A Historical and Legal Study of Sovereignty in the Canadian North

Terrestrial Sovereignty, 1870-1939

By Gordon W. Smith
Edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer
Foreword by Tom and Nell Smith
Categories: Regional & Cultural Studies, Northern & Polar Studies, Law & Legal Studies
Series: Northern Lights
Publisher: University of Calgary Press
Paperback : 9781552387207, 512 pages, November 2014
Ebook (PDF) : 9781552387757, 512 pages, November 2014
Ebook (EPUB) : 9781552387764, 512 pages, November 2014
Ebook (Kindle) : 9781552387771, 512 pages, November 2014
View Table of Contents

Table of contents

 

Foreword
Tom and Nell Smith
Editor’s Note
P. Whitney Lackenbaue

Introduction: Territorial Sovereignty Before 1879
1. The Transfers of Arctic Territories form Great Britain to Canada
2. Period of Relative Inactivity and Unconcern, 1870–80
3. Organization and Administration of the NWT, 1894–1918
4. Whaling and the Yukon Gold Rush
5. The Alaska Boundary Dispute
6. Foreign Explorers in the Canadian North, 1877–1917
7. Canadian Government Expeditions to Northern Waters, 1897–1918
8. The Sector Principle and the Background of Canada’s Sector Claim
9. Vilhjalmur Stefannson and His Plans for Northern Enterprise after the First World War
10. Danish Sovereignty, Greenland, and the Ellesmere Island Affair of 1919–21
11. The Wrangel Island Affair of the Early 1920s
12. The Question of Sovereignty over the Sverdrup Islands, 1925–30
13. The Easter Greenland Case and Its Implications for the Canadian North
14. American Explorers in the Canadian Arctic and Related Matters, 1918–39
15. The Eastern Arctic Patrol, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Other Government Activities, 1922–39
16. Epilogue: Henry Larsen, the St. Rock, and the Northwest Passage Voyage of 1940–42

Notes
Bibliography
Additional Readings
Index

Description

 

Gordon W. Smith, PhD, dedicated much of his life to researching Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic. His 1952 dissertation from Columbia University on “The Historical and Legal Background of Canada’s Arctic Claims” remains a foundational work on the topic, as does his 1966 chapter "Sovereignty in the North: The Canadian Aspect of an International Problem" in R. St. J. Macdonald’s The Arctic Frontier.

A Historical and Legal Study of Sovereignty in the Canadian North is the first in a project to edit and publish Smith’s unpublished opus—a manuscript on sovereignty and related Law of the Sea issues. Researched and written over three decades, this comprehensive and thoroughly documented study offers important insights into evolving understandings of Canada’s sovereignty from the original transfers of the northern territories to the young dominion through the start of the Second World War. With Arctic issues once again at the forefront of public debate, this invaluable resource—available to researchers outside of government for the first time—explains how Canada laid the historical and legal foundations to support its longstanding, well–established sovereignty over Arctic lands.

Awards

  • Winner, NASOH John Lyman Book Award for Canadian Naval and Maritime History 2014
  • Winner, Canadian Nautical Research Society Keith Matthews Award 2015
  • Winner, BPAA Alberta Book Publishing Award for Scholarly and Academic Book 2015

Reviews

 

I strongly recommend this present volume to all Canadians and others interested in issues of Canadian Sovereignty in the Arctic

—Colonel (Ret'd) Brian K. Wntzell, Canadian Naval Review

 

One of the most comprehensive and detailed histories of Canada’s Arctic sovereignty.

—Adam Lajeunesse, Canadian Journal of History