A Comparison of Stephen Harper's and Justin Trudeau's Arctic Narratives: Toward a New Geography of the Canadian North.

This article compares the political narratives on the Canadian Arctic under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper (2006–2015) and Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (2015–2023), focusing on their differing identity dimensions. Harper’s narrative emphasized Arctic sovereignty as central to Canadian national identity, promoting economic development, hard security, and a recentering of Canada’s political geography toward the North, embodied by his personal commitment and frequent Arctic visits. In contrast, Trudeau’s narrative prioritizes reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through nation-to-nation relationships, environmental stewardship, and cooperative governance, symbolized by Governor General Mary Simon, an Indigenous woman from the North, who embodies a decolonizing vision of the Arctic. Despite ideological differences, both narratives share the goal of strengthening the Canadian Arctic and shifting the country’s identity northward, thereby reshaping Canada’s political geography.