Is Canada ready for the latest US twist in Arctic affairs? – The Globe and Mail
Aug. 10, 2015
John Higginbotham is a senior fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and head of the Arctic program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.
The United States has put a polar bear among the seals in Arctic diplomatic waters with its announcement that Secretary of State John Kerry will host an unprecedented foreign ministers’ conference on the Arctic at the end of the month. At the gathering in Anchorage, Alaska, President Barack Obama is expected to spell out his “American Arctic” vision.
This U.S. initiative raises some issues, as well as opportunities, for Canada. The first sensitivity for Canada is that the conference, with its global focus and attendees, is not sponsored by the Arctic Council, of which the United States is the current chair. The meeting leapfrogs the Arctic Council’s delicate regional governance architecture: eight Arctic member states, formal and empowered indigenous permanent participants, and a number of observer states.
