As we cut through Queen Maud Bay, to the south and east of Victoria Island, we were sailing through Canada’s internal waters or, depending on which country you ask, an international strait. On Wednesday morning, one of our resident Northern experts, retired Canadian Forces Colonel Pierre Leblanc, walked us through the evolving geostrategic reality of Canada’s Far North.
Others, most notably the United States, do not share Canada’s position that the straights and narrows of the Northwest Passage are our internal waters. Canada points, in part, to traditional Inuit occupancy of the sea ice as evidence to support our sovereignty claim.
The American view is that this is an international strait, a designation that entails a right of innocent passage, both by sea and through the air corridors above. As Colonel Leblanc told us on Wednesday, our two countries decided in the 1980s that American vessels would notify Canadian authorities before taking the Passage, though the question of its legal status has not been resolved. We have, for the moment, agreed to disagree.
“Sovereignty means demonstrating ownership,” Captain Rothwell told us later in the day on Wednesday. “It means charting, mapping, having a presence, and being ready to respond.” These tasks are the heart of the Coast Guard’s mandate in the Arctic—carrying on the legacy of Canada’s early expeditions to the then-uncharted North, one of whose centenaries we are celebrating this year.
Looking out across Larsen Sound as we sailed towards Peel Sound on Wednesday evening, it is easy to feel alone up here. We never truly are. As technological advances enable additional resource development within the jurisdiction of Arctic states—the subject of polar law expert Dr. Natalia Loukacheva’s presentations this week—sharing the circumpolar benefits and burdens of Arctic economic development will be a diplomatic challenge.
All of which spells a greater role for the Arctic Council, the region’s central diplomatic forum. Established in 1996, the Council provides a locus for international cooperation on environmental protection and sustainable development. Since 2011, the Council has facilitated two legally binding agreements: one on air and maritime search-and-rescue in the Arctic, the other on oil spill pollution, preparedness and response.
Canada assumed the Chair of the Arctic Council for a two-year term in May. The federal government’s Arctic Foreign Policy, announced in 2010, lists “ursuing a strengthened Arctic Council” among Canada’s strategic priorities. Rarely have we been handed such a valuable diplomatic opportunity.
Not since Canada’s earliest explorers raced the roaring Fraser to the sea has a region held such promise—and yet been so vulnerable. We now lead the diplomatic forum that can steward the world’s collective progress towards sustainable prosperity in the Arctic. Ours is an opportunity not to be taken lightly.
Because, as darkness falls around the Louis, in these lonely Arctic waters, it can be all too easy to forget: in this part of the world, Canada is never alone—and this is our time to lead.