02-10 The Northwest Passage

The Canadian North is all about politics. A warming, quirky climate. A development explosion. A cruise destination. And wonderful people.
It is made up of three Canadian Territories, The Yukon, The Northwest Territories and Nunavut. And during my visits to the capital cities of Whitehorse and Yellowknife back in the 1970s and 1980s, the issue was not the climate but the cost of food.
Spending a day with one of the District Managers of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, I had a chance to meet some of our members. One chap asked us about our next call, and when he studied the location, he said that was a two-hour drive. So, he flew us there in his own plane.
And, what they call the Northwest Passage is a route through islands that make up the Canadian archipelago. It is open during the summer months, but as the climate warms, the passage has the potential of becoming a major trade route.
The thorniest issue is about ownership and sovereignty. Back in 1986 when President Reagan visited Canada, talks were underway to develop a free trade agreement between the two nations. I was a member of the Free Trade Task Force and met President Reagan at a state dinner.
The stumbling block at the time was the issue of the Northwest Passage. Prime Minister Mulroney insisted that the passage was a matter of Canadian sovereignty and President Reagan called it an international waterway.
What resulted, besides a Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, was an Arctic Cooperative Agreement both signed in 1988. In terms of the Northwest Passage, the US agreed to ask Canada’s permission before entering. It was just an agreement between friends.
A new Canada-US agreement will be made to open the Northwest Passage as the climate warms, and 12-month trade is made possible with proper ice breakers and ports in place. Just like what Russia and China are doing together to open the Northeast Passage around Russia.
But it will take a Canadian PM and a US President who share similar goals and philosophy about the north and climate change.
I love some of the history of the Northwest Passage, and the Nordic explorer, Roald Amundsen who was the first to cross it in 1913. Canada has an ice breaker that bears his name.
He was also the first to make it to the South Pole, and I was able to go through his ship at the FRAM museum in Oslo.
I learned something visiting that museum. Apparently, if you ever have the urge to visit the South Pole, the trick is to use dogs, which you can eat in an emergency.