Arctic Policy of Canada
Encyclopedia
Arctic Policy of Canada refers to the foreign policy
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...

 of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in regards to the Arctic region. In addition, Canada's domestic policy
Domestic policy
Domestic policy, also known as public policy, presents decisions, laws, and programs made by the government which are directly related to all issues and activity within the country....

 towards its Arctic territories. Canada has more Arctic land mass than any country, included within the provinces of Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

, Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

, and Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

. In 2007, these three Canadian territorial governments released "A Northern Vision: A Stronger North and a Better Canada", a broad collaborative vision for the North. The vision's main themes are sovereignty, circumpolar relations and climate change.

On August 23, 2010, the Prime Minister of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

, Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...

 indicated that protection of Canada's sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

 over its northern regions was its number one and "non-negotiable
Negotiation
Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties, intended to reach an understanding, resolve point of difference, or gain advantage in outcome of dialogue, to produce an agreement upon courses of action, to bargain for individual or collective advantage, to craft outcomes to satisfy...

 priority" in Arctic policy
. Canada has slated $109 million, to be spent before 2014, for research to substantiate extended continental shelf
Continental shelf
The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain. Much of the shelf was exposed during glacial periods, but is now submerged under relatively shallow seas and gulfs, and was similarly submerged during other interglacial periods. The continental margin,...

 claims in the Arctic region.

Priorities

Canada's Arctic policy priorities are:
  • Resolution of ongoing boundary
    Boundary
    Boundary may refer to:*Border* in psychology,**Personal boundaries* in mathematics,**Boundary , the closure minus the interior of a subset of a topological space; an edge in the topology of manifolds, as in the case of a 'manifold with boundary'**Boundary value problem, a differential equation...

     issues
  • Securing international
    International
    ----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...

     recognition for the full extent of Canada's extended continental shelf claim
  • Address Arctic governance
    Governance
    Governance is the act of governing. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consists of either a separate process or part of management or leadership processes...

     and related emerging issues, such as public safety
    Public Safety
    Public safety involves the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety of the general public from significant danger, injury/harm, or damage, such as crimes or disasters .-See also:* By nation...

    .

See also

  • Arctic Cooperation and Politics
    Arctic Cooperation and Politics
    Arctic cooperation and politics are partially coordinated via the Arctic Council, composed of the eight Arctic nations of the United States of America, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Denmark with Greenland and The Faroe Islands...

  • Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act
    Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act
    The Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act is a Canadian government statute to prevent pollution of areas of the arctic waters adjacent to the mainland and islands of the Canadian arctic. The federal departments responsible for enforcing this Act is Natural Resources Canada, Transport Canada,...

  • Foreign relations of Canada (section Arctic disputes)
  • Arctic (section International cooperation and politics)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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