EYES IN THE SKY
Pierre Leblanc used to be the commander of Canada’s armed forces in the Arctic. He says Canada would have put its sovereignty of the North in jeopardy because of the proposed sale of a key aerospace company.
U.S. weapons maker Alliant Techsystems Inc. offered $1.3 billion for the geospatial unit of MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA). This is significant because MDA launched Radarsat-2 in December 2007. This satellite is in a polar orbit and is able to track anything bigger than a car in the Arctic. Canada put $430 million into Radarsat-2, but now it’s in orbit it belongs to MDA.
Mr. Leblanc was concerned about MDA being owned by an American company. Access to its data could be cut off if the U.S. decided its national interests were at risk. And, as the U.S. disputes Canada’s claim to sovereignty over Arctic waters, that could happen.
In April 2008, Industry Minister Jim Prentice blocked the sale of MDA.
THE FLAG WAR
It isn’t much to have caused a diplomatic incident. Hans Island is a barren lump of rock between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. It’s only 1.3 km2 in size.
In 1973, Canada and Denmark agreed on a border in the Nares Strait between Greenland, which is Danish territory, and Ellesmere Island. They couldn’t agree on who owned Hans Island, which lies in the strait. So, they left the ownership issue to be decided later.
But, in 1984, darned if those Danes didn’t build a stone cairn on the island and stick a Danish flag on it.
Twenty-one years later, Canadian soldiers arrived on the rock and hoisted a Canadian flag. A few days later, then Defence Minister Bill Graham made an official visit to the island. That got the Danes all hot and bothered. Letters of protest were written and naval vessels dispatched.
Canada said “Let’s talk.” So, Danish Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen said “It is time to stop the flag war. It has no place in a modern, international world. Countries like Denmark and Canada must be able to find a peaceful solution in a case such as this.”
Recent satellite imaging places the boundary right through the middle of the island. Settling the dispute might have an impact on other Arctic sovereignty issues.
Polar Politics: Defence
Whenever ice-free sailing becomes possible Canada says it’s getting ready. In a symbolic move, Ottawa renamed the Northwest Passage the “Canadian Internal Waters” in 2006.
In July 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced more concrete moves at defending Canada’s claims.
Mr. Harper said Canada will build up to eight armed Arctic patrol ships along with a new deep-water port at Nanisivik on Baffin Island to service them. The total cost has been set at about $7 billion. There are also plans for an Arctic Warfare Training Centre staffed by at least 1,000 soldiers.
Arctic Defence has been Minimal
This is a much beefier effort to protect Canada’s sovereignty than in the past. Much of the current defence of the territory falls on the shoulders of the Canadian Rangers (below).
This is a force of about 1,500 part-time volunteers. Some are armed only with Second World War-vintage Lee-Enfield rifles. The prime minister says the Rangers, most of whom are Inuit, will be increased in size and equipped with less ancient weapons.
The only other Canadian military presence is small posts at Alert, Iqaluit, Whitehorse, and Yellowknife. During the summer, National Defence sends a few army patrols into the Arctic to show the flag. In addition, the Navy sends a frigate or two into northern waters during the summer, and the Air Force does fly-overs.
There are 60 RCMP detachments and about 400 officers in the northern territories, and they do have responsibility for securing Canada’s borders. Meanwhile, the Canadian Coast Guard has a small fleet of aging icebreakers that are sent to the Arctic in the summer. And, that’s pretty much it to keep tabs on an area nearly three times the size of France.
Disputed Beaufort Sea Territory
Ottawa wants to exert control over these “Canadian Internal Waters.” It wants to ensure that vessels plying the seas meet Canadian safety and pollution control regulations; an accident in this fragile ecosystem could be devastating.
There are also complications over fishing rights if the waters are international. This is aside from the enormous issue of who gets to benefit from the natural resources hidden under the Arctic ice.
And, here Canada has another dispute going with the U.S. To the West of the Arctic Islands lies the Beaufort Sea. It washes up on the shorelines of Canada and the United States.
The boundary between the Yukon (Canada) and Alaska (the U.S.) is the 141st degree of longitude west. Canada argues that it has jurisdiction to the east of this line when it is extended out to sea. The U.S. begs to differ and says the line should be drawn parallel to the coast; this would give the U.S. control of a wedge-shaped piece of the Beaufort Sea that Canada claims. And, wouldn’t you know it, that wedge is described as an “area with high energy potential.”
Canada is busy mapping the region more thoroughly in order to strengthen its claim. In the end, the issue will likely be decided at the United Nations under the Convention on the Law of the Sea. There’s only one snag to this: the United States has not yet ratified the Law of the Sea. However, the possibility of losing access to rich oil and gas deposits may improve Washington’s appetite for signing a law already accepted by 155 other nations.
Professor Huebert at the University of Calgary thinks a storm is brewing over the disputed boundary. He told Oilweek Magazine (October 2007) “What Canadian government is going to be willing to reach some form of a compromise agreement? What American government is going to be willing to give up oil and gas? That one’s going to get really, really ugly.”
Russian Flag Flap
Looks like more hefty fees for international lawyers. And, they’re soon going to be busy on another file.
In August 2007, Russian sailors planted a flag on the floor of the Arctic Ocean (left in early freeze up) under the North Pole. That’s going to cause a stir over how international boundaries are drawn. Russia seems to be taking the lead on this, but the other nations with Arctic coastlines (Canada, Denmark, Norway, and the United States) are also involved.
Geologically, Russia and Denmark have strong claims to parts of the Arctic Ocean. The Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS) sets out how nations can exert authority over ocean waters. First there’s the 12-mile limit, which gives a nation complete sovereignty over all activities a dozen nautical miles from the shoreline at low tide.
Outside that is the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In this area, nations don’t have sovereignty but do have the right to control economic activity, such as drilling for oil and gas.
Where two countries are less than 400 nautical miles apart their EEZs will overlap. In this situation, the two are supposed to work out who gets what between them.
The Lomonosov Ridge
But, then everything gets complicated by continental shelves. These are the relatively shallow submarine platforms (100 to 200 metres deep) that surround continents. UNCLOS says that countries can claim undersea territory if they can prove it is directly connected to their section of the continental shelf. This is where the Lomonosov Ridge comes into play.
The ridge is an underwater mountain range that runs for 1,800 km across the floor of the Arctic Ocean stretching from islands off Siberia to Greenland. Russia says the ridge is an extension of its continental shelf and that makes the North Pole theirs.
Not so fast says Denmark, which controls Greenland. The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland says the Lomonosov Ridge runs from Greenland to the North Pole. So, it too claims the Pole.
Meanwhile, Canada is spending $70 million mapping the seabed in the area. The hope is that Ellesmere Island will prove to be connected to the North Pole via that same Lomonosov Ridge.
Norway, with little or no geological link that will extend its claims far into the Arctic Ocean, wants everybody to cooperate rather than compete. The United States is said to be studying what military assets it will need for its Arctic operations.
Northern Claims
If occupation counts for anything, Canada can claim to have the most northerly year-round land habitation. That’s the small military base at Alert on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island; but, it’s still 817 kilometres from the North Pole.
The Russians, on the other hand, occupy a base they call Ice Station Borneo. They’ve been there continuously since 1994 and it’s only 60 km from the Pole. But, that base is on the sea ice.
At present, the North Pole is an international site. It’s administered by the International Seabed Authority. But, that arrangement will likely end after lawyers for all the claimants have duked it out in court.
Canada’s case in all these disputes would be strengthened by a more permanent and larger presence in the Arctic. Franklyn Griffiths thinks this is the route Canada should take. He’s chair of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto.
In a November 2006 article in The Globe and Mail he wrote: “We have the sovereignty we need. Let’s use it to bring northerners and southerners together as keepers of the Northwest Passage – keepers not in the sense of opposed to losers, but keepers who secure, watch over, and look after their Arctic lands, waters, and fellow nationals in an era of unprecedented climate and geopolitical change.”
A couple of months earlier Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a similar point, but a bit more robustly: “Sovereignty over one’s territory is not a theoretical concept,” he said. “It is earned and it is retained by being present, by having planes in the air, ships in the sea, and most importantly, boots on the ground. You either use it or you lose it.”
Image credits
Dept of National Defence
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Sources
“Polar Politics.” Andrea W. Lorenz, Oilweek, October 2007.
“Canada-U.S. Relations in the Arctic: A Neighbourly Proposal.” Brian Fleming, Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, December 2008.
SAY PLEASE
Twice, the United States has thumbed its nose at Canadian claims to sovereignty over the Northwest Passage. In 1969, a specially strengthened American oil tanker, the SS Manhattan sailed through the waterway. In 1985, the U.S. sent an icebreaker, the Polar Sea through the channel. In both cases, Washington made a point of not asking Canada for permission to make the voyages.
After the 1985 incident Canada’s Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sat down with U.S. President Ronald Reagan for a chat. As a result, the U.S. agreed to seek permission for future voyages and Canada agreed always to say “Yes.”
The pact put a halt to an annoying situation but left the legal dispute unresolved; a fine diplomatic compromise that has worked for 20 years. But, now the issue is bubbling to the surface again.
The Earth has a magnetic field that is a bit like a bar magnet with two poles. The magnetic northern pole has been located in Canada’s Arctic and the southern pole is off the coast of Antarctica south of Australia. These poles drift as the magnetic field of the Earth changes. In April 2007, Canadian Geographic magazine announced that the magnetic north pole had moved out of Canadian territory. If the pole keeps floating at its current speed it will reach Siberia by 2056.