The federal government is pledging to work with its American counterparts after the U.S. claimed parts of the Arctic sea floor that Canada also wants. In this July 16, 2017, file photo, Ice is broken up by the passing of the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sails through the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska in a July 16, 2017 file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/David Goldman
The federal government is pledging to work with its American counterparts after the U.S. claimed parts of the Arctic sea floor that Canada also wants.
The U.S. filed its claim last month with the United Nations agency that evaluates such requests.
As expected, it includes a large chunk of the Beaufort Sea floor that Canada also seeks to control.
A UN treaty gives countries rights over seabeds and their natural resources if they can prove their continental shelf extends past 200 nautical miles from their coast and is a natural extension of the continent.
Canada filed its claim in 2019, which overlaps with those of Russia and Denmark, as well as the U.S.
Although the U.S. has not signed the Convention of the Law of the Sea, it has pledged to work within it.
The UN doesn’t rule on boundaries, but evaluates the science behind each country’s claim and leaves it to them to negotiate a settlement.
