Research Essay 2

Introduction:

Canadian’s have been battling over sovereignty in the Canadian Arctic for the better part of the last 60 to 70 years. However, over those years, Canada hasn’t faced the challenges that it faces today. Some of these challenges are climate warming, resulting in the melting of thick layered ice and creating easier navigation through the Northwest Passage, the natural resources underneath the arctic ice and the growing pressure between countries like the US and Russia who don’t believe in the same views as the Canadian Government. The biggest difference is that all international countries recognize that islands in the Arctic Archipelago are under Canadian Jurisdiction (with the exception of Denmark and Hans Island), but the problem is that all countries believe that the waters surrounding those islands are international waters and not internal waters, which the Canadian governments in the past and present have viewed them. The question we should be asking ourselves is this; has Canada done enough to defend its sovereignty in the Northern Arctic? In the opinion of this writer, Canada has not done enough of a job in protecting its sovereignty in the Northern Arctic and this essay will demonstrate the reasons why. Before doing that, we must look at the past history of sovereignty in the arctic and the different views that the world has compared to Canada.

History:

The first real issue of arctic sovereignty gained real prominence in Canada with the end of WW2 and the start of the Cold war. The reason for this was because there were fears of an attack from the USSR on the US at the end of WW2, as it left them as the only superpowers in the world at the time. For the USSR to attack the US, they had to cross into the Canadian Arctic first. As result of this, in 1946, Canadian and US authorities began to ponder the idea of building a radar chain in the arctic so they would be warned of any USSR attacks coming their way. Canadian officials knew that any plan...