For a considerable period of time in the post-World War II era, writings by international lawyers and international relations scholars in Canada concerned with the Arctic focused on ‘Arctic sovereignty.’ The passage of the USS Manhattan through the Northwest Passage in 1969 and the enactment of the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act in 1970 gave the issue an environmental focus. But it was still fundamentally for Canada a sovereignty issue. And behind that, but integrally related, were the ever-present security concerns. The regulation of Arctic shipping was about Canadian jurisdiction, Canadian security and Canadian sovereignty.

While much of that is still true, much has changed. The Arctic is now more readily understood as the homeland of Indigenous peoples whose livelihoods, interests and aspirations have to be seen as core to any consideration of the Arctic. Climate change is wreaking a fundamental change in the Arctic. The raising of temperatures and the receding of the sea ice have enormous consequences for shipping in the Arctic, for living and non-living resources exploration and exploitation, for marine pollution and other harmful environmental effects, and for the lives and well-being, and indeed the survival, of Indigenous peoples.

Arctic States have increasingly responded to what is occurring in the Arctic. Greater recognition of the claims, aspirations and rights of Indigenous Arctic peoples, the formation of the Arctic Council in which Indigenous peoples play a key role, and the increased regional cooperation amongst Arctic States are all critical developments in the Arctic in recent years. Indeed, many of the issues concerning shipping and the uses of Arctic waters have been highlighted through the research and monitoring activities sponsored by the Arctic Council.

Concerns about shipping in the Arctic have moved from the reality of coastal movement between communities and the mirage of large-scale transit of the Northwest Passage, to a new reality of increased traffic, cruise ships, and the transit of the Arctic Ocean. The development by Russia of the Northern Sea Route in the Northeast Arctic is sometimes seen as a model that could be emulated in the Northwest Passage. More generally, greater recognition of the Inuit identity in the Arctic, and climatic and sea use changes all call for a rethinking and re-evaluation of governance in the Arctic and, in particular, Canada’s approach to regulation and governance of shipping in Arctic areas.

This volume, Shipping in Inuit Nunangat: Governance Challenges and Approaches in Canadian Arctic Waters, responds to that need. It is a book that reflects the fundamental changes in respect of the Arctic, and it focuses on what today are the critical issues. The very title of the book, Shipping in Inuit Nunangat, shifts the description of the area from its historical, colonial designation to an identification of the area as where Inuit live—the Inuit homeland. This focus in a sense brackets the whole book, starting with the sea as the mainstay of the Inuit based on a discussion with Inuit leader Monica Ell-Kanayuk (Ell-Kanayuk and Aporta, Chapter 2) and ending with Indigenous self-determination and its implications for the regulation of shipping (Lalonde and Bankes, Chapter 17). Inuit concerns appear throughout the book, including looking at Arctic governance through a ‘decolonizing lens,’ particularly through the work of the Inuit in the Arctic Council (Beveridge, Chapter 6), or considering the development of low-impact shipping corridors for maritime navigation (Dawson and Song, Chapter 15). The centrality of Inuit concerns is also emphasized in both the Introduction and the Conclusion.

The book sets out the context for the consideration of Arctic shipping today and then turns attention to how the governance of shipping in Canadian Arctic waters might be reimagined. While the book offers a new and contemporary approach to the governance of Arctic shipping, the past is not neglected. There is an historical overview of shipping in the Northwest Passage (Lajeunesse and Lackenbauer, Chapter 4) and the traditional ‘sovereignty’ debate is both traversed and rethought in the light of contemporary developments (Bartenstein, Chapter 10). Throughout the book broad themes emerge, relating to the operation of shipping in the particular environment of the Arctic, safety at sea in the ever-harsh environmental conditions in Arctic waters and responding to marine emergencies, the consequences of increased economic activity in the Arctic, long-standing defence and security concerns, and the developing legal framework for governance and future needs. At heart there is the fundamental concern of protecting the unique Arctic ecosystem in the light of the wide-scale changes that have been occurring.

The editors and contributors to this volume are to be congratulated in bringing to the fore, in comprehensive and readily accessible analyses, the challenges facing Canada in respect of shipping in Arctic waters and the governance imperatives to which these give rise. And they have done so in a sensitive manner that places the interests of the inhabitants of Inuit Nunangat front and centre. They have also sounded the call for approaching the issue of Arctic shipping in the context of the imperatives of climate change—a call for action in light of one of the most vital issues affecting not just the Arctic but humankind more generally.

There is a sense of urgency in addressing the governance issues relating to Arctic shipping in this book. Not only are the climatic effects calling for increased attention, but there is also increased interest from States outside the Arctic region in Arctic shipping as well as in resource development and exploitation. Claims to treat the Arctic as a form of international commons have been heard. In these circumstances, it is critical for Canada, not only to continue asserting the leadership role it took in 1970, which it then enhanced through regional cooperation and in international fora, but also to be an example to other countries in the governance measures it takes to regulate shipping in Arctic waters.