Canada Thinks This Newly Found Shipwreck Will Help Prove It Owns the Arctic

Did Stephen Harper's Arctic dreams just come true? Besides eventually winning the territorial diplomatic spat with Russia and cementing the  Canadian land claims for much of the North Pole, the Prime Minister has but one other dream for his Arctic legacy: finding the ill-fated Franklin Expedition shipwrecks.

Today, Harper  made an official statement that the scientific teams combing the Arctic seafloor for signs of the old wreckage—finally found either the Erebus or Terror that departed from England in the 19th century, never to return.

"I am delighted to announce that this year's Victoria Strait Expedition has solved one of Canada's greatest mysteries, with the discovery of one of the two ships belonging to the Franklin Expedition lost in 1846," said Harper.

As in everything else Arctic related for Canada, Harper is also using this historic moment as a way of building the Canadian narrative claim to the Arctic.

"This is truly a historic moment for Canada," Harper said. "Franklin's ships are an important part of Canadian history given that his expeditions, which took place nearly 200 years ago, laid the foundations of Canada's Arctic sovereignty."

Just days earlier, the  Toronto Star reported that crew members aboard the CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier found remnants from the expedition, the first evidence of either ship in modern times.

Since 2008, Harper has commissioned expeditions to search and discover "Canada's only undiscovered national historical site." But in fact, the national connection is tenuous; the ships were part of a British Royal Navy expedition, before Canada was even a nation. In other words, the legitimacy of these ships being distinctly Canadian isn't an air tight statement.

Yet, for one who rarely shows this kind of personal interest, there's no denying Harper's own scholarly fascination with the wreckage. I've personally seen artefacts from one of the two ships, sitting proudly outside of Harper's office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

The discovery comes on the heels of a  Canadian scientific expedition launched in August to collect data in preparation for an enhanced land claim at the United Nations.

Russia and other Arctic nations are currently grappling over claims to the Canadian Arctic, staking a land space with reportedly 90 billion barrels of oil sitting potentially  untapped beneath the Arctic crust.

And as glacial ice recedes in the face of global warming, new maritime lanes will open up the opportunity for nations to mine and ship natural resources from the fringes of the Arctic Ocean.

Interestingly, for someone who often finds himself on the opposite side of debates with the scientific community, Harper took some time to thank the researchers for their dedication to finding the wreckage, singling out the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Arctic Research Foundation (among other government players) for their work.

"This discovery would not have been possible without their tireless efforts over the years, as well as their commitment," he said.

While the researchers have yet to determine which ship the team actually found, Harper is more than optimistic both sister ships will be found once more. In his statement, the straight-laced, often tight-lipped Canadian PM waxes poetic when describing his hopes for the future:

"Finding the first vessel will no doubt provide the momentum, or wind in our sails, necessary to locate its sister ship and find out even more about what happened to the Franklin Expedition's crew."