German president wraps up visit to Canada in N.W.T.

Germany's president is visiting the NorthwestTerritories for the final leg of his four-day official visit toCanada.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Budenbender, werewelcomed at the Yellowknife airport Wednesday morning by N.W.T. Commissioner Margaret Thom, Deputy Mayor Stacie Smith andYellowknives Dene First Nation Chief of Ndil Fred Sangris, amongother dignitaries.

Steinmeier then joined Gov. Gen. Mary Simon at the Canadianmilitary's Joint Task Force North headquarters for a tour andbriefing with senior officials. Outside, federal governmentemployees formed a picket line as part of a countrywide strikeinvolving more than 150,000 Public Service Alliance of Canadaworkers.

Steinmeier and Simon headed further north Wednesday to the hamletof Tuktoyaktuk to meet with Indigenous leaders and members of thecommunity.

While in Tuktoyaktuk, they planned to visit the shore of the ArcticOcean to learn about the effects of climate change and view homesthat were relocated due to coastal erosion. They were also set tovisit a traditional sod house, known as igluryuaq in Inuvialuktuk,built with sawed drift logs covered with sod clumps for insulation,as well as an ice house that was dug in the permafrost in 1963 thatis used to store meat and fish.

Steinmeier and Simon were then scheduled to attend a presentationon the Smart Ice Project, which combines traditional knowledge withmodern technology to monitor ice, as well as dog sledding and icefishing demonstrations. They plannedto end their time in Tuktoyaktuk byattending a community event at Kitti Hall before returning toYellowknife via Inuvik.

Security and defence partner

The House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defencerecently released a report on Arctic security and sovereignty with26 recommendations for the federal government. Those includedfast-tracking recruitment of members of the Canadian Armed Forces,tabling timelines to enhance forwarding operating locations in theArctic, and collaborating with territorial and Indigenousgovernments to ensure military infrastructure includes dual-usebenefits.

Germany and Canada co-operate on security and defence issues aslong-standing partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization andare both members of the G7 and G20, the Organization for EconomicCo-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization.

The German-Canadian High Level Steering Group on BilateralCooperation was established in 2021 to strengthen relations betweenthe countries. It brings together senior officials from the Canadianand German governments to strengthen co-operation on areas includingpeace and security, climate change, energy and natural resources,and innovation, digitalization and the economy.

In March and May 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and GermanChancellor Olaf Scholz agreed to work together to advance theadoption and expansion of carbon pricing and both countries signedonto the G7 Hydrogen Action Pact.

Steinmeier arrived Sunday in Ottawa, where he attended eventsincluding a reception held by the German ambassador during which hespoke about the importance of liberal democracies.

On Tuesday, he was in Burnaby, B.C., and Vancouver, where hetoured fuel cell company Cellcentric and attended a roundtablediscussion with German and Canadian business representatives.

Steinmeier is to depart Yellowknife for Germany on Wednesdayevening.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Canadian Press News Fellowship and Meta, which is not involved in the editorial process.