Premier partners: Canada, the United States and Arctic security
Canada and the United States have always had a complicated relationship regarding the Arctic. Popular and public rhetoric often suggests that the region represents a major source of tension between the two close allies.1 This reflects Canada’s persistent preoccupation with Arctic sovereignty, with the United States cast as a perennial threat since the days of the Alaska Boundary Dispute, as well as the United States’ preoccupation with continental security since World War II. In practice, Canada and the United States have long collaborated in the Arctic through bilateral defense and security agreements, as well as in science and technology, environmental protection, infrastructure development, and surveillance. Canadian hypernationalism and the global scope of US geopolitical interests often obscure this enduring partnership.