Who Owns the Arctic?

Northwest Passage surveillance study halted

CBC News, Friday, July 24, 2009

The federal government has paused a four-year pilot project to test High Arctic surveillance technology at the entrance to the Northwest Passage, CBC News has learned.

As part of the Northern Watch program, scientists from Defence Research and Development Canada began installing underwater listening devices and land-based sensors on Devon Island in the summer of 2008.

If successful, the tested technology would help Canada detect ships and submarines passing through the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage.

Contacted by CBC News, a National Defence spokesperson would only say the Northern Watch program is taking a hiatus this summer as researchers want to evaluate data the devices have collected already.

They will then decide what to do with the program, the spokesperson added.

The big melt

Two trillion tons of ice have melted since 2003

Globe and Mail, December 16, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than two trillion tons of land ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted since 2003, according to new NASA satellite data that show the latest signs of what scientists say is global warming.

Arctic ambitions

Andrew Mayeda & Randy Boswell, Ottawa Citizen, August 16, 2008, A14

'Use it or lose it."

On the day that Stephen Harper uttered the expression that is now synonymous with his approach to the Arctic, Dec. 22, 2005, the federal election had yet to seriously capture the attention of voters, and it was far from clear that Mr. Harper would defeat Paul Martin to become Canada's next prime minister.

Standing in front of a giant map of Canada at a hotel in Winnipeg, Mr. Harper announced an ambitious plan to bulk up the country's military presence in the Arctic, including the purchase of three new armed icebreakers. The plan was expensive, but it would send a clear message to the world that Canada intended to protect its Arctic sovereignty.

"You don't defend national sovereignty with flags, cheap election rhetoric and advertising campaigns," Mr. Harper said then. "You need forces on the ground, ships in the sea and proper surveillance."

For Sale: Arctic Sovereignty?

How losing a Canadian satellite to the US would be like losing our eyes on the North

Michael Byers, The Walrus Magazine, June 2008

Stephen Harper boldly claims to be “passionately committed to protecting and defending” the North. “Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic. We either use it or lose it,” he says. “Make no mistake; this government intends to use it.”

The prime minister certainly talks the talk. He’s challenged US Ambassador David Wilkins over the status of the Northwest Passage, and promised a deepwater port, a cold weather training centre, and up to eight ice-strengthened patrol vessels for the Canadian Forces. He’s even promised a $720-million icebreaker for the Canadian coast guard. Just the same, it’s easy to publicly berate a foreign emissary for electoral purposes; the port and buildings for the training centre already exist, and the shipbuilding contracts are not yet signed. Perhaps a clearer indication of Harper’s commitment to Arctic sovereignty lies in the government’s dealings with MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. of Richmond, BC. ...

For the full text, see: Arctic sovereignty for sale?