Canada promotes Arctic sovereignty claims

Gary Park

The Canadian government of Prime Minister Paul Martin has promised what it describes as the first, comprehensive strategy for Canada’s North that includes protecting sovereignty.

Announcing the initiative in a speech to open a new session of Parliament Oct. 6, the government said the “strategy will foster sustainable economic and human development; protect the northern environment and Canada’s sovereignty and security; and promote cooperation with the international circumpolar community.”

That cooperation is under stress with Russia and Denmark now vying with Canada to lay claim to the North Pole and whatever natural resources may lie beneath it.

A key to claiming ownership of the North Pole region lies in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a 1986 accord that allows coastal countries to control an economic zone extending 220 miles from their coastlines.

Of the countries surrounding the North Pole, Russia, Canada and Norway have signed the document and Denmark has promised to ratify before the end of 2004.

The United States has refused to participate in the accord.

Helge Sander, Denmark’s minister of science and technology, said Oct. 3 that whoever controls the North Pole could have access to a bonanza of oil and gas resources.

Although the Canadian government has yet to spell out the details of the northern initiative, it has spent considerable energy over recent years on building circumpolar ties.

In addition the Canadian Armed Forces held exercises during the summer in the North in a bid to underline Canadian claims to sovereignty over the High Arctic.

The strategy got only a lukewarm response from one Northwest Territories aboriginal leader.

Jose Kusugak, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, said the government’s emphasis on sovereignty and economic development of the Arctic should be balanced with equal concern for social programs, such as housing and employment.