Arctic Ocean in Dispute: Canada’s Sovereignty Over our Northernmost Region

Mitchell Green, Gr. 12, Vincent Massey High School, Brandon, Manitoba

by Mitchell Green, Gr. 12, Vincent Massey High School,
Brandon, Manitoba

The Arctic Circle. A vast area at the ‘top of the world’, designated by a thin border running 66° north of the equator. In this area, the summers are short, with a never-ending daytime during only the month of July. During the seemingly eternal winter, it remains pitch black, devoid of sunlight. The Arctic is home to many plants and animals, containing 1700 different species of shallow-rooted plants, and all manner of caribou, lemmings, and wolves. The climate is harsh; temperatures during the winter average a frigid, forbidding -35° Celsius. While the Inuit have made the Arctic their ancestral home for ten millennia, for the rest of civilization, it remains a desolate, uninhabited place. Why is it, then, that the Arctic has been heating up as a topic of interest in the news more recently?

The answer doesn’t necessarily concern just what lies above the Arctic, but also what lies below. The Arctic may hold a “potentially vast resource of 400 billion barrels”, as much as 25% of the world’s oil reserves. Experts believe that in as few as 15 years, the earth will have warmed up to the point that the majority of the ice flows of the northern Arctic will be melted during the summer. As a result of this melt, transportation through the Arctic by ship would not only be highly feasible, but it could make shipment of resources from continent to continent far faster; comparing the distance required to traverse the Arctic Ocean shows it to be a much shorter trip than crossing the Atlantic. Shipping routes from Europe to Asia lose 5000 miles by this method, forgoing a long trek that takes ships through the Panama Canal in Central America – halfway around the world.

The rich oil supplies of the Arctic have tempted more than just Canada. Several countries, among them Russia, the United States, Norway, and Denmark all have land within the Arctic Circle, and all have expressed interest in controlling the untapped petroleum there. Russia in particular has begun early aggression in regards to Arctic domination; in late 2007, Russian submarines planted a flag at the very base of the North Pole, challenging Canada’s sovereignty of the Great White North.

At the present, the Arctic Circle is considered an international zone; no one nation or state can control it in its entirety. However, a simple rule could change the level of a nation’s influence on the waters of the Arctic; a nation controls not just the resources on its land mass, but any and all resources located in the waters approximately 200 nautical miles from land associated with the country. This rule not only extends to landmasses above the water, but masses of rock under the water. If a country like Canada can prove that the ridges and rock in the Arctic Ocean are connected to their respective continental shelf, the amount of territory under their dominion could be increased greatly; perhaps up to and including the North Pole itself.

If Canada is to declare and maintain sovereignty over the Arctic, the Canadian Navy must play a large part. Critics of Canada’s claim to the Arctic make the point that Canada does little to patrol the waters of the northern Arctic. Canada will have to beef up security of the north Arctic in order to protect its territorial claim to the Arctic. While the Arctic might be almost entirely frozen during the winter months, submarines can traverse the depths all year round; as such, a maintained submarine patrol will be essential to maintain dominance over the Arctic.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Canada currently has a single submarine in active duty, the HMCS Corner Brook. Meanwhile, not only do the United States and Russia have far more submarines, they have been patrolling the waters near Baffin Island for years, greatly threatening Canada’s territorial rights. Reports indicate that countries like the United States and Russia have not only been sending submarines on missions, but they have been doing so secretly. Canada’s current lack of northern naval strength is a fact with unfortunate implications; as the ice floes thaw, we are increasingly vulnerable to attack from our ‘northern neighbor’, if ever it should decide to invade.

The Harper government is not unaware of our lacking northern naval forces; in recent years, it has implemented a series of projects in the Arctic, designed to improve Canada’s protective strength. Among other projects, the government is procuring the largest icebreaker in Canada’s history – the CCGS John G. Diefenbaker, named for Canada’s 13th prime minister – to secure the northern Arctic. Canada is collaborating with its greatest trading partner, the United States to use their ice breaker Louis S. St-Laurent in conjunction with U.S. Coast Guard vessels to examine closely just how far the continental shelf of North America extends into the Arctic Ocean.

A training facility at Resolute Bay, far up into the Arctic provides specialized training for Canadian forces in weather operations, search and rescue, and sovereignty enforcement. Another military facility, Canada’s first deep-water port in Nanivisik, Nunavut will be used with the training facility at Resolute to reinforce Canada’s claim to the Arctic, particularly the highly disputed Northwest Passage.

‘Use it or lose it’ is a term bandied about often in the media, in particular by the Harper government to describe Canada’s relation with the northern Arctic. With its rich oil resources, and potential to be a valuable trade route for the world in the next few years as a result of global warming, hungry eyes are aimed at the Arctic from states all over the world, particularly the United States and Canada’s ‘Northern Neighbor’, Russia. While Canada has begun beefing up security in the Great White North, it must build upon what it has already started. If we as a country are not vigilant, and do not protect our interests, we may find that we ‘lose it’, indeed.

Mitchell Green, aged 17, was born and raised in Brandon Manitoba where he attended Vincent Massey High School, graduating in June of 2010. He has been extremely active in many areas throughout his academic years, excelling in academics, athletics, performing arts, and school service. He has received both local and provincial awards and recognition in piano, Reach for the Top, mathematics, chess, geography and curling. Highlights of his tenure at Vincent Massey have included band trips to Colorado, Banff and Vancouver and to Toronto for Reach for the Top Nationals.