Halfway into its Arctic Council chairmanship, Canada gets mixed reviews

Eye on the Arctic brings you stories and newsmakers from across the North

Canada is now one year into their two-year chairman ship of the Arctic Council.

Canada assumed its leadership role with an ambitious plan focused on developing the North for northerners. And for the first time, an Inuk, Canada’s now-environment minister Leona Aglukkaq, was made chair of the international forum.

But there has been some criticism that Canada’s leadership is too focused on issues in the North American Arctic and that it’s let tensions between Russia and the west over Ukraine seep into the council’s work.

To help us better understand where Canada stands half way into its mandate  Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn spoke to Whitney Lackenbauer, a history professor at St. Jerome’s University in Canada’s University of Waterloo.

For more on Canada and the Arctic Council, visit Eye on the Arctic’s special section