Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada's "principled pragmatism" in foreign policy will be on full display next week in Greenland when she opens Canada's new consulate in the Danish territory with Inuit representatives attending and a coast guard vessel in the background.
"We will continue to be principled and we will be pragmatic at the same time," Anand told The Canadian Press during a Monday interview in her ministerial office, where her desk was covered by a circular map of the Arctic.
The opening of the new consulate in Greenland's capital Nuuk was originally planned for last November but was postponed due to bad weather.
Since then, U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated his threats to acquire the Danish territory. The White House refused to rule out using military force to secure the island and Trump threatened to impose tariffs on European nations opposed to the idea — particularly those which sent military personnel to assess Greenland's security needs.
While Trump has since dialed down those threats, he still insists that Russian and Chinese ships are circling the territory. Analysts say that's not happening to any significant degree, particularly in comparison to areas closer to Alaska.
In the interview, Anand said an arctic and offshore patrol ship will be present for the opening of the consulate in Nuuk next week, but in fact the vessel is not one of those operated by the Royal Canadian Navy. The office of Defence Minister David McGuinty clarified that it is a Canadian Coast Guard ship named Jean Goodwill, an icebreaker.
Anand will be joined in Nuuk by Inuit representatives and by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and Arctic Ambassador Virginia Mearns, both whom are Inuit.
"Our conception of the utility of this consulate is to ensure that Canada is doing its part to be represented outside of our own country in the Arctic, and to co-operate with other like-minded countries in the Arctic," Anand said.
"You are seeing us work with countries to serve Canada's economic interests and you are also seeing us stand up for principles of international law, as we are doing with the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland."
Anand said that work includes reinforcing "ties between Indigenous Peoples, especially Inuit," adding that "self-determination is at the core of international law."
She said this is part of ongoing efforts to get NATO to focus more on the north after spending most of its history concerning itself with continental Europe.
"Certainly, the Greenland issue brought into focus the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the role that NATO must have in the North Atlantic and the Arctic," Anand said.
"I can't stress enough how important this issue has been to me since 2021, when I became the minister of national defence, and I am so driven by continuing to ensure that we have the protection and security of the Arctic in conjunction with Indigenous peoples at the forefront of our foreign policy."
She said Canada has been working more frequently with its Nordic NATO peers at the ministerial level to improve co-ordination on security issues.
Anand said it's an example of Prime Minister Mark Carney's vision of "variable geometry," which he described last year as "dynamic, overlapping, pragmatic coalitions, built around shared interests, and occasionally shared values, rather than shared institutions."
Carney expanded on that vision earlier this month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he talked of the need for middle powers to band together to advance their interests instead of being subordinate to superpowers.
Anand is expected to fly next week to Copenhagen and then Nuuk. She might head to the Danish capital directly from Washington after a meeting on critical minerals held by the U.S. State Department.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
