Murkyview has blogged about russia cruise….

I believe a “beefed up” naval presencew in this area is needed to assert our sovereignty and let it be known internationally that transiting these waters requires prior approval of the Canadian Government.

Legally, could Canada establish a “Suez, Panama” canal situation once the passage is open for commercial vessels to traverse?

Anyone’s thoughts would be appreciated

Ken

However, Haro Strait, which I have crossed myself many times while commercial salmon fishing, between the Queen Charlotte Islands and the West Coast of Canada is also much wider than 24 miles, and as far as I know, there has been no claim of those waters being International… Oddly, though the “Inside Passage”, used by cruise ships to go from Vancouver through the Central Coast islands to Prince Rupert and Ketchikan has *also* been claimed as “International” by US authorities and shipping…

It’s as if they simply claim it as International because it is a passageway that connects more than one country.

There are also straights between Newfoundland and PEI and PEI and the Mainland that are wider than 24 miles… so the 12 mile limit again doesn’t seem to hold water (ha).

Regardless, in 1985, the issue was that at no point did the American ship call Canadian authorities and at many points, the straits they would have entered would have been well within the 12 mile territorial limit.

Chris

“So, given that these islands are recognized as Canadian, it stands to reason that the water between them, and between them and the North American continent are Canadian, except of course where Alaska starts…”

My understanding is that Canada only claims twelve nautical miles as its maritime territorial limit. On a map, the passage north of Baffin Island going through to the Beaufort Sea looks wider than twenty-four miles. Was the problem in 1985 that the US ship violated the twelve-mile zone or was it that Canada claimed a wider zone that America did not recognize?

The passages between Canada’s Arctic islands could be considered Canadian waters under the principle that Hudson Bay is territorial water even though the entrance to the Bay is much wider than twenty-four miles. Personally I would consider all of the passages between Canadian Arctic islands to be Canadian under this principle.

But it could be argued that Hudson Bay isn’t really a passage in an international sense. The passage between Baffin Bay and the Beaufort Sea could link Europe to Alaska or Russia without a ship coming within twelve nautical miles of Canadian territory. I would be interested to know under what principle Canada claims the waters in the passage beyond the twelve-mile limit, if it does so.

The question of maritime transit rights is of course separate from the much larger exclusive economic zones that Canada and other nations rightfully claim over offshore fishing and other economic uses.

In 1985, the US sent an icebreaker through the Northwest passage, from Greenland, to Alaska. They did not ask permission to enter Canadian waters, as is both custom and a requirement when entering a nations sovereign territory. The US considered the passage “International Waters” and so felt it could go through without notifying anyone.

Ever since, there has been a lingering doubt on the grip Canada has on its’ northern territory.

The best image I can find of the Northwest Passage is from Wikipedia.. you can clearly see the routes taken around Baffin and Prince of Wales and other Islands that make up the Arctic Archipelago

According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, the Arctic Archipelago is:

group of more than 50 large islands, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, N Canada, in the Arctic Ocean. The southernmost members of the group include Baffin (the archipelago’s largest island), Victoria, Banks, Prince of Wales, and Somerset islands; N of Viscount Melville and Lancaster sounds are the Queen Elizabeth Islands, of which Ellesmere is the largest. Tundra and permanent ice cover the islands, on which oil and coal have been discovered. After Greenland, the Archipelago is the world’s largest high-arctic land area.

…

So, given that these islands are recognized as Canadian, it stands to reason that the water between them, and between them and the North American continent are Canadian, except of course where Alaska starts…