We Canadians need a complete overhaul in the way we think about, and act in, the Arctic as a region. No longer can we afford to view this part of the world primarily through the optic of concern for sovereignty and assured possession of what's ours. Instead, we must move forward into the polar Mediterranean that is opening up before our very eyes.
Other players such as the United States, Russia, Norway and even the European Union have recently come forward with Arctic strategies. They are positioning themselves for advantage in a region whose strategic significance is near-universally understood to be on the rise. Sharpened interest in the Arctic is a response to climate change, new prospects of maritime access and transit and the expectation of greatly increased world demand for fossil fuels and minerals.
Canada, however, has no strategy for the Arctic in its entirety. Either we come up with one soon, or we risk following others in the one region of the world where we can most readily show leadership.
A Canadian strategy will strive to channel the unfolding story of the Arctic in a way that mutes conflict and enables all to exercise due care in the exploitation and enjoyment of a shared natural environment. Should change make for acute interstate conflict in the years ahead, we will suffer the costs and risks of Arctic political-military rivalry and all manner of co-operation foregone. Alternatively, should conflict be favoured only slightly when co-operation is inherently difficult to achieve, simple neglect of the vulnerable Arctic environment and of residents there could be the net result.
Vigorous international co-operation is surely our preference for the evolution of pan-Arctic affairs. We are, however, a long way from the ability to act accordingly.
Governments Liberal and Conservative have been mumbling for years about a “northern strategy.” From what's known of it, the “strategy” acknowledges Arctic sovereignty as a priority but otherwise is focused on the domestic North. Both in its inwardness and its concern to ensure sovereign possession, this strategy reflects a long-standing Canadian mindset that effectively keeps us in the Northwest Passage and constrains us from moving out into the opening Arctic Ocean.
In truth, sovereignty over the Passage is well in hand, as can be seen from Northern Exposure, an outstanding volume just published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Nevertheless, the “use it or lose it” rhetoric that's favoured by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in talking about the Arctic has been accepted by a great many of us. Exaggerated worry over Arctic sovereignty is a reality in this country.
The creation of an Arctic strategy that meets our needs in an era of extreme climate and geopolitical change will elude us without firm and imaginative leadership. We will have to be brought to attach new importance to the area that lies beyond our northernmost borders.
We will need to be persuaded of new opportunities to enhance the quality of Canadian sovereignty under the conditions of environmental and political interdependence that exist throughout the Arctic. We will have to be summoned to a new national project.
This is a project that should fuse both the widespread interest in Arctic sovereignty and the more deeply held public concern over climate change into a new Canadian commitment to pan-Arctic stewardship. Given the centrality of climate change, the prominence of its early effects in the Arctic and its potential to wreak havoc on everything we possess, in co-operative Arctic stewardship, we have a project that could yield a 21st-century equivalent of international peacekeeping.
It would see Canada lead in the construction of Arctic governance arrangements that incorporate the region's indigenous peoples in new international action that not only polices but also shows respect and care for the environment and living things in it.
No way can the Arctic game be left to the bureaucracy. The issues, stakes and potential political rewards are of such magnitude that only a prime minister will be able to lead fully. Never mind who holds the office in the period ahead, responsibility for Arctic stewardship must be seen as an essential feature of the prime minister's job description.
Franklyn Griffiths is senior research fellow at the Canadian International Council.
