Arctic Sovereignty – Canadian Forces – Northern Presence – Baffin Island – August 2007 Canada Announces a New Deepwater Port at Nanisivik on NW Baffin Island and an Army Base at Resolute Bay — Key Points on the Northwest Passage Canadian Initiatives in the Race to Assert Sovereignty and Control over Northern Sea Lanes  Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces a new deepwater port and a northern army training base On 10 August 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the Canadian Forces would develop a new deepwater port at Nanisivik, on Baffin Island and a northern army training base at Resolute. Both of these bases are located at strategic points along the Northwest Passage. This is a sea lane that Canada claims as an interior waterway, but which other nations – the US, Japan, and the members of the EU – regard as an international sea route available for use by any sea-going nation. The economic implications of this dispute are obvious. Global warming has resulted in this water way becoming navigable for longer and longer periods each year. Instead of travelling through the Panama or Suez Canals, ships could travel along the edge of the Arctic Ocean. The time, cost, and distance of sailing from Europe to Asia would be significantly reduced. If Canada can make the case that the Northwest Passage is an internal waterway, all ships travelling this route would be required to pay transit fees similar to those paid for passage through Panama and Suez Canals – currently those fees fall into the range of $ 2 to 4 billion per year. Choice of Nanisivik based on existing facilities left over from lead and zinc mining operations 
Nanisivik was the site of a large mining operation with a huge dock for loading ore. The mining infrastructure (including the ore sheds, visible at left, loading belts, gantry, etc.) has now been
removed as part of site clean-up. [1] This leaves DND with a "blank canvas" in Nanisivik, as it were. A small town site had been prepared for mine workers during operations. Now, the old worker
housing, cafeteria, and community centre are also gone. What the federal government inherits in Nanisivik is an existing deep-water port with an airfield.Nanisivik's Existing Terminal and Iqaluit's Planned Port Compared — How Deep is Deep for Ports 
Iqaluit was seen as a leading contender for a new deep-water port. Critics noted that the Nunavut capital is not directly on the Northwest Passage. True but Nanisivik has another advantage. A
ship tied up at the Nanisivik dock has 50 feet [20 m] of water portside. The planned port at Iqaluit could only match this depth by dredging the surrounding mudflats. As a military base,
Nanisivik does not need to be close to a major population centre but it does benefit from existing infrastructure – potable water lines running in utilidors, large fuel storage tanks
(visible at right), etc. Despite the closure of the mine, these systems remain in use today – replenishing icebreakers, the vital "sealift" (coastal re-supply) ships, and ice-hardened
cruiseliners.Supplying Naval Operations in the High Arctic – Logistical Difficulties and a New Pressure on Locals Existing facilities at Nanisivik will be able to refuel and reprovision the planned CF fleet of 6-to-8 Arctic/ Offshore Patrol Ships (A/OPS) intended for this new base. And the current experience shows that there will be no insurmountable technical hurdles faced with shipping fuel or other supplies to Nanisivik. How the supplies will be sent north is another matter. Northern communities rely on semi-annual "sealifts" of fuel and goods (everything else must be brought in by air ). The Canadian Forces will be competing for space on these re-supply ships and tankers. Such a large government contract will be welcomed by the shipping companies. The short-term losers will be Northern communities who rely on the "sealifts". This will make the North a less appealing place to live for civilians which, in turn, will damage Canadian claims in the Arctic. Inadvertently, a Naval presence may actually weaken those claims it was meant to bolster. 
Like the locals, one alternative for the military is to fly in its supplies. Just inland from Nanisivik dock is a gravel airstrip (YSR / CYSR). This runway is 6400 feet (1950 m) and is currently
used by smaller airliners. The airfield is long enough to accommodate the new CC-177 strategic transport aircraft. However, the existing gravel runway won't support a fully-loaded CC-177. This puts
DND in the position of either paying to strengthen the runway of this civilian airfield, or operating partially loaded airlifters on their 4000 mile (6460 km) return flight from Trenton in the
south. Other options are equally unappealing. One would be to stage through the paved runway at Iqaluit allowing the CC-177s to fly in and out of Nanisivik with minimal fuel. [2] Another option
would be to use the older CC-130 Hercules.Despite the difficulties, Nanisivik offers multiple advantages. The dock and other facilities already exist. Nanisivik is fairly close to Resolute Bay, the location of the CF's planned Arctic Warfare training base. And Nanisivik is on Strathcona Sound which leads directly onto the Northwest Passage. As Clare Kines said in his article, Of Ships and Sovereignty, "...Nanisivik is the smart choice if you're needing a base for Arctic Patrol vessels. The only problem is the new scheme... is the wrong approach to sovereignty". The real answer, Mr. Kines says, lies in the people of the North – living on the land establishes sovereignty far more dramatically than a modest military presence. Were the government to "make the Arctic a better place to live", Canadian sovereignty in the North would be assured. The lessons learned from the Danes in Greenland is that sovereignty is as much about inhabiting the North as it is about defending the North. It would behoove the Federal Government to use any routine military flights required by the Department of National Defence to also be seen as an opportunity to sustain those civilian communities that already exist in the Canadian Arctic. [1] Mining operations began in 1975 under CanZinco, a subsidiary of Breakwater Resources. The site clean up was done by Wolfden. Mining equipment dismantled at Nanisivik was to be transported further south to Wolfden's High Lake mining operation. The Nanisivik dock has not been affected. For an excellent photo tour of Nanisivik (taken by Vincent K. Chan in June 2005), see Arctic Circle. [2] This may seem to be an awkward compromise, but flying distance from Iqaluit to Nanisivik is only 1,200 km (750 miles). Such a staged route would allow the CC-177 Globemaster IIIs to carry much less fuel, thereby reducing their overall weight and allowing a corresponding increase in the payload (cargo weight). Thus, even heavily loaded with supplies, at this much-reduced total weight, these new CF airlifters should cause minimal damage to the packed gravel airstrip near Nanisivik. CASR | Arctic Sovereignty Browse | Arctic Sovereignty Index | Arctic Empires Index |