1 Context and Purpose
As sea ice is decreasing at a concerning pace, the Arctic region is experiencing profound physical transformations that threaten ecosystems and Indigenous ancestral ways of life and livelihoods, including in Inuit Nunangat, the
Since the 2000s, this acknowledgment has accelerated the pace of regulatory action undertaken by States and intergovernmental organizations and by the industry sector itself. A prominent example of the latter are the Unified Requirements for Polar Class Ships first adopted in 2006 by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS),2 in coordination with the effort deployed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to provide guidance for navigation in ice-covered waters.3 In 2010, Canada reinforced its coastal State regulations notably by converting the ship reporting system in its Arctic waters, known as NORDREG, into a mandatory scheme.4 At the international level, significant momentum was created by the 2017 entry into force of the IMO’s mandatory International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters, the so-called Polar Code.5 Flag States, including the five Arctic coastal States, were prompted to make this first international set of tailor-made rules and standards for polar navigation applicable to their polar-going vessels,
Given its particular situation as an Arctic coastal State with its own pre-existing regulations applicable to shipping in its Arctic waters, Canada was prompted to overhaul its regulatory regime with the aim to implement the Polar Code for Canadian vessels navigating polar waters and to make adjustments to its coastal State regulations, mostly aligning them with the Polar Code.7 While the entry into force of the Polar Code was a major milestone, setting off a frenzy of domestic regulatory action, it did not spell the end of regulatory developments, neither at the international nor national level.
In this context of shifting physical and legal environments, it is more urgent than ever for Canada to develop a coherent policy and legal approach and to strengthen its institutions with the objective to craft a decisive, effective and equitable response to the changes underway. As the contents of this book will demonstrate, the governance of shipping in Canadian Arctic waters is fragmented and needs new directions. This entails finding a balance between the economic and technological constraints of shipping on the one hand and the imperative of minimizing impacts detrimental to the vulnerable Arctic ecology on the other. In the contemporary context, the balancing act, however, also entails honouring Canada’s commitment to work towards socioeconomic and cultural equity and support Inuit self-determination in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and as expressed in the 2022 Inuit Nunangat Policy.8
This volume aims to offer a timely discussion of contemporary issues of governance related to shipping in Canadian Arctic waters, which form part of Inuit Nunangat. Arctic shipping has attracted interest from a broad range of academic disciplines for years and has been the focus of intense scholarly
By taking stock of past, current and prospective developments, the chapters of the volume set out to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities that will shape Canadian governance of Arctic shipping. With the objective of guiding future policy and legal decisions, the contributing authors propose insights from various disciplines and angles to help address the many concerns that come with the rapid and drastic changes affecting the Arctic. To this end, the book calls upon the complementary expertise of a group of Canadian or Canada-based authors composed of established
The book is the main outcome of the research project titled Navigating Canadian Arctic Waters: Uniformity and Unilateralism in Law-making in the Era of the International Polar Code and supported by a research grant of the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The initial interdisciplinary project team of seven was expanded to benefit from a broad spectrum of complementary expertise. The authors were first brought together by the editors for a virtual workshop in January 2021 to discuss the scope, content and coordination of the book. Results of the research and writing period that ensued were then submitted for collegial peer feedback and coordination in a second workshop convened in Halifax in May 2022.
2 Geographical Focus
the internal waters of Canada and the waters of the territorial sea of Canada and the exclusive economic zone of Canada, within the area enclosed by the 60th parallel of north latitude, the 141st meridian of west longitude and the outer limit of the exclusive economic zone [except where the presence of the international boundary between Canada and Greenland requires a lesser extent].13
Geographical scope of application of the AWPPA, NORDREG and the Polar Code
With the outer-most limit of Canadian Arctic waters at 200 nautical miles (M) measured from the Canadian Arctic shoreline, Canada takes full advantage of the
Another, much broader definition of Arctic waters is used for the purposes of the Polar Code (Figure 1.1), according to identical definitions provided in the SOLAS and MARPOL conventions respectively.15 Designed for the application of international shipping regulations throughout the entire Arctic Ocean, this definition encompasses Canada’s Arctic waters as defined in the AWPPA, but necessarily extends well beyond. On the Pacific side, “arctic waters” are located north of a line following the 60th parallel north, thus including waters of the Bering Sea. On the Atlantic side, that line dips south to 58 degree north to circumvent Greenland, before it then passes north of the 60th parallel between Greenland and Iceland to join the south cap of Jan Mayen (Norway) slightly north of 70 degrees, then a point near Bjørnøya (Svalbard/Norway) slightly north of 73 degrees, and finally Cap Kanin Nos (Russia) slightly north of 68 degrees. The area thus excluded from the definition of Arctic waters, located north of the 60th parallel between Greenland and the European continent, where the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean connect, does not experience ice cover that would warrant application of Polar Code regulations.
The fact that Canada’s Arctic sea area forms an integral part of the Inuit homeland and has been used from time immemorial by Inuit has increasingly come to the fore in governance circles, adding a new dimension to the understanding of the region. The acknowledgement that the Arctic is indeed a homeland has recently translated into the use of ‘Inuit Nunangat’ to refer to the region,
The term ‘Nunangat’ has a broader meaning than ‘Nunaat’ in that it refers not only to the land, but explicitly also to the water and ice of the Inuit homeland. Precisely for that reason, it was adopted by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the organization representing the interests of Inuit in Canada, as the official term to refer
According to the 2021 census numbers, more than 48,500 Inuit live in Inuit Nunangat,19 almost two thirds in Nunavut and roughly 25 percent in Nunavik, 4 percent in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and 6 percent in Nunatsiavut. The population is scattered across the vast territory in communities mostly located along the coast of the Canadian mainland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (Figure 1.3). Not part of Inuit Nunangat, but still considered significant coastal communities of the Canadian Arctic, are Fort Severn (Ontario) and Churchill (Manitoba). The coastal communities of Nunatsiavut, including
3 Key Concerns
The chapters of this book are bound together by a number of crosscutting themes. Two of these certainly stand out as key concerns that seem central to a contemporary understanding of governance in the Arctic and expectations regarding decision-making. The first such theme is related to Canada’s colonial history and its current commitment to the truth and reconciliation process.20
The second theme that runs through many chapters is the urgency of drastically stepping up the protection of the Arctic marine environment. With the warming climate being the worst threat to Arctic ecosystems, significant reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions is—despite its delayed effect—among the most effective measures.21 It is also among the most elusive as it requires international consensus and willingness to act. While as a middle power State Canada’s influence on the international response to the unfolding climate catastrophe may be limited, it has a moral duty to do its part. Given the dire situation of its Arctic expanse and consequences for Inuit, Canada has every interest in playing a leadership role. A systemic change in approach seems indispensable. First, decisions made in and for the South need to become more relevant for the North, but at the very least, it is critical to avoid making them at the expense of the North. This requires a shift towards decompartmentalized decision-making. Second, with the objective of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,22 principles of sustainable development, such as the preventative and precautionary approaches, need to guide governance decisions.23 With respect to the issue of shipping, Canada has room to adopt such approaches, alone or as part of the international community, and to minimize the consequences that are harmful to
The integration of Inuit voices in future governance decisions and the protection of the Arctic environment as a top priority intersect when it comes to the economic future of the region. Both wanted and dreaded within the region and beyond, economic development of the Arctic region rests very much on shipping, as does the region’s wellbeing. Shipping indeed enables community supply and development, mining operations and tourism, to name just a few. Yet, it also increases the strain on marine ecosystems that are already under stress, threatening not only Arctic habitats, but also the way of life and livelihoods of Arctic communities. Boon and bane in equal measure, shipping and its consequences therefore need to be actively considered in any development decision. Several chapters of this volume give context and guidance on how to tackle the difficult task of finding the right balance.
Further issues raised by shipping in the Canadian Arctic are addressed in this book. Among them are concerns related to safety of navigation and safety of life at sea. Although first and foremost centred on the ship, crew, cargo and operations, these concerns are interwoven with others, such as the impact of shipping on the environment, community well-being and emergency preparedness and response. Moreover, in any discussion on shipping in Canadian Arctic waters, the issues of Canada’s sovereignty over these waters and control of the Northwest Passage loom in the background. While matters of sovereignty are inevitably related to regulatory authority, they occasionally also extend to military and strategic concerns. This volume seeks to provide perspectives on these issues as well.
4 Structure
This book has 16 chapters divided into two parts. Part I, Understanding the Context of Governance of Shipping in Canadian Arctic Waters, sets the stage for in-depth analysis of governance issues by examining shipping in the Canadian Arctic, from both a historical and a contemporary perspective, with chapters focusing on social, environmental and economic aspects of shipping as well as on safety, security and defence issues and related strategies. Under the heading Reimagining the Governance of Shipping in Canadian Arctic Waters, Part II then takes a closer look at specific policy and legal issues raised by the governance of shipping in the Canadian Arctic. Scrutiny ranges from the contemporary state of the international legal framework to various issues raised by the practical
Part 1 comprises five chapters addressing aspects that are or need to be considered key to conceptualizing the future governance of shipping in the Canadian Arctic. It starts with chapter 2 titled “‘The Sea Is Our Mainstay’: Shipping and the Inuit Homeland,” a conversation between anthropologist Claudio Aporta and Monica Ell-Kanayuk, president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) Canada from 2018 to 2022. Through Ell-Kanayuk’s eyes, the reader gets a sense of the particularly close relationship Inuit have with their marine environment, a defining feature of their homeland, and their perception of shipping in the region. The conversation also explores the importance ICC attaches to the provisional consultative status it was recently granted with the IMO. Inspired by his exchange with Ell-Kanayuk, Aporta then reflects on the challenges and opportunities that Arctic shipping and its governance hold for Inuit and stresses the critical importance that Inuit attribute to increasing agency over their lives and homelands with regard to shipping activities.
Chapter 3 on “Shipping in Arctic Marine Ecosystems under Stress: Recognizing and Mitigating the Threats” is co-authored by Warwick Vincent, Connie Lovejoy and Kristin Bartenstein. It provides a broad overview of the many unique ecological features of the Arctic Ocean and explains how climate change and other global stressors wreak havoc on the fragile balance, causing the ocean’s current precarious state. The authors zoom in on the additional perturbations increasing ship traffic threatens to provoke, including through chemical, physical and biological stressors that come with shipping. Against the background of the particular vulnerability of the Arctic marine environment, they advise on how regulation of shipping could contribute to hold these risks in check.
In chapter 4 on “Shipping along the Northwest Passage: A Historical Overview,” Adam Lajeunesse and P. Whitney Lackenbauer focus on shipping that moves into and out of the Arctic using the waterways of the Northwest Passage. They provide a historical overview of the activity that starts in the nineteenth century, but then concentrate mainly on the twentieth century. They show that steady shipping for community resupply and government operations is overlaid by repeating boom-and-bust cycles, fueled by successive defence and economic crises and opportunities, such as the Second World War, the Cold War and the prospects of resource extraction in the 1970s and 1980s. They caution that Canada’s current interest in the Arctic region due to melting ice and increased maritime accessibility may decline as resource extraction cycles continue to oscillate, the marine transportation sector makes its own
This is followed by chapter 5 on “Comparative Perspectives on the Development of Canadian Arctic Shipping: Impacts of Climate Change and Globalization,” in which Frédéric Lasserre looks at the factors that shape shipping in the Canadian Arctic, contrasting the Canadian with the Russian situation. While reduction of ice facilitates navigation, Lasserre emphasizes that development of shipping volumes is driven mainly by community resupply, resource extraction, transit shipping and tourism. Perceptions of how well the Arctic fits into the global market are a notable factor as well, in particular with regard to resource extraction, shipping and commercial transit shipping. Lasserre further opines that the emerging business model based on transshipment hubs and high-ice class shuttle vessels may hold limited promise for the Canadian Arctic, and that Canada’s low-impact shipping corridors—a hands-off approach compared to Russia’s active development of the Northern Sea Route—may still require investment in infrastructure to manage and control increased traffic.
Leah Beveridge’s chapter 6 titled “Reconsidering Arctic Shipping Governance through a Decolonizing Lens” seeks to offer a new perspective on discussion of the future of Arctic shipping governance. Beveridge begins by charting the role ships played in facilitating the mistreatment of Inuit and attempts at assimilation, drawing on first-hand accounts collected through the work of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She then turns to the gradual recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples, which became more pronounced following the 1982 constitutional reform, notably yielding five Inuit land claims and self-government agreements, and reached a new stage in 2021 with the promulgation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. Beveridge finally explores how the Crown-Inuit relationship with regard to governance of Arctic shipping may evolve under the 2022 Inuit Nunangat Policy, given this relationship’s troubled past.
The subsequent three chapters address issues concerning the safety, security and defence continuum. In chapter 7, “Unpacking Canada’s Arctic Shipping Safety, Security, and Defence Functions”, Andrea Charron and David Snider detail these three functions with regard to shipping in Canadian Arctic waters and explain how dedicated organizations mandated to execute these functions are prone to compartmentalized action. Drawing on concrete examples, they then explore how cooperation between government agencies, territorial governments and local Indigenous communities may lead to more integrated and ultimately better responses to the many safety, security and defences challenges related to shipping in the Canadian Arctic.
Peter Kikkert, Calvin Pedersen and P. Whitney Lackenbauer share experience gained on mass rescue operations (MRO) in chapter 9 titled “Mitigating the Tyranny of Time and Distance: Community-Based Organizations and Marine Mass Rescue Operations in Inuit Nunangat.” In the vast and remote Canadian Arctic, such operations face serious challenges that are exacerbated by austere environmental conditions, limited support infrastructure, inadequate local medical capacity and likely few vessels of opportunity able to provide assistance. Based on a tabletop exercise held in Nunavut and follow-up work, the authors argue that community-based organizations (CBO s) may be valuable force multipliers, at sea and shoreside, during a marine MRO. Highlighting the limitations faced by CBO s, they also discuss how community responders may be best prepared to take on these roles and how their capabilities may be reflected in relevant mass rescue and emergency plans.
Part 2 of the book is devoted to reimagining the governance of shipping in Canadian Arctic waters. It opens with three chapters taking a broad view by considering overarching issues, such as coastal State and flag State jurisdiction, and Canada’s policy, legal and institutional framework and their significance for governance of shipping in the Canadian Arctic. Chapter 10, authored by Kristin Bartenstein, starts with a look at “Canada and the Future of Arctic Coastal State Jurisdiction.” Against the background of changes in the physical and ecological environment of the marine Arctic due to climate change and in the legal environment brought about by the Polar Code that call for a fresh look at Arctic coastal State jurisdiction, Bartenstein explores how Canada may use the exceptional jurisdiction provided under Article 234 of the LOSC. She starts by tracing Canada’s history of regulating shipping in its Arctic waters,
In chapter 11, “The Modern Case Law on the Powers and Responsibilities of Flag States: Navigating Canada’s Arctic Waters,” Nigel Bankes looks at recent jurisprudence to assess the powers and responsibilities of flag States. He finds that while the plenary and exclusive nature of flag State jurisdiction is confirmed by recent international cases, the due diligence obligation of flag States to enforce relevant laws and standards, notably on safety of navigation and protection of the environment, is emphasized as well. He then examines the implications of this case law for flag State powers and responsibilities within an Arctic context, especially in light of the adoption of the Polar Code, which includes rules of reference encompassed by the due diligence obligation.
Aldo Chircop then portrays “The Canadian Policy, Legal and Institutional Framework for the Governance of Arctic Shipping” in chapter 12. He provides a broad account of the myriad policy and regulatory instruments and the numerous departments and agencies relevant to the governance of shipping in general and Arctic shipping in particular, underlining their unwieldiness, complexity and fragmentation. In his discussion, he questions the traditional model of a centralized maritime administration, and while recognizing the importance of uniform rules and standards for shipping, he argues for high governance standards that ensure environment protection and Indigenous engagement and participation in decision-making.
The final five chapters focus on specific issues relevant to the future governance of shipping in the Canadian Arctic. Under the title “Goal-Based Standards, Meta-Regulation and Tripartism in Arctic Shipping: What Prospects in Canadian Waters?,” chapter 13 by Phillip Buhler examines regulatory models. He investigates alternative approaches to prescriptive regulation as a way to avoid problems such as lack of flexibility, lack of financial and technical resources of the regulator, economic inefficiencies, and imbalance of expertise between regulator and regulatee. His discussion of prospects for Canada focuses in particular on meta-regulation, that is, regulator-monitored self-regulation, which includes industry-developed technical rules to support goal-based standards such as those developed by the IMO and used within the Polar Code. He further highlights the opportunity for regulatory tripartism, which would allow Inuit participation in regulatory processes.
In chapter 14, Meagan Greentree addresses the issue of “Modernizing the Governance of Passenger Vessel Operations in the Canadian Arctic.” Based on the finding that the loosely coordinated governance of passenger vessel
In chapter 15, titled “Governing Canadian Arctic Shipping through Low-impact Shipping Corridors,” Jackie Dawson and Gloria Song shed light on the concept of low-impact shipping corridors (LISC) that has been developed by the Government of Canada since the early 2000s to support shipping in the Canadian Arctic by prioritizing scarce infrastructure and service investments to dedicated shipping corridors. After tracing the temporal and spatial development of shipping activities in Arctic Canada, they describe the strategies used to determine the location of corridors that enables safe navigation, but also protection of ecologically and culturally significant marine areas. They discuss strengths and weaknesses of the LISC concept and its effectiveness in supporting sustainable ocean governance that allows for self-determination of Inuit.
In chapter 16, under the title “The New Federal Impact Assessment Act and Arctic Shipping: Opportunities for Improved Governance”, Meinhard Doelle, David V. Wright, A. John Sinclair and Simon Dueck explore opportunities to improve the governance of shipping and related activities in Canadian Arctic waters. They explore the application of the federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA) to shipping operations related notably to supply for northern communities and industries, transportation of resources extracted in the Canadian Arctic, and transit shipping. The authors next analyze the four distinct IAA assessment processes that are relevant to the governance of shipping and their potential role. They finally consider how the IAA’s processes may interact with other existing assessment processes, such as those conducted at territorial and Indigenous levels of government.
Many of the issues discussed in the preceding chapters converge in chapter 17, where Suzanne Lalonde and Nigel Bankes examine “Indigenous Self-Determination and the Regulation of Navigation and Shipping in Canadian Arctic Waters.” Their exploration is prompted by the observation that increased shipping traffic in the Canadian Arctic, encouraged by decreasing sea ice and favourable socio-economic factors, is not only testing Canada’s marine safety and security regime, but also creating significant challenges for northern Indigenous communities that rely on the marine environment for their food, transport, culture and way of life. The authors assess the legal and policy opportunities available to Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic, under both international and domestic law, to achieve self-determination with respect to navigation and shipping activities in their homeland.
5 Concluding Remark
While the field of governance of shipping in the Canadian Arctic is extensive and evolving and therefore difficult to capture in all its subtleties and nuances, this volume offers an overview of and insights into the key issues that Canada needs to address in the coming years. Its findings are intended to complement the existing literature and to spark new research and scholarship. They are also intended to inform policy-makers around the globe on Canadian perspectives on issues of Arctic shipping in Canadian waters and to assist Canadian decision-makers, stakeholders and rights holders in the development of future law and policy meant to govern shipping in Inuit Nunangat.
Acknowledgements
The maps in this chapter were prepared by Professor Frédéric Lasserre and Louise Marcoux of the Department of Geography at Université Laval. Their assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
This is the alarming core message of a special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) on the matter, see in particular chapter 3, Michael Meredith et al., “Polar Regions,” in IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, eds., H.-O. Pörtner et al. (Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 203–320, https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/3/2019/11/07_SROCC_Ch03_FINAL.pdf.
International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), Unified Requirements for Polar Class Ships, 22 August 2006, IACS Req. 2006 (UR I1, I2 and I3) (as amended), https://iacs.org.uk/download/1803.
Guidelines for Ships Operating in Arctic Ice-Covered Waters, IMO Doc MSC/Circ.1056, MEPC/Circ.399 (23 December 2002). These were later updated and expanded, IMO Resolution A.1024(26) (2 December 2009), Guidelines for Ships Operating in Polar Waters.
Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services Zone Regulations, SOR 2010–127.
IMO Resolution MSC.385(94) (21 November 2014, effective 1 January 2017); Amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974, IMO Resolution MSC.386(94) (21 November 2014, effective 1 January 2017); Amendments to MARPOL Annexes I, II, IV and V, IMO Resolution MEPC.265(68) (15 May 2015, effective 1 January 2017).
Aldo Chircop and Miriam Czarski, “Polar Code Implementation in the Arctic Five: Has Harmonisation of National Legislation Recommended by AMSA been Achieved?,” The Polar Journal 10:2 (2020): 303–321, https://doi.org/10.1080/2154896X.2020.1799614.
Arctic Shipping Safety and Pollution Prevention Regulations, SOR/2017–286. For a discussion, see Kristin Bartenstein, “Between the Polar Code and Article 234: The Balance in Canada’s Arctic Shipping Safety and Pollution Prevention Regulations,” Ocean Development and International Law 50:4 (2019): 335–362.
Inuit Nunanganut Atuagaq (Inuit Nunangat Policy), Prime Minister of Canada (21 April 2022), https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2022/04/21/inuit-crown-partnership-committee-endorses-historic-inuit-nunangat.
This is attested by the following, necessarily incomplete, list of recent book publications: Igor Ilin, Tessaleno C. Devezas, Carlos Jahn, eds., Arctic Maritime Logistics: The Potentials and Challenges of the Northern Sea Route (Cham: Springer, 2022); Aldo Chircop, Floris Goerlandt, Claudio Aporta and Ronald Pelot, eds., Governance of Arctic Shipping: Rethinking Risk, Human Impacts and Regulation (Cham: Springer, 2020); Frédéric Lasserre and Olivier Faury, eds., Arctic Shipping: Climate Change, Commercial Traffic and Port Development (New York: Routledge, 2020); Lawrence P. Hildebrand, Lawson W. Brigham and Tafsir Johansson, eds., Sustainable Shipping in a Changing Arctic (Cham: Springer, 2018); Robert C. Beckman et al., eds., Governance of Arctic Shipping: Balancing Rights and Interests of Arctic States and User States (Leiden: Brill Nijhoff, 2017); Willy Østreng et al., Shipping in Arctic Waters: A Comparison of the Northeast, Northwest and Trans Polar Passages (Berlin: Springer, 2013); Tafsir Johansson and Patrick Donner, eds., The Shipping Industry, Ocean Governance and Environmental Law in the Paradigm Shift: In Search of a Pragmatic Balance for the Arctic (Cham: Springer, 2015).
See, for example, Eva Pongraácz, Victor Pavlov and Niko Hánninen, eds., Arctic Marine Sustainability: Arctic Maritime Businesses and the Resilience of the Marine Environment (Cham: Springer, 2020); Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv, Marc Lanteigne and Horatio Sam-Aggrey, eds., Routledge Handbook of Arctic Security (New York: Routledge, 2020); Mary Durfee and Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Arctic Governance in a Changing World (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019); Klaus Dodds and Mark Nuttall, The Arctic: What Everyone Needs to Know (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019); Svein Vigeland Rottem and Ida Folkestad Soltvedt, Arctic Governance (3 volumes) (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2017–2020); Timo Koivurova, Arctic Law and Governance: The Role of China, Finland, and the EU (Portland: Hart Publishing, 2017); Lassi Heininen, Future Security of the Global Arctic: State Policy, Economic Security and Climate (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016); Ingvild Ulrikke Jakobsen, Marine Protected Areas in International Law: An Arctic Perspective (Boston: Brill Nijhoff, 2016); Lilly Weidemann, International Governance of the Arctic Marine Environment: With Particular Emphasis on High Seas Fisheries (Cham: Springer, 2014); Jessica Michelle Shadian, The Politics of Arctic Sovereignty: Oil, Ice and Inuit Governance (London: Routledge, 2014).
SC 1996, c 31.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 10 December 1982 (in force 16 November 1994), 1833 UNTS 396.
Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, RSC 1985, c A-12, s 2.
According to the AWPPA initial version, adopted in 1970, the waters defined as Canada’s “arctic waters” extended only 100 nautical miles (M) seaward, see SC 1969–1970, c 47, s 3(1).
See International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, 1 November 1974 (in force 25 May 1980), 1184 UNTS 278 [SOLAS], Chapter XIV, Regulation 1.3; International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 2 November 1973, 1340 UNTS 184, as amended by the Protocol of 1978 Relating to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 17 February 1978 (both in force 2 October 1983), 1340 UNTS 61 [MARPOL], Annex I, Regulations 1.11.7 and 46.2; Annex II, Regulations 13.8.1 and 21.2; Annex IV, Regulations 17.2 and 17.3; and Annex V, Regulations 1.14.7 and 13.2, as reproduced in IMO Resolution MSC.385(94) (n 5).
See notably Inuit Nunangat Policy (n 8).
Inuit Circumpolar Council, A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic, April 2009, Article 2.1, https://www.itk.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Declaration_12x18_Vice-Chairs_Signed.pdf. Note that Greenland is referred to in Greenlandic Inuktitut as Kalallit Nunaat, meaning the homeland of the Greenlandic Inuit.
See “About Canadian Inuit,” Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, https://www.itk.ca/about-canadianinuit/.
See overview at Statistics Canada, “First Nations people, Métis and Inuit in Canada,” last modified 21 September 2022, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2022057-eng.htm.
Among others, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada, established under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, has done important work, compiled in numerous reports, to help Canada come to terms with the dark chapters of its colonial past. See in particular Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015, https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf. This report has been accepted by the Government of Canada with the promise to “fully implement the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission” (Statement by Prime Minister on release of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 15 December 2015, https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2015/12/15/statement-prime-minister-release-final-report-truth-and-reconciliation).
IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (n 1), Summary for Policymakers, in particular B.1.7.
See the 17 Sustainable Development Goals declared in 2015. United Nations General Assembly, Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Doc A/RES/70/1 (21 October 2015).
For these principles, see United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, UN Doc A/CONF.151/26 (vol. I) (14 June 1992).