Speaking security: constructing Canada’s 2009 northern strategy

ABSTRACT

The 2006–15 Stephen Harper Conservative government created a Canadian Arctic policy noted as an outlier both at home and abroad. Critics at home alleged that it was a retraction from Canada’s overall broadening and deepening Arctic policy trajectory, returning to the narrow concerns of sovereignty. Abroad, the security rhetoric the policy was clad in seemed out of step with the then increasing regional governance of a relatively peaceful Arctic. This article tests these criticisms through a discourse analysis that traces the creation of what is Canada’s first integrated Arctic policy during the life of the Harper Conservative government. It applies the Copenhagen School’s sectors of security and securitisation theory to mark the breadth and intensity of the discourse over time. It finds that the substance of the policy very much builds upon the preceding work of the Chrétien/Martin government. Whilst the security rhetoric quickly diminished, the actual threats posited conversely built over time with Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014. It concludes that whilst securitising language often benefits opposition parties, it does not always benefit governments.

KEYWORDS:

• Arctic
• Canada
• discourse
• policy
• sectors
• securitisation

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the support of the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Department of National Defence Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) program for their research program on Arctic security and governance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1. Speech: ‘The Call of the North,” 14.

^2. Speech: “Harper Stands Up for Arctic Sovereignty.”

^3. Speech, “Securing Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.”

^4. “The Ilulissat Declaration.”

^5. Canada, Statement on Canada”s Arctic Foreign Policy, 2.

^6. Canada, Canada”s Northern Strategy: Our North, Our Heritage, Our Future.

^7. See, for example, Plouffe, “Stephen Harper”s Arctic Paradox,” and Dolata, “A New Canada in the Arctic? Arctic Policies under Harper.”

^8. Lackenbauer, “Towards a Comprehensive Approach to Canadian Security and Safety in the Arctic.” See also Lackenbauer, From Polar Race to Polar Saga: An Integrated Strategy for Canada and the Circumpolar World; Lackenbauer, ““Use It or Lose It,” History, and the Fourth Surge” and Lackenbauer, “Afterword.”

^9. Landriault, La Sécurité Arctique 2000–2010: Une décennie turbulente? See also Landriault and Minard, “Does standing up for sovereignty pay off politically?” and Landriault, “Public Opinion on Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security.”

^10. Genest and Lasserre, “Souveraineté, sécurité, identité: éléments-clés du discours du gouvernement canadien sur l”Arctique,” 74.

^11. Speech from the Throne to Open the Second Session of the 39^th Parliament of Canada.

^12. Lackenbauer, “Towards a Comprehensive Approach to Canadian Security and Safety in the Arctic,” 147.

^13. Lackenbauer, “Towards a Comprehensive Approach to Canadian Security and Safety in the Arctic,” 156.

^14. Smith, “Choosing not to see: Canada, climate change, and the Arctic.”

^15. Dodds, “We are a northern country: Stephen Harper and the Canadian Arctic.”

^16. Dolata, “A New Canada in the Arctic?”

^17. Charron, “The Recasting of the Arctic Sovereignty Theme: Assessing Harper”s Arctic Foreign Policy.”

^18. Canada, Canada”s Arctic and Northern Policy Framework.

^19. For more on the development of the various strains of Canadian Arctic policy into an integrated strategy, see Dean, “Securitizing the Arctic?”

^20. Please note that I have referenced the primary sources reproduced in Lackenbauer and Dean, Canada”s Northern Strategy under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, wherever possible as many of these documents are no longer readily accessible online whilst also providing an easily accessible data set for readers. The Lackenbauer and Dean volume does not include speeches, statements, and policy documents dealing with local development plans and regional infrastructure, as “well as statements regarding domestic regulatory regimes, health, and conservation.” Lackenbauer and Dean, “Introduction,” xlvi n.

^21. See Buzan, Wæver and de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis.

^22. Buzan, Wӕver and de Wilde, Security: A New Framework, 7, 109–15.

^23. Buzan, Wӕver, and de Wilde, Security: A New Framework, 23–4.

^24. See also Lackenbauer, From Polar Race to Polar Saga; Dolata, “A New Canada in the Arctic?” and Lackenbauer, ““Towards a Comprehensive Approach,” for identifying phases in the Harper government”s Northern policies.

^25. See Chase, “Myth versus reality in Stephen Harper”s northern strategy.” See also Carson, 14 Days: Making the Conservative Movement in Canada, 142–46.

^26. News Release: Signing of Land Claims Agreement with the Inuit of Nunavik, 19–20 and News Release: Canada”s new Government Introduces the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act, 22–3.

^27. Speech: Canada Day 2007: Message from the Prime Minister.

^28. News Release: Canada”s New Government Announces Increased Science in the Arctic.

^29. Speech: “Securing Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.”

^30. Speech: “The Call of the North.”

^31. Speech: “Harper Stands Up for Arctic Sovereignty.”

^32. Speech: Prime Minister Stephen Harper Announces New Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships.

^33. News Release: Canada”s New Government Invests Over $13 million in Arctic Research Projects, 24.

^34. See, for example, Smith, “Choosing not to see.”

^35. See, for example, Turner, The War on Science: Muzzled Scientists and Wilful Blindness in Stephen Harper”s Canada.

^36. See, for example, Smith, “Choosing not to see: Canada, climate change, and the Arctic.”

^37. Speech: “Securing Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic,” 9.

^38. For more on how this process works, see the UN, “Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).” For an examination of Canada”s claim to an Arctic extended continental shelf, see the works by Riddell-Dixon, such as Breaking the Ice: Canada, Sovereignty, and the Arctic Extended Continental Shelf; “Meeting the deadline: Canada”s Arctic submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf,” and “Canada and Arctic politics: the continental shelf extension.”

^39. News Release: Canada”s New Government Moves Forward to Establish Limits of Our Continental Shelf, 6.

^40. Speech: Speaking Notes for the Honourable Gordon J. O”Connor, P.C., M.P. Minister of National Defence At the Conference of Defence Associations Institute Annual General Meeting, 4.

^41. See, for example, Speech: Strategic Airlift Marks New Era for Canada [by Minister of National Defence Gordon O”Connor].

^42. See, for example, Speech: “The Call of the North.”

^43. Flanagan, “Arctic symbolism, Harper stagecraft,” and Chase, “Q&A with Harper: No previous government has “delivered more in the North”.

^44. Lackenbauer, “Towards a Comprehensive Approach to Canadian Security and Safety in the Arctic.”

^45. See, for example, Canada, Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated Set Path for Nunavut Devolution.

^46. See, for example, News Release: PCSP Open House Celebrates 50 Years of Arctic Research.

^47. See, for example, News Release: Canada-U.S. to Jointly Survey Arctic Seafloor.

^48. See, for example, News Release: PM Announces New Polar Class Icebreaker Project to be Named After Former PM John G. Diefenbaker.

^49. See, for example, Canada, Budget 2008 and News Release: Minister of National Defence and Chief of the Defence Staff Travel to Arctic.

^50. Canada First Defence Strategy, 7.

^51. Canada First Defence Strategy, 6.

^52. Canada First Defence Strategy, 3

^53. Canada”s Northern Strategy, 5.

^54. Canada”s Northern Strategy, 4.

^55. The important line that Canada”s sovereignty is “long-standing, well-established and based on historic title” first appeared in a backgrounder outlining Canada”s Arctic Foreign Policy, circulated in March 2009. News Release: Minister Cannon Outlines Canada”s Arctic Foreign Policy, 79. This line should be seen as a further development of government messaging that it had been developing since the SS Manhattan voyages. See Lackenbauer and Kikkert, The Canadian Forces and Arctic Sovereignty.

^56. See “What do you think should be in the Northern Strategy?”; “About the Northern Strategy,” 11 November 2005 and “Developing your Northern Strategy,” 3.

^57. Canada”s Northern Strategy, 2.

^58. Lackenbauer, “Towards a Comprehensive Approach.”

^59. Canada”s Northern Strategy, 102–3.

^60. Federal Government”s Northern Strategy Delivers for All Canadians, 99. This was only the second time that a “whole-of-government” approach was mentioned in Harper government announcements. The first time was during a speech by Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay to announce the start of Operation NANOOK in 2008. He referenced the formulating Canada”s Northern Strategy, starting that it “demands an integrated, whole-of-government approach.” The Launch of OP NANOOK – Minister Peter MacKay”s Speech, 64.

^61. Statement on Canada”s Arctic Foreign Policy, 161–2.

^62. Another excellent demonstration of this was the 2008 Ilulissat Declaration by the five Arctic coastal states affirming their commitment to international law. See “The Ilulissat Declaration.” See also Speech: Address by Minister Cannon at the News Conference for the Arctic Ocean Foreign Ministers” Meeting.

^63. Statement on Canada”s Arctic Foreign Policy, 160.

^64. The Launch of OP NANOOK – Minister Peter MacKay”s Speech through to News Release: PM Announces New Polar Class Icebreaker Project to be Named After Former PM John G. Diefenbaker.

^65. An excellent example of this can be found at Speech: Prime Minister Stephen Harper Addresses the House of Commons in a Reply to the Speech from the Throne.

^66. See, for example, News Release: Successful launch of RADARSAT-2.

^67. See, for example, News Release: Canada Commemorates 25th Anniversary of UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

^68. News Release: Minister of National Defence and United States Secretary of Defense Strengthen Security Cooperation.

^69. News Release: Minister of National Defence and United States Secretary of Defense Discuss Strategic Cooperation.

^70. See, for example, Lackenbauer and Huebert, “Premier Partners: Canada, the United States and Arctic Security,” and Lajeunesse and Huebert, “Preparing for the next Arctic sovereignty crisis: The Northwest Passage in the age of Donald Trump.”

^71. News Release: Canada Begins Annual Arctic Sovereignty Operation, 151–2.

^72. Speech: Stand Up of the Yellowknife Company, Hon. Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, 17 August 2009 in Lackenbauer and Dean, Canada”s Northern Strategy under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, 118–121.

^73. News Release: Minister MacKay announces support for Junior Canadian Rangers, 21 August 2008 in Lackenbauer and Dean, Canada”s Northern Strategy under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, 66.

^74. This observation supports Lackenbauer, “Towards a Comprehensive Approach to Canadian Security and Safety in the Arctic.”

^75. Chase, “Q&A with Harper.”

^76. News Release: Preliminary Contract signed with Irving Shipbuilding for the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships, 231.

^77. News Release: PM Announces the Name of the First of the Royal Canadian Navy”s Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships.

^78. News Release: Harper Government Awards Shipbuilding Contract That Supports Jobs across Canada.

^79. The Government of Canada Continues to Take Action on Arctic Sovereignty: Announces the Opening of the Canadian Armed Forces Arctic Training Centre, 281.

^80. The Government of Canada Continues to Take Action on Arctic Sovereignty, 282.

^81. Speech by the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence: The Canadian Forces and Canada”s Northern Strategy.

^82. News Release: Baird Visits Norway, Reaffirms Canada”s Position on Ukraine and the Arctic, 335–6.

^83. News Release: Exercise AMALGAM DART Concludes Successfully under Canadian NORAD Region Leadership, 387.

^84. For a similar observation about the transition from Harper to Justin Trudeau”s government, see Lackenbauer, “Global Arctic Leadership” in an Era of Cooperation and Competition.”