Today, everyone sees opportunity in the Arctic.

Russia, always an active player in the region, continues to develop shipping in its Arctic waters, as well as claiming the Arctic seabed in certain regions claimed by the U.S. and Canada. Its close ally China has also started describing itself as an Arctic nation, despite having no Arctic territory of its own. This rhetoric has even risen to the level of musings about taking control of Greenland, in addition to annexing Canada.

There’s no denying the Arctic’s allure. Critical minerals abound throughout the region, and marine and air routes, for military and trade vessels alike, are becoming more strategically important.

Amid the geopolitical noise, however, it’s easy to lose sight of the Inuit and other Arctic Indigenous peoples who not only live in these Northern regions, but to increasing extents control them. In Canada, this is particularly salient given the crucial role such communities have played—and must continue to play—in Canada’s claim to sovereignty.

Following millennia of isolation and a colonial period beginning in the 1800s, it’s only been in recent decades that Inuit and their Arctic relatives have begun to achieve a greater degree of autonomy in governing the North. This can be seen in the huge amount of territory covered by modern land claims agreements across “Inuit Nunangat”—the ice, water and land that make up the homeland of Inuit in Canada.

This territory, comprising 40 per cent of Canada’s landmass and more than 70 per cent of its coastline, includes Nunavut, Nunatsiavut in Labrador, Nunavik on Quebec’s north shore, and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Northwest Territories and Yukon. These regions, all subject to modern land claim agreements, demonstrate the breadth of Canadian Indigenous peoples in the North who have begun to experience the many benefits—and burdens—of increased autonomy.

Importantly, Canada’s desire to enter into these modern agreements in the first place was not entirely altruistic, but in fact highly strategic. Indeed, without the historic presence of Inuit in the “Canadian Arctic,” Canada would almost certainly have a much weaker claim throughout the North from an international law perspective.

The Nunavut Agreement, in particular, explicitly recognizes the contribution of Inuit to Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic. Moreover, the same agreement also recognizes Inuit claims to Aboriginal title in the North—likely strong claims given the isolation of the region and the longstanding and largely exclusive presence of the Inuit.

What’s more, for decades Canada employed Inuit Canadian Rangers to patrol and surveil the remotest areas of Inuit Nunangat, an undertaking that effectively laid the foundation for Canada’s modern Arctic border claim.

Any way you look at it, Canada relies heavily on the fact that the Inuit have always been in the North to support its own claim to sovereignty vis-à-vis other nations.

Increased autonomy in the North has evolved over the last two decades through processes known as “devolution”: the transfer of control of lands and natural resources from the federal government to territorial governments, which, to varying degrees, reflect Indigenous sensibilities and desires. Nunavut is anticipated to achieve devolution in 2027. Yukon achieved a similar outcome in 2003 and the Northwest Territories in 2014.

These developments in the Canadian Arctic are not without an international analog. Just east of Baffin Island, across the Davis Strait, Greenland has also become the recent subject of geopolitical intrigue. 

Nunavut and Greenland have closely related Indigenous peoples with familial contacts and similar languages (Inuktut in Canada and Greenlandic in Greenland). Like their Inuit cousins in Canada, native Greenlanders have experienced colonial control as part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Only relatively recently have Greenlanders achieved an increased level of autonomy following the “home rule” referendum of 1979 and the “self-government” referendum of 2008.

But just as native Greenlanders and Inuit of Inuit Nunangat alike are on the cusp of achieving even greater autonomy, an international spat over the North and its rich resources could distract or even disrupt these efforts.

Inuit and native Greenlanders are resilient and have faced all manner of challenges living as they do in a harsh and unforgiving environment. Those historic challenges were often existential, and in the case of European contact, came gradually as direct influence from British and Canadian Crown actors in Ottawa also increased. Current geopolitics, by comparison, emanate from more distant global centres such as Washington, Moscow and Beijing. 

As international powers vie for influence in the Arctic, the voices of Inuit and other Arctic Indigenous peoples must not be lost in the current geopolitical posturing. The historical presence of Indigenous peoples, their legal rights, and their growing autonomy are not just factors in the Canadian sovereignty discussion—they are central to it.

Canada and its allies must ensure that Arctic policies are shaped not only by geopolitical aspirations, however grandiose, but also by the leadership and priorities of those who have called these lands home for millennia. The future of the Arctic is uncertain, but one thing remains clear: its Indigenous stewards must play a decisive role in shaping what comes next.

Adam Chamberlain and Paul Seaman lead Gowling WLG’s Canada North and Indigenous Law practices respectively.