How could the Canada-Ukraine 100-Year Partnership deepen defence, energy, reconstruction, trade, and middle-power cooperation?
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Diplomatic Legal Hub
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/09/21
How could the Canada-Ukraine 100-Year Partnership deepen defence, energy, reconstruction, trade, and middle-power cooperation?
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Independent Journalist and DLH Coordinator
Overview
Canada and Ukraine are deepening a long-term strategic partnership centred on defence innovation, reconstruction, energy security, trade, and people-to-people ties. The declaration reflects broader Canadian efforts to strengthen middle-power cooperation, diversify international relationships, and respond to regional pressures while supporting Ukraine’s wartime resilience, technological expertise, postwar recovery, and sovereignty goals.
Better Manners and Deeper Middle Power Ties
“I want to be precise about what I am not proposing. I am not proposing a third bloc to become a great power rival only with better manners.”
The above quote comes from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on September 17, 2026, speaking to the European Parliament. Amid regional pressures in North America, trade conflict with the United States, diversification of commercial relations worldwide, and deepening ties with the European Union, Canada continues to deepen diplomatic, economic, and political relations outside its 20th-century partners.
The Canada-Ukraine Declaration
Following Canada’s deepening ties with Ukraine, the Governments of Canada and Ukraine signed a declaration laying the groundwork for a 100-year partnership agreement. Important to separate popular reportage from the real status of the relationship, the agreement itself has not yet been concluded.
However, on September 10, 2026, in Calgary, Alberta, (Western) Canada, Prime Minister Carney and President Zelenskyy signed the Canada-Ukraine Declaration for a 100-Year Partnership. As noted in separating popular reporting from the partnership’s actual status, it is a political expression and an orientation toward shared strategic intent.
Demographic and Democratic Connections
I have encountered zero other Canadian media all year while living in Ukraine, while Canada has a large population of Ukrainian diaspora, about 3.5% of the total Canadian population. Therefore, demographically, and in terms of open society and values, Canada and Ukraine have reason to deepen their partnership.
A century can seem almost cartoonishly long as an extrapolation of political intent, however. Canada is a mere 159 years old. Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union only 35 years ago. Therefore, this length of time can seem beyond relevant national extrapolation. That said, Canadians’ diverse cultures and Ukrainian history predate these periods of democratic development.
The Strategic Framework
For the partnership, the pillars of this political vision are defence innovation and cooperation, economic growth and reconstruction, and people-to-people ties. These represent a suite. The declaration sets out to elevate the existing relationship into a comprehensive strategic partnership, not a new relationship. The distinction matters.
A deepening of ties rather than digging a new trench line. These partnerships make sense because of similar circumstances, but differ in significance and in the type of border-binational pressures.
One is suffering annexation and imperial war against them, i.e., Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and attempted illegal annexations under Putin and the Kremlin, while another is facing aggressive tariff-based economic warfare, i.e., the Canada-U.S. trade war under the Trump Administration.
Middle Powers and Global Power
While earlier statements by Carney about greater coordination among middle powers to counter or moderate the influence of traditional great powers, particularly when those superpowers violate international law and international humanitarian law, were praised, they ignore a few key facts.
Firstly, these are not new ideas. Regional and multilateral organizations involving middle and smaller powers have proliferated throughout the postwar period, including the Arab League, the African Union, the European Union, ASEAN, etc. Secondly, the definition of a superpower continues to change as the middle and lower bounds of national power of the 193 member states of the United Nations continue to increase as a proportion of total global power. Thus, the relative total power of traditional superpowers, e.g., China and the United States, may diminish over time in particular economic, diplomatic, technological, or military dimensions. So, they do not even belong to the same category of superpower.
Regardless, the thrust of middle-power alliances makes clear sense. Mutual concern, shared experiences, and building on the thread of middle-power partnership reflect Carney’s political philosophy and the shared concerns of Ukraine and Canada, demographically, politically, and economically.
Defence and Drone Cooperation
The defence-industrial relationship connects modern warfare with electronic warfare and drone capabilities. Canada has a larger economic base. They lead in overall economic strength. Ukraine has far greater recent wartime experience and exceptional expertise in battlefield drone technology. They bring extensive battlefield-tested, and in several areas world-leading, military drone expertise and experience. These mutual benefits may lead to multi-year procurement arrangements.
Ukraine’s Brave1, which I have interviewed, inspired Canada’s Defence Drone Initiative Marketplace, with nearly 400 suppliers qualified and up to $50 million in initial contracts awarded (CAD). Canada announced about $350 million for air-defence equipment, $23 million for security and resilience capabilities, about $435 million in additional EBRD guarantees for energy security, and $200 million in concessional reconstruction financing.
Energy Security and Reconstruction
Given the weaknesses in Ukrainian energy infrastructure and the continual targeting of civilian energy infrastructure by the Russian Federation under the Kremlin and Mr. Putin, we see cooperation as a key security concern. Proposed cooperation includes grid reconstruction, LNG and critical minerals, natural gas, nuclear power, and uranium.
Mobility and Implementation
Finally, work has begun toward potentially easing travel rules between Ukraine and Canada, including adding Ukraine to Canada’s conditional eTA programme, alongside a new 2+2 dialogue to oversee implementation.
A Century of Political Intent
As a century-long political expression of strategic intent between two countries facing pressure from larger powers, the declaration signals durable cooperation while preserving the flexibility needed to adapt to technological, economic, and geopolitical change.
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