Canadian Northern Strategy Summary

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1. Canadian Northern Strategy Summary Canada is one of several nations that have significant amounts of coastline bordering the Arctic ocean giving Canadians tremendous opportunities for expansion into the arctic region (Federal Interlocutor, 2009, p.3). The purpose of the Northern Strategy is to secure the future opportunities that may arise in the arctic region, and to do so the strategy has been broken into 4 categories. The first of these categories is exercising our arctic sovereignty, which uses a 3-part strategy, which will be overviewed in section 1 and in further detail in part 2 of this paper. Introducing new land capabilities through the building of a military training base in Resolute bay, The expansion of the Nanisivik port facility …show more content…

Though this statement is simple, the underlying strategy appears to be similarly simplistic and is the focus of this paper. To understand the Canadian governments plans for the future of the Canadian arctic I have separated this paper into 4 sections. The first of these sections will explore and summarize the 2009 strategy that the Canadian government planned for securing arctic sovereignty. Second, I will explore the current status of the strategy. Third, I will further research one aspect of the 2009 strategy, the Nanisivik deep-water port facility and explore the potential impacts that this port could have on the marine ecosystem. Finally I will summarize my findings and make a short concluding …show more content…

Though there are many concerns that have blocked the port from being constructed in its original capacity, I will be exploring the lack of information on the potential impacts that the port has on the marine wildlife, specifically studying the possibility of introducing biological invasive species to the arctic marine ecosystem. Though the port of Nanisivik is small, it provides the ability for military, and coast guard vessels to refuel during the summer months, extending the range of many of the ships in the area (Bird, 2015). This increase in ship range, combined with the major reductions in sea ice cover (Miller & Ruiz, 2014) allow for interocean shortcuts to be formed through the arctic during the summer season. This ability to move further into the arctic brings us to the concern of introducing invasive species to the marine ecosystem through ballast water. Ballast water is seawater that is typically drawn into large tanks from the port of origin or other areas along the ships voyage

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