Canada reasserts Arctic sovereignty
Monday, April 10, 2006; Posted: 9:12 a.m. EDT (13:12 GMT)
RESOLUTE BAY, Nunavut (Reuters)—Canadian forces on Sunday wrapped up a two-week exercise designed to assert sovereignty over the Arctic…
[…] Five patrol groups started off at separate points in the west and central Arctic and traveled a total of 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) by snowmobile over snow and jagged sea ice through a region that is almost totally uninhabited.
Most members were part-time rangers recruited from the Inuit, the aboriginal people of the Arctic. The patrols met up on Sunday near the hamlet of Resolute Bay, 2,100 miles (3,360 kilometers) northwest of Ottawa and 555 miles (890 kilometers) north of the Arctic Circle.
“You have helped maintain Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic. This was an unprecedented operation,” Canadian army Lt. Col. Drew Artus told the cheering rangers, some of whom had frost-covered faces.
The new Conservative government is promising a more muscular presence in the Arctic to deter intruders.
‘This land is ours’
“I think the operation was a complete success. We’ve demonstrated the ability to move around the truly remote places of the Arctic,” said Artus, acting commander of Canada’s forces in the north.
“This land is ours,” he said.
[…] Canada is embroiled in territorial disputes with the United States over the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic—the site of deposits of natural gas—as well as with Denmark over which country owns Hans Island off the coast of Greenland.
Ottawa is also sparring with Russia as to how far its control stretches up to the North Pole. The result could be worth billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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