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Harper urges U.S. ratification of global sea law

“Our jurisdiction extends outwards 200 miles”

JIM BELL

Stephen Harper, in a speech asserting a strong commitment to Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, said the United States should ratify the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

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“The major country that has not ratified the convention is the United States… We want to urge the United States to ratify the treaty and certainly to respect our sovereignty in this part of the world,” Harper said.

Canada agreed to the Convention on the Law of The Sea in 1982, but did not officially ratify it until 2003.

The treaty, now ratified by about 150 nations, recognizes a 200-mile or 320-km coastal zone extending from each state’s borders. Within that zone, coastal states have the exclusive right to manage fisheries, extract resources from the ocean floor, or enforce environmental law.

Canada relies on the Law of the Sea Convention as the basis for the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act.

It’s Canada’s position that this Canadian law applies in the Northwest Passage, which the United States and some European nations say is an international waterway.

The HMSC Montreal is taking part in an exercise this week in Lancaster Sound that focuses on working with civilian agencies to protect Arctic waters. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

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To that end, Transport Canada launched a pollution surveillance effort earlier this month, using DeHavilland Dash-7 aircraft, to keep a eye out for illegal spills of fuel and waste water from ships.

In a speech given this past Saturday in Iqaluit, Harper set out a clear definition of where Canada’s border lies in the Arctic: from the northern tip of Labrador to the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, then tracing the western perimeter of the Queen Elizabeth Islands down to the Beaufort Sea.

From there, he said, it hugs the coast of the Northwest Territories and Yukon until it reaches the Canada-Alaska border.

“All along our border, our jurisdiction extends outwards 200 miles into the surrounding area, just as it does along our Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. No more, and no less,” Harper said.

He told reporters later that he believes Canada’s case is strong enough to merit international acceptance.

“We think we can make a strong case that Canada asserting its sovereignty is in the interests of the entire international community, including the United States,” Harper said.

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