The Arctic Ocean in Dispute

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

by Kyle Payne, Gr. 9, PWK High School,
Fort Smith, Northwest Territories

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We as a country have claimed the arctic and all of its riches as our own. Nobody has really challenged this claim until it was realized that if the arctic ice continues to melt at it’s current rate, we will soon be able to use the Northwest Passage as an international shipping route year round.

Although Canada’s claim to the North is solid, we cannot convince other nations to recognize that it is our land, our water, and we will do as we please with it. Now is the time for decisive action that will leave other nations with no doubt that Canada is in control of the area in question.

Canada’s claim to the north first starts with the charter granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company by King Charles II in 1670, giving the company Rupert’s Land (half of about present day Canada). This land was sold to Canada on November 19, 1869 for three hundred thousand pounds. In July 1880 the British government gave Canada the rest of its land in the arctic, including all islands adjacent to any such territories discovered or not.

In 1922 a Royal Canadian Mounted Police post was established at Craig Harbor at the south end of Ellesmere Island, and at Pond Inlet on Baffin Island. This re‐enforced our claim in the north and told other countries we plan to use this land, and we are not going to allow other nations to plant a flag and take control.

Part of the problem is that the Northwest Passage, the islands and waterways in the north, have never been universally recognized as being Canadian. Canada recognizes the channels and straights to be internal waterways which foreign vessels must seek permission to pass through.

The USA considers these waterways to be international and with the prospect of oil off the coast of Alaska, has used them without permission twice, sending the oil tankers Manhattan and the Polar Sea through the disputed waters. Russia also does not believe that t h e Arctic is Canada’s property.

On August 2, 2007 Russia made the first Man-made descent to the ocean bottom and planted a Russian flag. The Hon Peter MacKay Kyle Payne was quoted saying “This isn’t the fifteenth century, you can’t go around the world and just plant flags and say were claiming this territory”. I agree with this statement one hundred percent and think it was very immature of the Russians to do this. Let’s face it, anyone with a decent map and common sense, will recognize the area naturally belongs to Canada.

Canada has come up with many ideas to help keep unauthorized ships out of our arctic, but never followed through with them due to lack of money. In reaction to the 1985 voyage of the Polar Sea, Minister Joe Clark put forward plans to build a 500 million dollar icebreaker. This vessel would be used to patrol the area year round. Unfortunately this fell victim to cost cuts and was never built. In 1987 the government also said it would build and station nuclear powered submarines in arctic waters. This plan, after lots of discussion, was also abandoned.

I believe now is the time for Canada to assert its claims to the arctic with meaningful action. The plans for a deep water port in Iqaluit and increasing the military presence in the Northwest Territories is a good start. The Canadian Government needs to build on this momentum. The North needs a strong Federal presence that will leave no doubt that Canada is willing to challenge those that would challenge our long standing claims to the area.

Canada is on the right track towards defending our Arctic but the Russian flag is still under the ice cap. Canada needs to be willing to spend more resources to ensure other nations realize we are the rightful owners of the Arctic and that when we stand on guard for the “True north strong and free,” we are willing to stand behind those words.