Thank you. That's a very good question.
Canadian Arctic sovereignty, as we understand the dispute, is a question of ownership over the Northwest Passage. That is essentially what is being challenged. No one is challenging Canadian ownership of the land or anything of that nature. The loss of sovereignty would mean the loss, by Canada, of the ability to regulate and govern the waters within the archipelago, as they are historic internal waters. That means that in the most extreme circumstance, Russian or Chinese warships would legally be permitted to sail these waters.
In a far more likely but perhaps equally concerning manner, we would lose the ability to regulate commercial shipping, oil tankers, foreign commerce, moving through those waters. That regulation would fall to the International Maritime Organization, rather than the federal government.