OTTAWA — Canada on Wednesday moved to accelerate development of its Arctic region by signaling its eagerness to back two major infrastructure projects: a 500-mile all-season gravel road in the Northwest Territories and a separate 140-mile road in Nunavut that would provide access to a proposed deep water port on the Arctic Ocean.
The initiative is part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s broader push to diversify Canadian trade away from the U.S. market and to bolster economic activity in the north, which officials view as strategically important amid growing military activity by Russian and Chinese forces in the region.
Canadian officials said the projects are under consideration for designation as national priorities. Such a designation would consolidate and streamline the regulatory process, and provide investors with certainty that outstanding questions would focus on how a project is built rather than whether it can proceed at all.
“The future of Canada’s north depends on modern, reliable infrastructure that connects communities, strengthens our economy, and builds resilient supply chains,” Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said in a statement.
MacKinnon added that the projects could “make a significant difference to remote and indigenous communities, improving quality of life and affordability while connecting Canadian goods to domestic and global markets.”
The first project is a roughly 500-mile all-season gravel road in the Northwest Territories connecting its capital, Yellowknife, with Inuvik, the largest Canadian town north of the Arctic Circle. Officials said the corridor would improve the region’s supply-chain network and support resource exploration.
The second project, in Nunavut, would build an all-season road of about 140 miles to provide access to a proposed deep water port and aerodrome on the Arctic Ocean. Officials said the project would enable the exploration of critical minerals in the region and support the local indigenous economy. Proponents of the project say it would create the first land link between the Northwest Passage and the North American highway system.
Officials cautioned that priority listing would be contingent on both projects completing their environmental impact assessments and regulatory processes that address the concerns of indigenous communities. No formal timeline for the regulatory reviews was announced.
Wednesday’s announcement is the latest in a series of Canadian initiatives aimed at strengthening Arctic sovereignty and reducing economic reliance on the United States. In March, Carney pledged $32 billion for northern forward bases to bolster Canada’s Arctic military presence.