Historian Charlotte Gray has published a review of two new books on the search for the Northwest Passage.  Gray was the 2003 Recipient of the Pierre Berton Award for distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history. She chairs the National History Society, and is a member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

In June of 2010 Charlie Hunter will lead a two and a half month expedition to kayak Canada’s North West Passage. We spent an afternoon with David Thom and Charlie Hunter as they test their training kayak at Calshot Spit in the Solent.

The Inukshuk Expedition is set to leave in June 2010.

Ever wonder what our Tour Directors are up to when they are not out on the road?

Danny, Tour Director of Community Service Hawaii this previous summer as well as Tour Director of Community Service Costa Rica in 2008, Director of CS CIT trip 2007-2009, Tour Director of the Northwest Passage in 2007, and leader of the Canadian Mountain Magic in 2006 and California Extreme in 2005  just completed  an Ironman Triathlon in Phoenix.

Talk about a great workout - a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26 mile run.

After crossing the finish line, Company Director Mark (who was there cheering on his wife who also completed the Ironman) was there to great Danny and capture the moment.

Happy Monday!

The Westcoast Blogger

On June 17, 2009, Emmy award-winning filmmaker Sprague Theobald, 58, left Rhode Island on a 57-foot Nordhavn powerboat with a crew of four to document a maritime expedition through the Arctic’s storied Northwest Passage. Once impenetrable, the ice-covered seafaring route became fully navigable for the first time in 2007 when the sea ice dramatically retreated. In 2008, the passage was also clear, and in 2009, Theobald embarked to make a film showcasing the stark wilderness. Able sailors and divers, the crew had never before braved the Arctic. They encountered significantly more ice than expected, but five months, many polar bears and one perilous ice trap later, they emerged safely in Seattle on November 5, 2009, with 250 hours of high-definition footage. This winter, Theobald will distill his material into a full-length documentary. Theobald sat down with us and reflected on his journey.

The Northwest Passage. Sprague Theobald's trip originated in Rhode Island and ended in Seattle five months later.

Polar Field Services: When did you first get the idea for this project?

Sprague Theobald: Years and years and years ago. I was very inquisitive as a kid and when I learned about the Northwest Passage in school, the first thing they said was that man can’t go through it. I hate the word “can’t.” Since then the passage has intrigued me, in part because I knew as I was growing up that if no one was up there going through it, no one had yet left their footprints. 

No footprints here. Theobald and crew make tracks in the Northwest Passage. Photo: Northwest Passage Film

What was your intention/mission when you set out from Rhode Island?

Apart from simply documenting this great expedition, I wanted to show daily shipboard life of a family. But once we got to Greenland and saw the ice and got away from humanity, I saw that nature is so much bigger than any story we could tell from the boat.

What interaction did you have with native communities?

I was hoping to show the life in the communities we went to, but it was very hard to depict daily life. I was also thinking about doing more on the environment and climate change specifically, but then I thought the pictures spoke for themselves.

Would it have enhanced your experience to discuss climate change more and interview more experts?

Well, we interviewed two elders, hunters and two young geologists. Their anecdotal information differed. The elders both said the winters are getting longer and the ice is getting thicker, and the geologists said the ice was changing, seeing more run off. I didn’t want to make a climate change documentary. I wanted to show the pristine place in its rawness.

We do have footage talking about the potential impacts of oil and gas, and prospecting for diamonds and gold and nickel underground.

Were you already a fan of the Arctic or polar places?

Other than a scouting trip in 2008, I had never been there before. But the passage had such a legacy of expeditions trying and, if they made it back, saying it’s hell. My sense of adventure goes deep, and when someone says, “you can’t go there,” I think, “Why not?” 

The view from the boat—for five months. Photo: Northwest Passage Film

What were your first impressions as you reached the Arctic by boat?

It was much different than I expected. I knew it would be isolated and desolate, but it was like the backside of the moon. There was no plant life; we went two months without seeing another boat or another person, and every time anyone went ashore onto the ice, two of us had to go together and we had to have guns.

Describe the environment.

The midnight sun was ethereal with a bluish cast to it. Human faces don’t look pink and healthy—they look blue and gaunt. It is really powerful. The wildlife was stunning.

Describe a typical day.

You wake up four different times and are always busy. You stand watch, are briefed as to what is going on, check the engine room, download the ice charts, weather charts, keep your eyes open for anything—a rogue piece of ice or whales getting ready to jump

What was typical progress and how much fuel did you use?

A good day would be 200 miles and we’d travel between 7.5 and 8 knots. The tank holds 2,200 gallons of fuel and we used a little less than 8,000 gallons, total. We got fuel in Greenland, and topped off the tank in Nome and in Sitka, and that lasted us to Seattle.

What were some of the more interesting shots you filmed?

It was all really stunning. And the underwater footage is incredible. Everyone has seen life above the ice. Seeing the hull of the boat coming through the ice is amazing.

You were stuck on the ice for several days. What happened?

That was horrific. Our options dwindled very slowly and inexorably. We had been anchored off of a small island downloading the ice charts, and saw a lead open in the ice. The next chart came down, and the lead was even bigger, so we went for it. We were halfway in it, when we saw a white wall coming toward us. The wind doesn’t drive the ice, the currents do, and the currents had changed.

On the first day we were trapped, in 18 hours we moved 17 miles. The next day we made two miles in five hours. I went to bed thinking the next thing I was going to hear was the crunch of the ice decimating the boat. But four hours later I woke up, and we were seven miles off the coast, had a small lead, and we pushed and pushed and began to work our way out of it. 

Icebergs show up on the radar. Theobald and crew were trapped in the ice when changing currents closed leads (openings in the ice) that previously looked open. Photo: Northwest Passage Film

What were the potential consequences of being trapped?

We couldn’t move. It was the first time in my life I had ever been without an option. We felt hopeless. We were trapped, caught, not moving. In the worst-case scenario, we would have had to abandon the ship and make our way to the closest civilization over ice.

Did you film during this crisis?

With great precaution we went out onto the ice and got some magnificent footage of the boat trapped. We also dove under the boat and locked in some great shots.

What was the most dangerous aspect of being trapped?

The ice felt like an avalanche in very slow motion, the compasses were all deviating because we were so far north, so we had to rely on GPS to navigate. We dropped anchor on the ice floe, and so we would move with the ice, but the current changed yet again and at one point, instead of being a mile and a half off shore, we were a quarter mile off shore. We were either going to wreck on the rocks or on the ice.

How did you get out of the situation?

Luck. The current changed again, and then we saw a small opening and we went for it as aggressively as we could. When we were finally liberated, there weren’t whoops of joy or loud yahoos. Everyone was so depleted.

You said you have an interest and eagerness to support or inspire the educational/scientific communities with your footage and experiences. What are some ways you envision doing that?

The goal for any documentary is for someone to sit there at the end and say, “I never knew that.” I want to open their eyes a little bit, and if I can develop partnerships with any scientists or educational outlets to use some of my footage to accomplish that, then that would be good.

When will we see the documentary?

It will take about three months to log all the footage, and by the beginning of the summer we’ll have a good rough cut. A lot of people have expressed an interest in seeing the footage, so right now I am working on creating a good five-minute teaser.

Much of your crew was related to you.

Yep, it didn’t start off as a family trip, but my crew included my stepdaughter, Dominique Tanton, 28, and stepson, Chaunce Tanton, 32, and their half brother and my son Sefton Theobald, 22.

This expedition pulled the family back together in a way that was totally unexpected.

When did you decide to make this expedition a reality?

In 2007. I was out to dinner with friends in New York and was asked if there was a trip I hadn’t yet done as a filmmaker, and the words “Northwest Passage” flew out of my mouth and were there on the table. And it was realistic, particularly with the ice opening up that summer. I had a boat, I had crew people in mind, and—this was before the economy fell apart—I had potential sponsors lined up to underwrite it.

Who were your sponsors?

Nordhavn, the boat manufacturer (and I owned a Nordhavn) signed on right away. But last September (2008) the economy began to crumble and they and my other sponsors had to pull out. I completely understood. They didn’t have the money.

How did you pay for the expedition, and what was your budget?

I used the proceeds from the sale of my home several years earlier. It was completely self-funded and cost me about $300,000.

What are your final thoughts on the expedition?

It was an astounding trip. I hope that whatever happens in the future with the Northwest Passage, we all use our brains about it. It truly is one of the last wild adventures.

Documentary Filmmaker Completes Northwest Passage Trip

 

The M/V Bagan cruises past icebergs as she makes her way through The Storied Northwest Passage. Documentarian Sprague Theobald and Hole in the Wall Productions will bring us stories from their 5-month cruise. Photo: © HITW Productions; http://northwestpassagefilm.com

Filmmaker Sprague Theobald completed a trip through the Northwest Passage, arriving in Ketchikan, AK, Oct. 27 on a 57-foot Nordhavn power boat, reports the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. Theobald and his crew, which included was his son, Sefton Theobald; master diver Greg Deascentis; and cameraman Ulli Bonnekamp, among others, departed Newport, R. I., on June 16. During the journey, the team was hit by an ice floe that trapped their boat in the ice for days. “It was worth the risk, but I would not do it again,” Theobold told Yachting Magazine. “We have yet to talk publicly about the more terrifying moments of the trip.” During the voyage, he interviewed Inuit elders, other sailors attempting the passage, politicians, and conservationists as he collected material for a full-length documentary, Braving the Northwest Passage, forthcoming. Learn more about the adventure at his blog.

Emmy-winning filmmaker Sprague Theobald eyes sea ice from the bow of the Began. Photo: © HITW Productions (http://northwestpassagefilm.com). To visit the Web site, click on the picture.

The Associated Press reports that strict commercial fishing limits in the Arctic will go into effect Dec. 3, following a push from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a plan to regulate commercial fishing in the Arctic in the wake of melting sea ice. The restrictions prohibit industrial fishing in nearly 200,000 square miles of U.S. waters in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

Much Arctic Warming Linked To Sea Ice, Cloud Cover Changes

A study published in the Nov., 2009, issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters asserts that much of the dramatic change documented in the Arctic over the past 20 years correlates with changes in sea ice concentration and cloud cover. Lead author Yinghui Liu (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin) writes that sea ice loss in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in the fall account for significant surface warming. Specifically, the researchers analyze the influence of trends in sea ice concentration and cloud cover on surface temperature in the Arctic from 1982 to 2004. They find that sea ice concentration and cloud cover play a large role in observed temperature trends. For instance, their analysis shows that surface warming associated with sea ice accounts for more than 0.9 degrees Celsius (1.62 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade of the observed 1.1 degrees Celsius (about 2 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade warming trend in autumn. In addition, in winter, cloud cover changes explain 0.91 degrees Celsius (1.64 degrees Fahrenheit) of the 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.16 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade surface temperature cooling, and in spring, 0.55 degrees Celsius (0.99 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade of the total 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degree Fahrenheit) per decade warming is attributable to cloud cover. The authors note that their model provides insight into the causes of recent temperature trends and could be extended to study the influences of other parameters such as sea ice thickness.

Study Links Climate Change to California Drought

U.S. News & World Report publishes a story that the centuries-long droughts experienced by the state of California over the past 20,000 years coincided with thawing Arctic Ice Caps. The research, published online in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters  by UC Davis doctoral student Jessica Oster and geology professor Isabel Montanez, present evidence from analysis of stalagmites from Moaning Cavern and Black Chasm in the central Sierra Nevada. The authors compared climate records from Greenland with the climate records from the stalagmites. At the end of the last ice age about 15,000 years ago, California became much drier. When Arctic records indicate a cooling period about 13,000 years ago, the data show California experienced wetter weather. The scientists don’t offer an explanation for the relationship between Arctic temperatures and California’s precipitation. But the article says that climate models developed by others suggest that “When Arctic sea ice disappears, the jet stream—high-altitude winds with a profound influence on climate—shifts north, moving precipitation away from California.”

The Copenhagen Climate Conference is less than a month away (December 6 – 18).

Mount Rainier is an active volcano, encased in over 35 square miles of glacial snow and ice. Participants on the Northwest Passage hike in this National Park to a rushing waterfall and even have the opportunity to throw  snowballs in the summer atop Glacier Point Paradise Trail. The Northwestern Odyssey and American Voyageur marvel at this beauty during their exciting stay in Seattle.

Last week, Mount Rainier put on a little bit of a show.

The weather out west has been a little bit dry over the past few days. However, last week, if you happened to look at the mountain, you would have seen some FANTASTIC clouds (and the start of some stormy weather).

Those are called “lenticular clouds” They are formed under perfect conditions, when the air flows over Mount Rainier and gets pushed upward where it cools and condenses into clouds. Depending on how smooth the flow is, you can get some amazing clouds formations (as seen in the picture below).

All of this is usually a sign of rain within 24 hours because typically, the moist flow that precedes a storm around here is the perfect setup for these clouds.

Isn’t that cool? I think so …

The Westcoast Blogger

[via BBC]

The Arctic Ocean could be largely ice-free and open to shipping during the summer in as little as ten years’ time, a top polar specialist has said.

Now the alarmists are quoting 2020 as a time where polar ice caps would be gone in the summer months, raising sea levels and opening up the Northwest passage to more political bullying in the name of progress.  Denmark, Russia, Canada, the list goes on.

I feel we’re almost over-saturated with climate change news, predictions, and apocalypse.  Hard to know how serious the issue actually is, how accurate the predictions are, and what we can do (as well as our public officials).  This new 10 year mark makes people perk up and think.  Not to mention, the growing number of communities that are being forced to move due to climate change.   Omens beg for a beginning like this.  So, coal?  Tar sands?  Go to the article for more a short clip and some info.

    Before I left on a 2,000-mile roundtrip motorcycle ride, the big news and, at the same time, the big worry was that road construction crews were really going to disrupt traffic in Northwest Lubbock between Fourth Street and Quaker Avenue as they build overpasses and turnarounds on Loop 289 and extend surface roads through what was a huge cotton patch only two years ago.

    City officials had been talking about a so-called “Northwest Passage” since Marc McDougal was mayor (two mayors ago). Unfortunately, during David Miller’s tumultuous tenure, little, if anything, visible was done on the project.

Now that Tom Martin has been the mayor for almost a year and a half, the “Tara House” has been moved and a new, wider Slide Road from Fourth Street to the Loop has been almost completed. Additionally, Slide Road on the north side of the Loop toward Erskine appears to be nearly finished.

During the past month, TxDOT crews have been building new entrances and exits to the Loop in anticipation of the beginning of the overpass work. Last week, while I was gone, TxDOT detoured traffic off the Loop overpass at Fourth Street, took the lights out at Fourth and the Loop and built a detour “U-turn” east of Fourth to allow westbound traffic to reach the west side of the Loop.

I know it sounds confusing. When I read about the project in the newspaper and watched reporters on television try to explain how the traffic was going to be diverted, I simply scratched my head. It was mind-boggling to think about.

Now though, as I see the project unfold, I take my hat off to the folks who designed it. Because our home is only a block away from the Loop, I frequently traveled the access road from the Frankford exit to Vale Avenue to get to our home. With the new exit near Fourth, that will end now. True, we are going to have to hassle with the U-turn that is right by the entrance to Vale, but it’s a small price to pay.

I was expecting a nightmare, but instead came home to a well thought out plan that is only a minor inconvenience. Sure, I’ll be cussing the project many times during the expected 15 months engineers say it will take before streets return to normal over here, but it will be exciting to see what occurs outside the Loop on Slide Road.

Opening that huge cotton patch to development will enhance our school district, our city and our county tax bases and will bring new businesses to Northwest Lubbock. When completed, I envision a large retail center, supermarket and restaurants—even more.

Thanks a million to those envisioned and worked on it. A special thanks goes to Tom Martin and unknown others who finally kick started the project.

The idea of celebrating today, September 30, as International Blasphemy Day seems to be gaining traction in some circles. The date commemorates the publication in a Danish newspaper, back in 2005, of some cartoons that were supposedly insulting to the Prophet Muhammed. The uproar this caused in the Islamic world was alarming to advocates of free thought and free speech, as was the squeamish reluctance of media outlets in the West to reprint the images so that people could see what all the fuss was about. Hence the need for Blasphemy Day, intended to challenge the “dangerous misconception… that all religious beliefs and ideas deserve respect and are beyond criticism and satire”. This misconception remains a problem in Canada, to put it mildly.

Photo taken from 'bors blog.'

Rather than posting silly pictures of Muhammed, Jesus Christ or the Buddha, I thought I would celebrate Blasphemy Day by engaging in what may be the most blasphemous activity of all – thinking seriously and honestly about religious ideas and their implications. This might seem like a bit of a stretch for a blog that’s supposed to be about Canadian foreign policy, but I don’t think anyone has ever claimed that the gods have Canadian passports. When you pray to a deity, you attempt to enter into your own private dialogue with a power that is every bit as external to Canada as Russia or Japan or the United States.

A deity that demanded public propitiation and sacrifice, then, would be a bit like a foreign country demanding free access to the northwest passage, or else. Canadians would have to balance the cost and bother of the sacrifical ceremonies against the risk of enraging the deity, and decide what level of compliance with the divine commandments was appropriate. If there was a real risk that our cities might be blasted with divine fire if the sacred rites were not performed, surely any responsible government would consider stepping in to make sure the rites were duly carried out. The separation of church and state only works if you have a reasonable sort of deity, not given to sort of brutal collective punishments that are repeatedly documented in the Old Testament.

In Canada, however, I don’t think anyone seriously argues that we need to adopt a state religion in order to avert divine wrath. If we were going to get blasted for our heathenish ways, it probably would have happened a long time ago. We take it for granted that religion is a private matter, and that any punishments meted out to infidels will be either postponed until the individual passes into the next world or inflicted so subtly as to be indistinguishable from simple bad luck. This leaves members of the public free to take their own chances with the gods, worshipping or not under the assumption that any direct consequences will be limited to the person concerned.

A political leader with religious beliefs is in a slightly more ticklish position, however. Stephen Harper highlighted the problem when he recently said that he was more concerned about “God’s verdict” (presumably he was referring to Yahweh) than the verdict of historians. Where Canadian voters fit into this scheme is a matter of some public concern. In Harper’s mind, voters could be:

(a)    Even more important than Yahweh;

(b)   Less important than Yahweh, but more important than historians; or

(c)    Even less important than historians.

Options (b) and (c) are both potentially problematic. After all, they would imply that Harper is more concerned with the will of a distant entity, whose motivations are rather murky and whose very existence is (to say the least) open to question, than with the needs of the Canadian people. The core of the problem is that we really have very little idea of what Harper thinks he needs to do in order to get Yahweh to render a positive verdict. If Yahweh just wants him to be prudent and honest, fair enough. If Yahweh wants him to ensure that man does not lie with man, and that we all honour the sabbath day and keep it holy, then not so much.

This is not to say, even on Blasphemy Day, that no religious person should ever be allowed to become Prime Minister. However, I would argue that religious convictions should be fair game for public discussion, and that politicians who refuse to divulge their beliefs should be viewed with a certain suspicion. If the Prime Minister really feels beholden to some notional gitche manitou, the Canadian public need to know how the demands of the gitche manitou will influence his behaviour in office. And if he says “not at all”, the gitche manitou must be a very indifferent or amorphous thing indeed – an entity hardly worth bothering with.

Corwin

Finally!  At long last, the long awaited videos of Devin King performing his response to the North Georgia Gazette at The Whistler bar on Milwaukee Avenue.  September 3, 2009.

The North Georgia Gazette, a republication of a series of newspapers written onboard a ship landlocked in the Arctic Circle in search of the Northwest Passage at the beginning of the 19th Century, was released from The Green Lantern Press on September 3, 2009.  It will be available for purchase… someday soon…?

- Posted by Lily Robert-Foley

Do Two Marine Time Capsules Await Searchers in the Canadian Arctic?

Where are the lost ships of Sir John Franklin’s doomed expedition — the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus? 

Some refer to them as the “Holy Grail” of marine archaeology.  And, as temperatures rise and melting arctic ice raises hopes their locations will finally be revealed, there’s a race on to find them between public and private concerns.    

For those unacquainted with the story, the Franklin Expedition set sail from England in 1845 in search of the Northwest Passage, a route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean along the northern coast of North America. 

By September, 1846, the ships had become trapped in ice off King William Island and were finally abandoned by their crews in April, 1848. 

Eventually the whole of both crews — 128 men in all — would perish, most probably from starvation, though not before resorting to cannibalism; other factors in their demise may have been scurvy and lead poisoning.  According to a message left behind and discovered by a search party in a cairn in 1859, Franklin himself had died in June, 1847.

Beginning as early as 1848, there have been many searches for clues to the fate of the Franklin Expedition, though modern-day scientific efforts to unravel the mystery did not really begin until much later.  Many traces — bones, equipment, food containers, even the well-preserved mummies of some of the crew — have been located — but not the ships.  

More recent searches have focused on attempting to find the ships, and a 2008 effort led by Robert Greiner of Parks Canada drew heavily upon native Inuit testimony/traditions about the expedition.

The very latest attempt, apparently being planned by a private concern led by Rob Rondeau of ProCom Diving Services and still not off the ground, has run afoul of the Canadian government and Parks Canada for its failure to consult with local authorities.        

Officials are concerned that the wrecks be properly protected if and when they are found — a prospect made more likely by global warming and the melting ice.  As Canadian Environment Minister John Baird stated last year before Greiner’s search began, “[W]e want to find it before Hollywood.”     

If you’d like to read more, Greensboro Public Library has several books on Sir John Franklin and the lost expedition, including:  Ice Blink:  The Tragic Fate of Sir John Franklin’s Lost Polar Expedition by Scott Cookman; Journey Into Ice:  John Franklin and the Northwest Passage by Ann and Myron Sutton; and Buried In Ice by Owen Beattie and John Geiger with Shelley Tanaka (juvenile).

We also have more general works on the quest for the Northwest Passage, which will include information on the Franklin Expedition, including:  Across the Top of the World:  The Quest for the Northwest Passage by James P. Delgado; Ordeal by Ice:  The Search for the Northwest Passage, edited by Farley Mowat; and The Arctic Grail:  The Quest for the North West Passage and the North Pole, 1818-1909 by Pierre Berton.

Shipping is really not my area of expertise, but while I’m on the topic I’m not sure if you noticed a small article in the Straits Times this week about the opening of the Arctic route in the Northwest Passage. It wasn’t given major play. I’m not sure we were supposed to notice it.

The passage goes across northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland and it’s the most direct route between Europe and Asia.

For a long time this has been iced over, but global warming has done its thing and last week two Russian ships (actually, I think they were submarines) passed through. It looks like the passage is now likely to stay open, and there’s currently a bit of a U.N. bunfight about territory and ownership.

The reason I mention it is that for eons Singapore has benefited from the blockage. Ships have had to choose the Panama Canal (Pacific Ocean) or the Suez Canal and Straits of Malacca (Southeast Asia and us). Both are longer than anyone really wants them to be. A shipment from Japan to the Netherlands, for example, could choose a route that took 29 days or 22 days. The Arctic route would take them 15 days.

It’s pretty disastrous news for Singapore, which is one of the biggest ports in the world and has all kinds of incentives in place to make it an international shipping hub.

But shipping is a major polluter and probably one of the big contributors to this melt in the first place, so it’s great news for the environment.

pic by creativespark

PRIME MINISTER Stephen Harper is in Canada’s Far North this week, an annual tour/photo-op during which the PM talks about the need to protect the vast, barren Arctic territory by beefing up our military presence there.

The PM observing Nanook military exercises

The Conservative government recently unveiled its new Arctic Strategy, a large part of which focuses on “putting more boots on the Arctic tundra, more ships in the icy water and a better eye-in-the-sky.”

Before the global economy imploded, the Canadian government had plans to buy a heavy icebreaker (sounds like a fat person who’s good at small talk), construct a deep-sea port in the high Arctic and install sensors along the ocean floor to monitor Russian and American nuclear subs zipping around overhead.

These plans have been put on ice, if you will, while the Great Recession runs its course. Harper’s thinking about the Arctic remains the same, however: use it or lose it. “With immense natural wealth and the growing potential for new global trade routes, the strategic importance of Canada’s Arctic is heightened as never before,” the PM said this week.

Sure it's icy and barren, but this land is our land.

As the polar ice cap melts away, there are greater opportunities for oil and gas extraction and mining in Canada’s north. At the rate the ice cap is disappearing, it likely won’t be long before year-round shipping is possible through the Northwest Passage. The Yanks and Ruskies are among the countries licking their lips at the possibility of having a commercial route between Asia and Europe that’s 5,000 kilometres shorter than going through the Panama Canal.

The threat this might pose to our nation’s sovereignty in the Arctic is something Harper has been concerned with since coming to power in 2006. With this in mind, the prime minister headed north this week to observe an annual military exercise, Operation Nanook. A Canadian show of force  (oxymoron?), Nanook is designed to send a message to the U.S., Russia and any other nations who might be coveting Canada’s northern goods (hey Denmark, we’re watching you, too): This land is our land, bitches.

The GG digs in.

To bolster his Arctic cred, Harper mowed down on a meal of raw seal with his Inuit hosts. (Governor General Michaëlle Jean did the same thing a few months ago, sparking controversy with animal rights idiots who fail to understand the difference between clubbing one of these fuzzy-wuzzies on an ice floe off Newfoundland and eating them because you’re honouring the Inuit way of life.)

He is the walrus.

If the whole Arctic thing is mainly a PR stunt for the PM – a “tune-up for a fall election,” is how one reporter put it – it’s a pretty good one. After all, who doesn’t think Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic should be defended? Sure most Canadians know little to nothing about the vast northern reaches of our nation – I did study walruses in Grade 3, though – but we probably can all agree that our cold, barren tundra must not to be messed with.

All the same, I’m not sure who Harper thinks he’s kidding by flexing Canada’s “military muscle.”

As Don Martin observed in the National Post:

The problem with waving guns at imaginary targets, diving at pretend foreign submarines and fending off fake shipping incursions is that the only possible contenders for such a territorial violation would be the Russians and Americans, hardly countries we want to pick a fight against.

I’m not knocking our military – who have done us proud in Afghanistan – but Canada trying to flex on the big boys is tantamount to the dorky kid on the playground throwing punches at the bully while he keeps his hand on your forehead, holding you at arm’s length and snickering.

The Northwest Passage: Everyone wants in.

Some kind of Canadian military presence is certainly necessary in the Arctic. I’m just not convinced it will make much of a difference in heading off potential conflicts with countries like the U.S. and Russia who are eager to get at those continential shelf resources or use the Northwest Passage as if it’s an international shipping channel (which they argue it is.)

The only way Canada can expect to solve potential disputes over our Arctic sovereignty is, for better or worse, to do what we do best: talk it over, try to negotiate and sadly, inevitably, end up letting ourselves get walked over.

Either way, we’re going to lose the fight. Rather than making a big show of building up our military might in the Arctic, Harper should take those dollars and blow a big hole in our $50 billion federal deficit instead.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com