Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be making his fifth visit to the Arctic region, since he took office in 2006 beginning Monday in Churchill, Man.

On Tuesday, Harper will head to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, then the following day to Resolute, where he will address troops there conducting Operation Nanook, an annual sovereignty exercise.

Wednesday afternoon, the prime minister will be in Inuvik, N.W.T., and from there, he will travel 120 km north to the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk.

Harper is expected to make an announcement in Tuktoyaktuk, and there is some speculation it could be federal funding to complete an all-weather road linking the isolated community on the Beaufort Sea to Inuvik.

Currently, the winter ice road offers the only opportunity for travel by car or truck between the two communities.

Thursday afternoon and Friday, Harper is expected in Whitehorse. Few details of his planned activities here were available today.

This morning in Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon unveiled the government's Arctic foreign policy statement, reiterating several objectives outlined it its March throne speech. These include:

•"Vigourously defend(ing)” Canada's Arctic sovereignty and settling boundary disputes with other countries, including the United States (Beaufort Sea), Denmark (Hans Island) and Russia (offshore seabed at North Pole);

• to exploit the region's "resource potential” while protecting the environment.

Following Cannon's Arctic policy announcement, the Yukon's Conservative Senator Dan Lang joined Inuvialuit Regional Corp. chair Nellie Cournoyea in Inuvik to unveil $22 million in research funding for the Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment (BREA).

According to the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, "This initiative will help ensure governments, Inuvialuit and industry are better prepared for oil and gas exploration and development of offshore resources.”

In the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Energy Board is preparing to conduct a major review of offshore drilling across the Arctic.

Cournoyea called the timing of the announcement timely, "in the face of increasing interest by oil and gas companies” in exploring in the Beaufort Sea.

"It's a prerequisite for the ongoing health of the (sea) ... and provides for the safe and environmentally friendly commercialization of the vast hydrocarbons.

"In short, we need to know what we're doing before we do it,” she added.

As for what Whitehorse could expect in the way of more federal largesse when Harper comes to town, Premier Dennis Fentie told the Star the following this morning:

"His announcement will probably reflect significant investment talking place in Yukon and target some of the accomplishments given that investment.”

This time last year, Harper visited the territory to tour the Mayo hydroelectric dam and announce $71 million in federal dollars for the Mayo B expansion and grid connection between Pelly and Stewart

crossings.