revue les intervenants cles de la region et de Pexterieur pour dresser un tableau global de 1'environnement de securite du Nord canadien d'aujourd'hui. L'auteur de ce document soutient que 1'orientation de la politique de « securite » du gouvernement federal pour cette region refiete, d'une part, l'imposition des objectifs nationaux du Canada en matiere de securite sur le Nord du pays plutot que l'integration des besoins du Nord en matiere de securite a la politique de securite globale du Canada; et d'autre part, l'absence d'une « approche pangouvernementale » dans les politiques federates sur le Nord canadien. Ce fosse entre la politique de securite du gouvernement et les realites de la region que celui-ci pretend servir est de plus en plus manifeste, aujourd'hui que le Nord canadien revet de nouveau un interet national. L'auteur en arrive a la conclusion que le gouvernement federal devrait travailler directement avec les habitants du Nord canadien pour elaborer une strategie a long terme qui englobe un xi eventail beaucoup plus large de questions de securite, et garantir ainsi la securite du Grand Nord pour tous les Canadiens, et en particulier la population locale. Mots-cles : Nord canadien, politique de securite, securite humaine, securite environnementale xn TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 - CANADA'S NORTH IN CANADA'S SECURITY POLICIES 15 •1.1 Introduction 15 1.2 Security Policy in the North equals defence policy? 16 1.3 Security Policy in the North equals human security policy? 33 1.4 Security policy in the North equals environmental security? 40 1.5 Summary 42 CHAPTER 2 -SECURITY LITERATURE AND CANADA'S NORTH 45 2.1 Introduction 45 2.2 After the Manhattan: 1969-1985 45 2.3 After the Polar Sea: 1985-1991 49 2.4 A New World Order: 1991-2001 59 2.5 A New World Order Redux: 2001- 64 2.6 Conclusions 68 CHAPTER 3 - THE REGION AND ITS PEOPLES 71 3.1 Introduction 71 3.2 The People of the North 72 3.3 Political Structure in the North 74 3.4 The Territorial Governments as a regional unit... 79 3.5 Developing a New Framework: Speaking out about security in the North 82 3.6 Local Aboriginal Political Units 87 3.7 Inuit Perspectives of Security 91 3.8 Conclusions 97 CHAPTER 4 - KEEPING CANADA'S NORTH SECURE 100 4.1 Introduction 100 4.2 The CF 100 4.3 The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 114 4.4 The Canadian Coast Guard 121 4.5 Conclusion 125 CHAPTER 5 - THE NORTH IN CANADA-US RELATIONS 128 5.1 Introduction 128 xm 5.2 Contention 129 5.3 Co-operation 137 5.4 Recent developments 142 5.5 Where to go from here? 148 CHAPTER 6 - THE NORTH IN CIRCUMPOLAR RELATIONS 150 6.1 The Northern circumpolar neighbourhood 150 6.2 The Inuit Circumpolar Conference 152 6.3 Other international aboriginal organizations 156 6.4 The Arctic Council 157 6.5 The Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region 162 6.6 The Northern Forum 164 6.7 Canada and the northern Circumpolar World 165 6.8 Conclusions 167 CHAPTER 7 - THE STATE OF NORTHERN SECURITY TODAY 170 7.1 Canada's North and the outside world 170 7.2 The people of the North and Northern Research 173 7.3 Northern Security vs. Northern Defence 175 7.4 Reinforcing the Northern Fortress 178 7.5 At last, the Northern Voice 192 7.6 Cuibono? 202 BIBLIOGRAPHY 206 Primary Sources 206 Secondary Sources 211 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Canada's Territories ,xv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Territorial Population and breakdown by age (2005) 72 Table 2: Aboriginal Population of the Territories (2001).