“ICC Canada commends the Government of Canada for defending our sovereignty in the Canadian Arctic”

By Nunatsiaq News

Canada’s recent continental shelf submission under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is good for Inuit, says the Canadian wing of the Inuit Circumpolar Council.

“ICC Canada commends the Government of Canada for defending our sovereignty in the Canadian Arctic,” ICC-Canada said in a news release issued on May 24.

The statement went on to say that Canada’s claim to “sovereignty and leadership in the Arctic is founded in its partnership with Inuit.”

To that end they quote the Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic, which requires that states must accept the presence and role of Inuit as partners in the conduct of international relations in the Arctic.

“Defining and asserting Canadian sovereignty takes many forms. Inuit know this as we have been used to assert Canadian sovereignty historically,” Monica Ell-Kanayuk, the president of ICC-Canada, said in the release.

The federal government gave the 2,100-page final submission to a special UN commission on Thursday, May 23.

It sets out Canada’s claim to the parts of its continental shelf that extend beyond its 370-kilometre economic zone.

Under international law, states have full sovereignty over waters extending 22 kilometres, or 12 nautical miles, beyond their coastlines.

In addition to that, all states enjoy exclusive economic and environmental rights over waters extending for 370 kilometres, or 200 nautical miles, past their coastlines.

The continental shelf claim process would extend that 370-km limit even further—for as far as a state can prove the continental shelf extension is connected directly to its landmass.

Canada’s claim is based on scientific work that began in 2006 and continued until 2016, involving 17 research expeditions conducted in collaboration with the United States, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.

“Inuit use the sea ice beyond the boundaries drawn on maps as our highways and sources of food security. We appreciate the fact over 10 years have gone into the scientific study and documents submitted yesterday,” Ell-Kanayuk said in the release.

It’s expected that the filing of science-based continental shelf claims will be followed by many years of international negotiations aimed at establishing clear lines around each state’s exclusive economic zone.