Foreign Affairs committee  I agree with my colleague that fisheries are and will be an important issue in the region. As he mentioned, we can manage within 200 nautical miles, and that may be the area that we have to focus on in the near future, because it may not be much beyond that. Beyond that is an are

Foreign Affairs committee  I certainly would suggest the protection of indigenous peoples and the reflection of their interests in development. I would certainly suggest the issue and how broadly you put it is a matter of perception, issues relating to environmental protection, which can move into climate

Foreign Affairs committee  They're parallel. I don't think you can say one rather than the other. I think you have to work on both. The forum for doing the other is the attempt to make a binding polar code, through IMO, which is where you get all the countries in the world that are interested in shipping,

Foreign Affairs committee  I think the first thing I'd say is that it is one thing for the Canadian government to suggest that its objective is development for indigenous peoples. I think the question might be put to the indigenous peoples themselves as to whether they see that as something that will benef

Foreign Affairs committee  Where I would agree with Professor Byers is that one cannot rule anything out, so to make the assumption that we'll all be in the northern sea route or in the Arctic Ocean and not on the Northwest Passage would be a dangerous assumption to make. On the other hand, in terms of pla

Foreign Affairs committee  That would be my assessment, yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll quickly answer the question. I've had the benefit of attending two of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference meetings recently, one when they developed an Arctic sovereignty statement and one when they developed a natural resources.... Their concern is partly the one I've been

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't see any perils, legally speaking, for that. If “in the tent” means being a member of the Arctic Council, as long as the Arctic Council is not seen as essentially legislating matters that are within the jurisdiction of the Arctic coastal states but dealing with matters tha

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it's something that perhaps Professor Byers, who knows a lot more about the practical aspects of these things than I do, will also want to comment on. The immediate advantage, of course, is the one you mentioned, and that's the time. Compared with the Panama Canal—or go

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Chair. I'd like to thank you and the members of the committee for inviting me here this morning. I'm going to talk about the international legal regime for the Arctic. It's a topic on which I think there's some public misunderstanding. Speculation about the need for a