Federal money for Arctic projects should go the the territories: N.W.T premier

Premier of the Northwest Territories R.J. Simpson holds a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson says federal money meant for Arctic projects and programs should go to the territories.

Simpson made the remarks today while taking questions on the sidelines of the premiers’ meeting in Ottawa.

The latest federal budget promised a $1 billion Arctic Infrastructure Fund to invest in “major infrastructure projects in the North.”

While the fund’s terms are still in the works, Simpson said the message being delivered by northern premiers in Ottawa this week is that money earmarked for “the North” should go to the territories.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew posted on social media last week a proposal to build a new port in Churchill, Man., billing it as a project to assert Arctic sovereignty.

While Simpson said there are northern parts of provinces that could “rightly” be called the Arctic, he stressed the need for federal support in the territories.

This report by The Canadian Press was fist published Jan. 28, 2026.

Nick Murray, The Canadian Press