Video: Innu Elder Tshuakuesh Elizabeth Penashue in the Channel 4 documentary “Hunters and Bombers” (1990).
Defence Construction was formed as a Crown corporation in 1951, became Defence Construction Canada in 1980, reached $1 billion of construction contract expenditures in 2017, and reportedly now has about $8 billion in active defence infrastructure contracts as of September 2026.
This coming November 9-10, 2026, Defence Construction Canada will be holding a Building Defence 2026 conference in Ottawa.
Submarine base
Defence Construction Canada currently has “148 Open Solicitations” including PC26CPSP – APN – Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, Esquimalt, B.C. This is where six of the Royal Canadian Navy’s new 212CD submarines to be built by Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems will be based.
The purchase of these submarines has been linked to a major project opposed by Gitanyow and Gitxsan land defenders in British Columbia.
CBC News has reported that the German government-owned company Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE) signed an agreement to buy one million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year from Ksi Lisims over an up to 20-year span, while the Duesseldorf-based Uniper has signed a letter of interest to purchase liquefied natural gas from the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal linked to the PRGT fracked gas pipeline.
Expanded factories, testing sites
In September 2026, Ontario Construction News reported on the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto and that “defence” is an “area expected to generate significant construction work”. It highlights: “The strategy is intended to increase Canada’s ability to produce defence equipment and supplies at home. That could mean new or expanded factories, warehouses, research facilities, testing sites and other buildings, in addition to work at military bases.”
Defence Investment Agency
Earlier this year, the Canadian Press reported that General Dynamics Canada will receive just over $1 billion in funds, including $642 million toward the expansion of a plant that produces 155 mm high‑explosive projectiles, from the new Canadian Defence Industry Resilience program. This program is under the Department of National Defence but could have some current or future institutional relationship with Defence Construction Canada and the Defence Investment Agency.
In May 2026, CBC News reported that the Canadian government has proposed moving Defence Construction Canada under the purview of the newly created Defence Investment Agency (DIA). That article adds: “Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government proposed to establish the DIA as a stand-alone entity in its recent spring economic statement, giving it a full-fledged minister independent of Public Services and Procurement Canada and ‘with expanded authorities’ to move projects along more swiftly.”
Contract awarded to AECOM
Also in May 2026, Dallas, Texas-based AECOM was awarded “the largest Source List ever issued by DCC in total maximum estimated value” to “support the Department of National Defence (DND) in delivering critical infrastructure across Canada”.
AECOM explains that work under the program, “with a total potential value of up to $270 million CAD” will “encompass the delivery of hangars and aircraft maintenance buildings, vehicle maintenance bays, high‑security office complexes, accommodations, mess facilities, recreational amenities, and training facilities”.
Historic opposition to military bases, testing sites
At the moment, Defence Construction Canada lists six projects on its website, notably the Future Fighter Capability Project (that includes building two “super hangars” at 4 Wing Cold Lake) and Goose Bay Remediations (that included “helping manage one of the largest environmental clean-ups ever undertaken by DND”).
Peace Brigades International-Canada recalls the historic opposition of Innu land defenders to NATO low-level fight testing for the cruise missile in the late 1980s. More than one hundred Innu land defenders and their supporters were arrested at re-occupations of the Goose Bay airfield and the Minipi Lake bombing range.
In the 1980s, Innu Elder Tshaukuesh (Elizabeth) Penashue commented: “In the 40 years that the military has been in Goose Bay, the Innu’s culture has collapsed. The use of our lands by others, without our being consulted, has caused stress in our family relationships and links to our family violence. The Innu did not welcome foreign domination. It happened against their will.”
We also remember the forcible eviction of the Dene from their homelands in 1952 for 4 Wing/Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake and the Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range. On June 3, 2001, Dene Su’lene’ Warriors established a Peace Camp blockade 300 metres from the gate to the military base that also includes the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) where live fire training exercises are conducted.
PBI-Canada expresses the concern that the $8 billion in active defence infrastructure contracts under Defence Construction Canada, and the plan to move Defence Construction Canada under the Defence Investment Agency (DIA) to move projects along more swiftly does not lead to the displacement, harm and the arrest of Indigenous land and environmental defenders.
We continue to follow this.
Photo: Innu Elder Tshuakuesh Elizabeth Penashue and Peace Brigades International-North America Project activist Anne Harrison in 1995.
