Canada's Key to Global Power

The fabled Northwest Passage might actually soon become a reality. With the sea ice in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago melting, the passage could be Canada's key to global power.

FULL TRANSCRIPT + SOURCES:

MAIN SOURCES:
The U.S. – Canada Northwest Passage Dispute (Brown Political Review):

Canada's Sovereignty Over the Northwest Passage (Michigan Journal of International Law):

The Northwest Passage as a Matter of National Security (Environment & Society Portal):

#northwestpassage #canada

[jeremyc]

As a Canadian I believe the northwest passage belongs to the people of the Canada, but most of all Northern Canadians. It runs through our country. Imagine if the Canada tried to declare the Mississippi River system international water.

That being said, I hope Canada allows free trade through the passage, so long as ships using it abide by our regulations to avoid damaging the land.

[-Joseph-H-]

In my opinion, The Danube river gives access to the sea for land locked nations that would otherwise have no sea access at all, The Turkish straights give black sea bordering nations an access to the worlds shipping and trade, There for it makes sense for it to be international, How ever in Canadas situation I believe it is their territorial waters because all countries that want to use the route, simply want to use it for speed and efficiency, not because they have no other choice, They allready have the Panama canal, So I believe if they want a faster route, They should have to pay Canada to use it, Or get over the fact they might not be allowed.

[eldonbageant]

It seems to me short-sighted on United States to insist that these are international waters. Wouldn't it be wiser to insist that the route is indeed within Canadian borders, and that Russia and other less-friendly nations can only use the passage at Canada's pleasure. That Canada is concerned with maintaining the ecology is in everyone's interest. Surely we can negotiate terms of passage that is amicable to Canada.

[cementi]

What amuses me about the US's stance is it would be completely flipped if it was on their border.

[XCHDragox]

As someone who lives in Nunavut this was an interesting watch - rarely do YouTubers cover the high arctic

[IMGreg..]

How the hell can the US claim that waters clearly within the Canadian borders are international?

[Tantraloverful]

The most laughable sentence is 'But the United States is determined to protect the fredom of navigation', while it should be read 'But the Oil Oligarchy is determined to gain the profits, and by any means'.

[asvo]

I believe in a Canada who is sovereign on its waters!!! 🇨🇦

[johnstewartrichards]

I remember the sailing of this tanker. It was filled with water as a mock load of Oil. The ship had a double hull to protect from Ice. What was hidden as top secret info was that the hull was damaged by ice and the Oil would have leaked out.

[jschap]

One of the reasons why Canada and Denmark recently resolved their conflict over Hans Island (establishing a land border between the two countries) was so the northern countries surrounding the Arctic could take a united approach to the laws over who had jurisdiction of which northern waters, with their increasing importance to shipping. It is not a coincidence that this occurrred after Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine because it became clear they had to ensure a united legal response to Russian territorial claims. It will prevent Russia from having any claim over either the northeast or northwest passages, and the transpolar route would remain international. It would give Russia some control over the northern sea route, but Russia would have to compromise with other countries to have any northern access to the Atlantic without having to take a more difficult transpolar route, so that is an important bargaining chip. The northern sea route otherwise only facilitates shipping from one part of Russia to another. It is absolutely farcical that the US would claim waters within Canadian borders (i.e. between huge chains of island indisputably Canadian land), that Canada has consistently laid claim to, as being "international".

[craven]

One of the reasons why the Canadian governement pushed so hard to find the Franklin shipwrecks from the 1845 expedition ( the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus) was so that this would strenghten our claim to the arctic / passage.

Canada inherited Great Britain’s historical claims to Arctic waters, and a 1997 agreement between Canada and Britain secure Canadian ownership of the ships, with separate provisions for the artefacts and gold that might be found on them. The rediscovery of the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus in 2016 demonstrated those historical claims to Arctic waters.

[agentm]

Canada is in the process of building icebreaker patrol ships which will be used to patrol the Arctic. We're also buying Reaper-style drones from the US, part of the intention with the drones is to use them for Arctic surveillance in the future.

[timtwoface]

Unless you go around the tip of Alert, NU then all of those are rightly considered Canada's internal waterways.

[incenius]

Relevant to this month's news about the Houthis attacking ships in the suez, and the Panama canal being too low to pass

[TonyBongo]

Canada says the route is internal waters, the Americans say it’s international waters, so I guess the waters are international. From a Canadian who knows the score. Recently it was reported by the Inuit that something was impacting sea life off the coast. A good guess would be submarines using acoustics to map the sea floor.

[gusbradley]

So, according to the US the Straight of Georgia between the BC mainland and Vancouver Island is international waters? What about the waters between Florida and the Keys?
I’m sorry, the NW passage is Canadian. The Straight of Georgia is Canadian. The Florida waters are the Property of the US.

[j.k.]

Arctic is a goldmine for resources along with new global shipping routes.

[RoboJules]

As a Canadian, I would like to see legal sovereignty over the waters, as I believe they belong to the Inuit people of the region. Unless the international community can guarantee the protection of the arctic environment and of the Inuit communities and their culture that is regarded as a national treasure, I feel much more comfortable regarding the Northwest Passage as Canadian Waters. I think a decent compromise would be first in the form of security agreements with the United States, the UK, NATO, and the EU. Any trade to be conducted in the region must do so within the umbrella of indigenous concerns and environmental law. Furthermore, the Inuit need to have a part in any infrastructure built in the region, from ports to pipelines, with a fair portion of proceeds going directly back into their communities. This is all under the assumption that trade is even possible in the region given the fragile environment - the constant hum of Maersk-class freighters is going to drive the Narwhals and Belugas mad.

[hardleecure]

going with the UN's definition that a county's economic zone is 100-200 km from the coast, all of that is canada.

[AGrace-twku]

The fact that we get free videos on YouTube by Hindsight is truly a gift: keeping the education and knowledge alive. 👏👏👏