BBC – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed Canada’s decision to send a frigate to Somalia to protect ships carrying food aid from pirate attacks.
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BBC – As the race to back up claims over the resources of the Arctic Ocean heats up, Canada has said it will build two new military bases in its far north.

BBC – Arctic neighbours draw up battle lines.

BBC – Russia ahead in Arctic ‘gold rush’.
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Associated Press – Canada announced plans Monday to increase its Arctic military presence in an effort to assert sovereignty over the Northwest Passage – a potentially oil-rich region the United States says is international territory.
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Canadian Press – A key federal cabinet committee has given the go-ahead for a plan to construct six corvette-sized Arctic patrol vessels. The patrol vessels, which are almost as large as the navy’s frigates, are a step down from the armed Arctic icebreakers that the Conservatives promised in the last election campaign and will likely not be in service before 2015.
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Washington Post – A long-standing legal wrangle between the United States and Canada could complicate future shipping through the Arctic as global warming melts the ice in the Northwest Passage.
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Halifax Live – Canada is undertaking sovereignty patrols in the Arctic.
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CTV – Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor confirms Ottawa will go ahead with its plan to commission the construction of three naval supply ships.
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CBC – Repair work on the fire-ravaged HMCS Chicoutimi won’t start until 2010, leaving the Canadian navy short by one submarine and raising concerns about whether the vessel will ever be returned to service.
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Canadian Press – Will Canada arm its icebreakers to help enforce its sovereignty in the North?

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CBC – Canada’s new government plans to defend the sovereignty of its Northwest Passage more aggressively than in the past.
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Chronicle Herald – HMCS Athabaskan will join the Standing NATO Response Force Maritime Group 1 in Kiel, Germany. On Jan. 26, the destroyer will become the flagship for the squadron of Canadian, American, German, Portuguese and Polish vessels.
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Canadian Press – The Canadian Navy ends rescue operations in the Gulf Coast.
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CBC – Canada is sending a task force to aid relief efforts on the Gulf Coast???

???as did the Dutch and Mexican Navies: CBS – Gulf Coast Invaded???With Kindness.
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BBC – Canada is sending its navy back to the far northern Arctic port of Churchill after a 30-year absence.
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CBC – The first of four Canadian navy submarines has returned to sea, after they were all grounded in the wake of the deadly fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi last fall.
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Ottawa Citizen – Taxpayers could be shelling out up to $465 million for upgrades to Canada’s troubled second-hand submarines while navy officers hope to start receiving seed money in a few years for a new underwater fleet.
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Canadian Press – The renewed investigation into the fatal fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi has been put off until next month while the submarine’s captain and two officers seek legal advice.
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Canadian Press – Canada’s navy is operating at tens of millions of dollars in the red and has been for years, inhibiting its role off Canada’s coasts and elsewhere, its chief told a Senate committee on Monday.
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Canadian Press – A report documenting serious training deficiencies in Canada’s submarine force.
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New Yorker – Seymour Hersch says the U.S. has special operations forces in Iran determining the locations of their nuclear weapons program; and he reveals the Pentagon’s plans for Iranóand for expanded covert activities.
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Canadian Press – Three months after making its ill-fated departure from Scotland, the submarine HMCS Chicoutimi was again on its way Thursday, bound for Canada. This time, however, the sub has been welded to the deck of a sealift transport for the voyage to Halifax.
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SeaPower – Canadaís Navy is in the midst of a post-9/11 push to better secure the worldís longest coastline and ensure it is pulling its weight in monitoring the continentís maritime frontiers.

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National Post – Concerned about a growing backlog in training and the potential that shore-bound submariners might leave the navy, the Canadian military is pushing to get its underwater fleet back to sea early in the new year.
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Ottawa Citizen – The fire on board a Canadian submarine that killed one of its crew was a result of human error.
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BBC – Canada has temporarily withdrawn from service three of its second-hand UK-built submarines following last week’s fatal blaze on a fourth vessel.
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