Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton says issues affecting northerners — beyond planting a flag in the Arctic for Canada — will be his focus as he prepares to tour the North this week.

Layton will arrive in Nunavut on Wednesday, stopping in Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, Cambridge Bay and Pangnirtung. He will then swing by the Northwest Territories with a news conference Friday in Yellowknife.

His northern tour comes on the heels of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit earlier this month to Nunavut, in which he announced the location of two Arctic military facilities to enforce Canada's sovereignty over the Northwest Passage.

But Layton told CBC News he doesn't think Harper has done enough to address Arctic sovereignty, or the many other pressing issues facing the North.

"Our prime minister and his ministers are talking about flags and certainly making the occasional announcement, but we don't see action on some of the key issues around Arctic sovereignty — around making sure that the families and the communities of our North are having their interests put in the forefront," Layton said Monday.

"We want to draw attention to some of the challenges being faced by northern families and communities."

In a letter sent to Harper before the prime minister's northern trip, Layton called on Ottawa to make "immediate, strategic investments" in the North, adding that the region's greatest challenges are "social, economic and environmental."

On Aug. 10, Harper said the Canadian Forces will create a deep sea port at the former Nanisivik mine site near Arctic Bay, Nunavut, as well as build an army training centre in Resolute Bay.

Before landing in Nunavut, Harper also visited the N.W.T. to announce expanded boundaries for the Nahanni National Park Reserve.

In his letter to Harper, Layton also criticized the government's decision in July to buy up to eight medium ice-strengthened military patrol vessels, instead of the three heavy icebreakers it promised during the last election.