'Having a summit would remind everyone that grandstanding and political rhetoric are not how you

Hold summit to sort out polar claims: expert

By CHRIS WINDEYER

Arctic nations could cut through a knot of conflicting territorial claims by opting for diplomacy instead of publicity stunts, says an expert on international law.

Michael Byers, a political scientist at University of British Columbia and director of Vancouver's Liu Institute for Global Issues, said Canada's coming purchase of armed Arctic patrol ships and Russia's move to place its flag at the seabed under the North Pole are signs polar countries need to sit down and talk.

"My main concern is to tone down some of the political rhetoric and grandstanding that we're seeing right now," Byers said.

This week Russia sent a team of scientists in a submarine to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean to place a titanium capsule containing the Russian flag on the seafloor. The venture was meant to bolster Russian claims to a huge swath of undersea territory potentially rich with oil and natural gas.

Under international law, countries maintain economic rights over the sea up to 200 miles off their coasts. But those zones can be extended if there's proof the continental shelf connects to a country's landmass.

Canada also has simmering disputes with the United States over the Alaskan ocean border and the Northwest Passage and with Denmark over the ownership of tiny Hans Island located between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. Meanwhile, Russia and Norway can't agree on offshore boundaries in the Barents Sea.

"What we need are established mechanisms and constructive diplomacy," Byers said. "And having a summit would remind everyone that grandstanding and political rhetoric are not how you solve problems between countries. You solve problems between countries by talking to each other."

Byers said politicians in Russia and Canada are using the polar disputes to pander to southern voters.

"The Arctic is Russian," said Artur Chilingarov, a Russian explorer and member of parliament, the Associated Press reported last week. "We must prove the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf."

And on Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said "we either use it or lose it" when he announced last month the government would spend $3.1 billion on armed icebreakers that would enter service by 2013.

Byers and others have criticized the patrol ships because they're capable of breaking ice no more than a metre thick and will be confined to southern ports for much of the year. But Byers also said it's a mistake to give those ships to the Navy, who have "no serious experience in the Arctic." Instead, the government ought to replace the coast guard's existing fleet, he said.

"We have this existing service, they do good work, their vessels are rusting out and they need to be replaced," he said.

Byers suggested a summit based on the make-up of the Arctic Council, which would feature formal participation by indigenous groups, including Inuit. It could also serve as an opportunity for people of the North to make their case for more social spending, he said.

Mary Simon, president of Inuit Tapiriiit Kanatami, said she'd welcome such a summit, as long as Arctic indigenous peoples had a meaningful role.

She also said the military should look at ways to include the Canadian Rangers in defending Arctic sovereignty, by training them to perform environmental monitoring and surveillance.

Inuit leaders including Simon, and Paul Kaludjak, president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. have argued in recent weeks that money for health care, education and housing should be an equal part of any Arctic sovereignty strategy.

"These are more subtle ways of asserting our presence in the Arctic," Simon said.

The ITK president also wants to know the federal government's plans for confronting climate change and for consulting Inuit on sovereignty issues. While she's met with Jim Prentice, the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Minister, Simon said she has yet to hear back on similar requests made to Harper's office.

"The Arctic can't be seen as a boutique issue," she said. "It's not a boutique issue. It's a real issue."

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