Filmed during the summer of 2021, the film looks at sovereignty as defined both by the nation and by the Inuit who live on the Arctic coast. Arctic Blue is reported by veteran CBC journalist Peter Mansbridge, capping five decades of reporting on the changing north.

In the iconic Northwest Passage we meet the captain and crew of HMCS Harry DeWolf, Canada’s brand new Arctic warship. In the hamlets of Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay and Grise Fjord, we meet community members who have paid a personal price for the nation’s efforts to wave the flag from our high Arctic islands.

Meanwhile, in Iqaluit, the leaders of Nunavut try to balance the importance of the traditional Inuit economy against the expanded industrial economy the melting ice allows. And, along the coasts of Russia and Alaska, the opening ocean is reviving a new Cold War.

The hope for a more peaceful future around the North Pole is held in the vision of Canada’s new Governor General Mary Simon, whose life work has been building bridges in the circumpolar region.