1. From Polar Sea to Straight Baselines: Arctic Policy in the Mulroney Era
- Author:
- Adam Lajeunesse and Robert Huebert
- Publication Date:
- 09-2017
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- In 1985, the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced the drawing of straight baselines around the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, defining the full extent of the country’s Arctic maritime sovereignty and enshrining that sovereignty in legislation for the first time. This decision was a reaction to the voyage of the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Sea through the Northwest Passage that summer, an expedition that both sparked a political crisis and led to years of negotiations between Canada and the United States to settle the precise status of the northern waters. This volume contains documents surrounding that policy shift and the subsequent negotiations, which students, academics, and policy makers can use to chart the development of Canadian policy and Canadian-American relations in the Arctic. From this, readers can gain a greater understanding – not only of Canadian history – but of the nature of Canadian Arctic policy, and why it exists in its present form.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus