The Mackenzie Corridor: Canada's Arctic Crossroads in an Age of Climate Upheaval and Geopolitical Friction
The Mackenzie Corridor: Canada's Arctic Crossroads in an Age of Climate Upheaval and Geopolitical Friction The Mackenzie River—Canada's longest river system stretching 4,241 kilometers from British Columbia to the Beaufort Sea—has awakened from its frozen slumber into a geopolitical flashpoint. No longer merely the "Mississippi of the North," this waterway now sits at the volatile intersection of climate crisis, Indigenous sovereignty, critical mineral hunger, and great-power rivalry. As Arctic ice recedes and global supply chains fracture, the Mackenzie corridor has transformed from a remote hinterland into North America's most contested frontier. Yet paradoxically, while warming extends the navigation season, drought is grounding barges in record-low waters—a cruel irony emblematic of the corridor's contradictions. What unfolds here between 2026 and 2040 will determine whether Canada retains control of its Arctic destiny or becomes a resource appendage...