Critical Minerals Strategy Update: Building the Strategic Investment Road Map

Canada’s critical minerals are central to its national security, defence, economic prosperity, and international influence. This Arctic360 policy brief argues that the update to Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy should become a strategic investment roadmap grounded in the country’s security, defence, and foreign policy objectives.

With a particular focus on Canada’s North, the brief examines overlapping federal responsibilities, gaps in coordination and accountability, and the financial challenges of developing complete critical mineral supply chains. It calls for a coordinated approach linking deposits, enabling infrastructure, processing, technological innovation, and offtake markets, supported by financial tools that attract long-term private capital.

The recommendations emphasize strengthening NRCan’s coordinating capacity, advancing Indigenous participation and allied cooperation, and developing Canadian leadership in cold-weather technologies. The objective is to define what Canada needs for domestic use, what it intends to export, and how its investments can secure a role in advanced manufacturing and other high-value activities across the supply chain.