Canada and five other countries are using maps of the seabed to stake their claim to Arctic territory.

Canada and five other countries are using maps of the seabed to stake their claim to Arctic territory.
Photo Credit: CBC

Russia files new bigger claim for Arctic territory

Russia has made a new bid for a vast swath of arctic territory to the United Nations and it appears the claim will overlap with Canada’s. The two countries along with Denmark, the U.S. and Norway are working with the UN to define the boundaries of the Arctic. The area is thought to hold as much as a quarter of the world new oil and gas.

To Canada’s chagrin, Russia planted a flag on the ocean floor in 2007 to symbolically stake its claim to the North Pole.
To Canada’s chagrin, Russia planted a flag on the ocean floor in 2007 to symbolically stake its claim to the North Pole. © Canadian Press/AP Photo/Association of Russian Polar Explorers

Canadian leader made Arctic a priority

Canada and Russia clashed over Arctic jurisdiction in 2007 when Moscow staked a symbolic claim to the North Pole by planting a flag on the ocean floor. Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2013 ordered officials to rewrite Canada’s claim to include the North Pole, and he has made it a priority to make yearly visits to the Arctic.

The Law of the Sea allows coastal nations to extend their jurisdiction beyond 200 nautical miles if they can prove the boundary is a natural extension. So countries with arctic coastline have been mapping the sea bed to make their claims.

Canada preparing its claim

Canada has an icebreaker currently collecting data in order to prepare its claim.

“The Russian claim–and this is a further development from an initial submission they made back in 2001—the claim seems to go even further than what the 2001 claim did and it’s clear that it’s overlapping in an area that Canada is right now, as we speak, actively examining for its claim,” says Rob Huebert of the University of Calgary. “So there’s going to be some form of an overlap at one point or another.”

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Countries will likely negotiate claims

Matters are complicated because Canada has taken a hard line on Russia because of the situation in Ukraine and diplomatic relations are frosty. The claims on arctic territory will take five to seven years to work through the United Nations.

Countries that have overlapping claims can use instruments within the Law of the Sea to settle their claims or they can negotiate directly with each other. Says Huebert: “hopefully at that point in time, relationships…will be better and we will ultimately sit down and decide how this new border with Russia will be shaped.”

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