Fact Versus Fiction: Setting the Record Straight about Arctic Security Sara French Program Officer/Agente chargée des programmes Arctic Security Program/Programme de la sécurité dans l’Arctique

28% of Canadians think penguins live in the Arctic. 46% “Don’t know”. – Uphere Magazine

Planting of the Russian flag on the Arctic sea bed (2007)

Media Hype “Russian bombers intercepted on eve of Obama Visit”. The Toronto Star. 27 February “Canada Turns Back Russian Bomber”. BBC News. 27 February “Canada lags in Arctic arms race”. Toronto Sun. July 4, “Flex our Arctic muscles”. Toronto Sun. July 5, 2011.

Fact or Fiction? Russia is going to annex the North Pole

Ilulissat Declaration (2008) “Notably, the law of the sea provides for important rights and obligations concerning the delineation of the outer limits of the continental shelf, the protection of the marine environment, including ice-covered areas, freedom of navigation, marine scientific research, and other uses of the sea. We remain committed to this legal framework and to the orderly settlement of any possible overlapping claims”

Fact or Fiction? Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic is disputed

Image Credit: Sovereign Geographic Beaufort Sea

The Northwest Passage

Fact or Fiction Canada has two choices when it comes to the Arctic: use it or lose it

“Canada has a choice when it comes to defending our sovereignty over the Arctic. We either use it or lose it. And make no mistake, this government intends to use it”. - Prime Minister Harper (2007). THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Bartenstein, Kristin. “’Use It or Lose It’: An Appropriate and Wise Slogan?” Policy Options (2010): 69‐73.

“Usucaption, the complete and prolonged abandonment by one state combined with its takeover by another state, is the only situation in which one state may eventually lose its sovereignty over a given territory to another state” (p.70). The sovereign rights of a coastal state over the seabed “do not depend on occupation, effective or notional, or on any express proclamation” (article 77 of UNCLOS). Exclusive Economic Zone: must harvest the resources within a sustainable framework or give access to other states to those resources. “A state’s decision not to regulate navigation — or not to exploit resources — within its territorial sea is not grounds for losing sovereign rights over the area” (p.71). “A state’s decision not to exercise its sovereign rights does not lead to the loss of these rights. The only right at risk is the one to submit data to the UN committee to justify claims over the extended continental shelf” (p.72).

Fact or Fiction? Modern land claim agreements include provisions on international relations

Fact or Fiction? Canadians want the Government to invest in Arctic military capabilities

Rethinking the Top of the World: Arctic Opinion Survey

Proposal for an alternative discourse Climate change Social and economic development – Infrastructure – Education – Cultural preservation Emergency management Strengthening international governance mechanisms

Questions?