Our society believes that a wonderful way to assert sovereignty is through scientific studies. We note that almost a century ago there was concern about whether Canada or Norway owned the north, because the mapping was done by Norwegians. It wasn't based on military presence. Through these research efforts Canadian scientists have gone into the north. The International Polar Year put scientists in northern communities, and both groups were rewarded greatly by that.
A colleague of mine has written a paper on how traditional native knowledge in the north has helped their research and provided insight into climate change. So the collaboration of scientists with native communities and the presence of scientists in the north is a great bonus.
I remember years ago we had a special research program specifically to put scientists on Ellesmere Island for much of the year. It was actually aimed at sovereignty in that area.