| Hans
Island the tip of iceberg in Arctic claims
CTV.ca
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Posted Aug 2, 2005
 Defence
Minister Bill Graham set off a diplomatic row with Denmark
when he re-stated claim to tiny Hans Island in the far north
last weekend, but what's really at stake is Canadian sovereignty
over more important sites in the Arctic.
"Hans Island itself is a small and economically insignificant
piece of rock," Rob Heubert, an Arctic expert with
Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, said on CTV's
Question Period.
Heubert believes Graham's move was a bold and necessary
response to a series of provocations made earlier by the
Danes.
"If we're not firm with Hans Islands, which by the
way is the only sovereignty issue that concerns land, we're
going to be setting up a terrible precedent for remaining
issues that are very significant for Canadian Arctic sovereignty."
The United States is challenging Canadian sovereignty in
six other areas of the Arctic, including the Northwest Passage.
If sea ice continues to thin due to climate change, the
Northwest Passage will eventually open up as a major shipping
route. More and more, the U.S. and other countries believe
that the Arctic waters are international waters -- as is
the case in the Antarctic.
Retired Colonel Pierre Leblanc, a former commander of the
Northern Area, says Canada may have already lost its claim
to the Arctic waters, due reports over the past 30 years
of unidentified submarines being spotted in the area.
"There are quite a number of submarine sightings,
some by very credible sources such as RCMP officers,"
Leblanc said.
The fact that Canada hasn't had the resources to conduct
surveillance in the area, and track down these submarines,
diminishes the Ottawa's claim to sovereignty.
Graham, also appearing on Question Period, told CTV's Craig
Oliver that Canada should be in place to patrol the waters,
as the Northwest Passage opens up.
Graham said Canada hasn't had a continuous presence in
the Arctic because the times didn't require it, but that's
all about to change. "These are new times and there
will be new measures," Graham said.
"We have new satellites that we're putting in place
to patrol the Arctic, and we will be looking at the use
of unmanned aerial vehicles. And we're looking at the way
in which we can extend a radar protection which we have
off the east and the west coast, to put it at the either
end of the Northwest Passage so that we could control and
ascertain what traffic is taking place there," Graham
said.
"So as time goes on ... just as new technology is
enabled other people to use submarines, new technology is
enabling us to take better measures to patrol our Arctic."
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