who owns the arctic book review - scribd

8/7/2019 Who owns the arctic book review - scribd

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onger stretches of the year, control of shipping lanes as

well as mineral deposits can no longer be put on the ba

burner.

n Who Owns the Arctic? Michael Byers offers an

ntelligent, succinct appraisal of these emerging issues.

he past year, Canadians have been warned repeatedly

Russian aircraft making unwarranted incursions to our

Arctic airspace – as Byers points out, this is a somewhat

hyperbolized situation, as the Russian bombers neverconclusively entered Canadian airspace. Byers is clear t

point out that our sovereignty must, indeed, be protecte

n the Arctic, but that it is not Russian bombers that we

must worry about. The increased presence of Russian

aircraft, however, does indicate a greater interest in this

egion – and that should be our focus.

Byers makes it clear that, despite the rhetoric embraced

by some politicians, militaristic concerns are not well

ounded. Securing shipping lanes and formalizing

Canada’s claims to Arctic land and sea-based minerals a

much higher priorities. Byers tends towards environmenpolemics from time to time in this book – musing that a

esponsible government could ensure that oil and natur

gas deposits were not exploited, once ownership of said



policy framework for resource development must also ta

he Inuit into account. All of these emerging Arctic issue

n fact, provide the distinct possibility to build some

meaningful connections between the various Inuit

communities and the Canadian public at large.

Whether you agree with Byers’ environmental

assessments or not, Who Owns the Arctic provides a cle

appraisal of the real priorities in the Arctic. Though

traying away from objectivity in some instances, Byershas provided a clear blueprint for Canada can follow in t

Arctic.

who owns the arctic book review - scribd

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