Heated Conflict over the Northwest Passage: Is Canada's Sovereignty Melting Away?

摘要

In short, this paper aimed to demonstrate that Canada is currently at a crossroads with respect to the NWP. If it is serious about the qualification of the passage as internal waters, we assert that Canada has to legalize the dispute, and quickly. Due to climate change and the melting of the ice in the Arctic, we believe that maintaining the status quo for any longer, or agreeing on a different qualification in a bilateral or multilateral agreement, would be an admission by Canada that it is not essential to the country's sovereignty that the NWP be part of its internal waters. While we do not take a stance on the political decision that Canada should make on that issue, we believe that it is crucial to understand the repercussions of not bringing its legal stance to a dispute resolution body. Canada's sovereignty is melting away and passivity will not do anything to cool down the situation.