Canada's Plans For the Arctic Don't Include the Environment

Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has made no secret of his ambitions to establish sovereignty over parts of the resource-rich Arctic. In fact, he's willing to use everything from science to old ships to prove it's his.

But despite Harper's tough talk and jingoism on behalf of his country's most desolate landmass, Canada may be falling short in protecting Mother Nature in the Far North.

A new report from Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand says Canada has no real strategy for preserving the Arctic environment as commercial activity increases.

"Overall, we found that there is no long-term national vision or coordinated departmental strategies to support safe marine transportation in the Arctic," Gelfand writes. "The government has recognized that a strategic and coordinated approach is important to aligning federal efforts and supporting responsible development of the North. A vision for the Arctic would provide the coherent direction needed to address emerging risks as maritime traffic increases in the region."

Responsible development is crucial considering the widespread fears that the expansion of resource mining could endanger some of the virgin waters opening up in the Arctic Ocean. As climate change peels back more arid land for development, there will be increased demand for shipping lanes and convoys ferrying oil or gas from the Arctic crust.

Gelfand suggests that Canada's plan for that inevitable development is lacking, calling out Canada's Northern Strategy—a multi-tentacled plan to enhance resource development and habitation in the Arctic—for overlooking safe transportation practices emphasized by other Arctic nations like the US and Denmark.

"Key elements related to marine transportation that we looked for in the strategies included references to charting and hydrography, aids to navigation, weather and ice information, icebreaking, vessel detection, and ship design and construction standards," she said in the report. "Canada's Northern Strategy does not provide such clear commitments."

Without safe shipping standards, the possibility of iceberg or ship collisions increases the likelihood of oil spills in some of the most pristine waters and distinct ecosystems in the world. Already, Gelfand says, "groundings, capsizings or sinkings, collisions, and damage by ice," are frequent for ships in the unforgiving northern waters.

More importantly, it's clear that increased traffic in Arctic waters is driven by "expanding resource development projects," that will inevitably increase "shipping opportunities in Arctic waters (that) come with increased risks to safety and the environment."

Given the projection of 90 billion barrels of oil potentially sitting under the North Pole, and the 1,700 trillion cubic feet of natural gas the Russians and Canadians are eyeing,it's critical the transit of those future resources is carefully secured.

Meanwhile, Harper has signaled his overall intention to face-off against Russia for a controlling stake in the Arctic. Recently, that brewing geopolitical conflict has taken more of a militaristic turn as Russian MiG aircraft have come dangerously close to Canadian airspace.

Ultimately, Gelfand says the international community is well aware that Arctic shipping, if not properly managed, "poses a threat to natural ecosystems."

With that, Mr. Harper would do well to spend less time on stealth snowmobiles when he's up north, and more time figuring out if one of the last untamed frontiers is worth an oil spill.