Canada is to stake its claims to parts of the Arctic through an increased military presence, Canadian media quoted Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as saying, DPA reported. Making the announcement as part of his "Arctic sovereignty tour," Harper spoke of converting state buildings in Canada's Resolute Bay into an Arctic military training centre, increasing the number of reservists in the region from 900 to 5,000. At the same time, Harper announced plans for a port and tanking station for ships in Nanisivik in the Nunavut province, at the eastern entrance of the North-West Passage, which due to the rising temperatures in the Arctic could at some point form a link between the Atlantic in the east and the Pacific in the west. Canada considers the North-West Passage internal waters and claims sovereignty over the waterway. This claim would be contested by other countries, including Russia and the United States. Harper's move follows Russian claims to the Arctic last week when a research submersible planted a Russian flag on the floor of the Arctic Ocean. Canadians have always considered themselves the "rightful guardians of the north," as expressed by the then foreign minister Joe Clark in 1985.
