September 4, 2007
Kamloops Daily News

The prime minister went to Baffin Island to defend Canada's
northern border. He told an audience that the Arctic must
be guarded from enemy assault.

Far away, the president of the United States wondered what
the fuss was about. Why defend against phantoms? Any fool
knows that polar threats were removed with the collapse of
the Soviet Empire and the new enemy was Arabic.

After thinking about it, though, it occurred to the
president that defense of Canada's north was not such a bad
idea. After all, the president's plan of defending his
northern border had been a shrewd political move. Perhaps
it could work for the prime minister, who seemed like a
decent guy.

Continuing with his speech, the prime minister stressed that
the Northwest Passage belongs to Canada. The president
couldn't help but smile. Canada could militarize the Arctic
all it wanted but the Northwest Passage was international
waters, as far he was concerned.

Canada could build a deep-water port at Nanisivik on Baffin
Island and a new army training centre for waging war in cold
weather but when push came to shove, ownership of the
passage was obvious to the president.

And Canada could spend $7 billion on six new armed ice
breakers arctic but just who did they think they would use
them on? Not on the mightiest empire in the world.

The U.S. would again drive that point home as they had in
1969 when they sent the S.S. Manhattan through the Northwest
Passage without asking Canada's permission. As then, Canada
would cave in again and give permission even though none was
asked for. They would even provide an escort as a way of
saving face.

While in the Resolute Bay, the prime minister said "Canada's
new government understands that the first principle of
Arctic sovereignty is: 'Use it or lose it.'"

Where have I heard that saying before, thought the
president? Then he remembered. "Use them or loose them"
was a justification for nuclear annihilation. He liked the
simple logic: if you suspect that another country is going
to launch nuclear weapons, you immediately launch all of
yours. If you didn't you might loose them in the first wave
of foreign nuclear weapons.

Note to self, thought the president, let the prime minister
know of the correct usage of the saying.

Later, as the two amigos shared photo-ops in Montebello,
Quebec, the Danes and Russians were busy mapping the floor
of the Arctic Ocean. Sovereignty may play well to
jingoistic pride but they were after bigger fish.

Abundant resources rest in the Artic floor. One-quarter of
all the earth's oil reserves are thought to be there.

What's at stake is an underwater mountain range called the
Lomonosov Ridge which is one-tenth the size of Canada's
entire land mass. Earlier this summer, the Russians used
mini-submarines to plant a flag on the ridge to claim it as
an extension of Russia. Then the Danes claimed that the
ridge was actually an extension of Greenland's continental
shelf.

Who owns the rich minerals and resources of the sea bed is
not a matter of flags and stirring patriotic speeches but
geological mapping and surveys.

The rules for claims are laid down by the United Nations
Convention on Law of the Sea. Any of the 155 signatory
nations who want to make a claim of potential resources must
first produce scientific evidence of claims through seabed
mapping and seismic work.

And the claims must be done within 10 years of their
ratification of the U.N. treaty. Canada ratified the
agreement in 2003. Military analyst Gwynne Dyer urges that
we get to work: "In that case, that means by 2013, and it
would be better to concentrate on that task, like the
Russians and the Danes, rather than make meaningless
military gestures."

Russia ratified in 1997 and are years ahead of Canada in
establishing a scientific basis for claims to a huge swath
of the Arctic Ocean bottom.

The belligerent U.S. administration refuses sign the treaty:
they claim to make laws, not follow them. A polar claim by
the U.S. would be weak regardless.

The clock is ticking. Canada is at risk of loosing a
resource at our doorstep; one that will become increasingly
accessible as Arctic ice melts. The prime minister should
abandon the military posturing and get to work on mapping
the Arctic seabed.

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

go back to my Columns in the