Internet in Canada’s Arctic, a Stake of Soft Power for the Federal and Inuit

• Main Author: Delaunay, Michaël
• Other Authors: Cultures, Environnements, Arctique, Représentations, Climat (CEARC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris-Saclay, Jean-Paul Vanderlinden, Stéphane Roussel
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: Soft Power; Internet; Canada; Emancipation; Arctic; Nunavut; Arctique; [SHS.SCIPO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Political science; Arctique*; Global warming; inuit
• Online Access: https://theses.hal.science/tel-03599610; https://theses.hal.science/tel-03599610/document; https://theses.hal.science/tel-03599610/file/75666_DELAUNAY_2021_archivage.pdf

While the Arctic, due to the effects of global warming, may become a new global Internet route and connect 70% of the planet's Internet users, Canada is turning away from transarctic internet cable projects. However, those cables, eyed by China and Russia, appear to be strategic and able to serve as a tool of influence and to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. Although funding the network in Nunavut, through national satellite champion Telesat, the Canadian federal government does not benefit from controlling an undersized satellite telecommunications network that connects the North. By doing so, Canada is giving the opportunity to others, such as China and Russia, to develop transarctic projects that are significant for the global Internet, and thus the possibility for these countries to weigh in the future on the governance of the global internet from the Arctic. The lack of long-term strategy in connectivity and the historical choice of the satellite to connect the North decided by the Canadian federal government has still today effects on how Inuit can connect to the internet or not. At the same time and unlike the Canadian federal government, Inuit in Nunavut has appropriated the Internet, and in particular social networks, and use it to their advantage as a tool for emancipation and empowerment in the cultural and economic fields, but also as a tool of Soft Power in the political field. Despite very limited access to Internet, due to the chronic lack of investment in Canada’s North, Inuit have seized this tool to serve their daily needs, but also their local, national, regional, or international interests. Internet appeared to have become a vital part of the daily lives of Inuit despite the lack of infrastructure available. Alors que l’Arctique, du fait des effets du réchauffement climatique, pourrait bien devenir une nouvelle route de l’internet mondial et connecter 70% des internautes de la planète, le Canada lui se détourne des projets de câbles internet transarctiques. Ceux-ci, convoités par ...