Canada plans to open two consulates in Anchorage, Alaska, and Greenland to reinforce its presence in the highly contested Arctic region, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand said December 16. Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to boost Canada’s military and security presence in the Arctic, a frozen and mineral-rich expanse that is of increasing interest to the United States and rivals China and Russia.
Anand said the Arctic is Canada’s top foreign policy priority. “The region is so, so important now as we see Russian infrastructure moving further and further north and as we see the Northwest Passage becoming easier to traverse because of melting polar ice caps,” she said.
Canada had planned to open a consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, in November 2025 but had to postpone because of bad weather. Anand said there was no date yet for when a Canadian consulate in Anchorage might open.
Anand recently spoke with Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of NATO, and urged him to strengthen resources in the Arctic. “My question to him was, ‘What is NATO going to tangibly do?’ Because Canada is going to fortify our presence in the Arctic,” Anand said, referring to Carney’s plans to increase defense spending to 2% of the country’s GDP this year and to 5% by 2035. Anand said she plans to invite foreign ministers to visit the Canadian Arctic in mid-2026.