CANADIAN SOVEREIGNTY IN THE ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000800210014-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: March 10, 1955
• Content Type: CABLE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/27: CIA-RDP08C01297R000800210014-8
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Canadian Sovereignty in the Arctic Archipelago.
SUMMAR/
By 1880, Great Britain had transferred to Canada all her territorial
claims in the Arctic above the mainland of Canada. These were based on
discovery by British explorers and partial occupation. Until 19039 when
Canada began efforts at effective occupation of the Arctic islands, her
claims in several areas were weak on account of Norwegian discoveries
and United States discoveries, exploration and occupation. From 1922 on-
ward, Canada attempted to maintain order in the area through the estab-
lishment of permanent Royal Canadian Mounted Police stations at several
points and RCMP patrols covering most of the islands. However, the
northern or Queen Elizabeth group still has almost no inhabitants except
the personnel of the five weather stations, Who are both United States
and Canadian citizens.
t9 S.7)-41
AA/ L_, a ? 5. S.'.
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,Although an official repapat9lkyl_aLthe Canadian Government in
1909 laid claim to all the territory within a Canadian sector up to ttle
North Pole, the Canadian Government did not officially adopt this view-
TERIl. 1925. In 1954, evidently reluctant to risk agy controversy with
the USSR, Canadian officials ceased referring to a Canadian sector, and
,eaay in 1955 stated that Canadian sovereignty went only as far north as
the northern tip of Ellesmere.
After World War 11, several Canadian officials indicated that
would claim jurisdiction of polar ice in the Canadian sector north of the 41
Arctic islands. But in statements in early 1955, the Canadians clearly' n
backed away from this position. Whether Canada intends to claim juris-
diction of the straits more than six:miles wide between the Arctic island
has not been made plain.
r9
_)
.
* * * * * * * *
British Title
Canada assumed sovereignty over the Arctic Archipelago by
British claims in the region to Canada during the last Irlf of
tury. Therefore, it is necessary first to examine the British
the transfer of
the nineteenth can-
claims, a1,1 of whichl
Jean R. TaraitoEbiw --=21Flattiff346E-4.
INFORMATION COPY
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Desp. No. 0).1. zna.
From Canain I bFFICIAL USE any I
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were based on discovery and partial occupation.
Discover/ of the Arctic Islands took place in the Seventeenth Cerotv,r during
the search for the Northwest-Passage, and again in the Nineteenth Cev.tur: during
a period of geographical curiosity and the desire to annex new areas,, rritish
explorers predominated, discovering and naming all the islands except *Bangle*
Islands and Axel Heiberg which were discovered by Norwegian n;Plorere vt* the end
of the 19th Century, For convenience in examining claims, the Archipeago is
divided into four groups:
Group I (Melville Peninsula and Baffin Island): First dtsooverefiby Frobisher
Britiah whaling stations were established On Cumberland Sound (l&tc)
and Pond Inlet (1860). The United States had two whaling stations on Cumber-
land Sound in 1859 but these were sold to Scottish interests in 1894. In
the last half of the 19th Century, United States interests extensiva, mined
graphite and mica on Baffin, and several expeditiona traveled in the area
searching for Sir John Franklin*
Group II (Banks Victoria, North Somerset, Prince of Wales and gine William):
e en 1825 eel 1854, British Government explorers were active in this groap,
taking formal possession at various points.
Grout III (North Devon and the Parry Islands): In 1819 and 1852-530 British
explorers visited these islands and took formal possession?
Group IV (Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg and Ringnes Islands); British explorers
took possession of Ellesmere at various points it the north and south of the
island during the 19th Century. In 18820 United States explorers tacit posses-
sion of Grinnell Land in central Ellesmere. In 1899-1901, Norwegian explorers
discovered and took possession of western Ellesmere Axel Heiherge Cornwallis,
e, King Christian, Devon Elle Ringnes and AraLd Ringnes. These. claims
mere abandoned in 1930 when 4ftada agreed to pay the costs of the Norvegian
expedition.
Speaking of discoveries in Groups I - IV, the King Report* conclides: ethe
vast preponderence of discovery is Britith. Next comes the States, but
their explorations...undertaken chiefly in the search for Sir John Franklin, may
be said to merely follow in the steps of previous British explorers... 0 The ob-
ject of their voyages (in Group IV) was rather the discovery of the North Pols than;
geographical exploration, which was only an incident... . Most of the British dis-
coveries were made by commissioned officers. Most of the foreign discoveries were
not". This was of course written before several important U. SO explorations on
Ellesmere.
* In 1905, WO PO King, Chief Astronomer of Canada, prepared a confidential "Report
Upon the Title of Canada to the Islands North of the Mainland of Canada" for the
Department of the Interior. So far as is known, this report hes never been made
public although it has been available to scholars and this officer was permitted
to examine it,
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The King ?-ort also gives the results of a stun,' of the national assignment
of the ArZUF is on 157 old maps (99 Itritish, 1.0 American, 10 French, 8 Ger-
man). This study evidently referred to maps produced before the Norwegian dis-
coveries of 1899-1901. The study showed that the known islands of the Archipelago
were assigned to Great Britain on an overwhelming majority of the maps, with only
Ellesmere left somewhat in question. Southern Ellesmere was marked as British on
115 maps, ae belonging to other countries on 17. Northern Ellesmere was assigned
to Britain on 75 maps, to other countries on 22.
Transfer of British Claims to C na
"Rupertes Land" and "Northwestern Territory" were Invited to Canada by an
Imperial Order in Council of June 23, 1870, but a precise description of these
areas was not given. Rupertes Land was the name of the area granted to the Hudson
Bay Company in 1670, and though never exactly bounded, was considered to include
all the country draining into Hudson By plus most of Baffinland and the smaller
islands of the Hudson Straits. The Northwestern Territory was understood to include
all land west of Canada and Rupert,s Land (i.e. British Columbia, parts of Alberta
and Saskatchewan, Yukon and the District of Mackenzie). Canada was -uncertain as
to whether this Order in Council granted her all the territory on the east to the
Arctic Ocean, and whether it included the Arctic islands. Because of this unn
clarity, Canada asked Great Britain to remove doubts on the northern boundaries,
and recommended that the areas transferred be delineated exactly. In particular
Canada wanted Britain to add claims to such portion of the NorthWest coast of
Greenland as may belong to Great Britain by right of discovery or otherwise".
There followed Imperial Order in Council of July 319 1880 which transferred to
Canada "all British territories and possessions in North America, not already
included in the Dominion of Canada, .and all islands adjacent to such territories
or possessions" (excluding Newfoundland). Since this still failed to give an
exact definition of the territories, it did not meet Canada,s desires. It seemed
evident that Britain did this deliberately to avoid controversy over its own
claims ani to let ownership be settled otherwise.
A Canadian Order in Council of October 29 1895 seems to have been the first
step taken by Canada to indicate acceptance of the transfer of claims of 1880.
This Order set up provisional districts in the new areas, but was defectively
worded and was replaced by an Order-in-Council of December 189 1897 which placed
in Franklin District all the islands more than 20 miles from the coast in the area
bounded by 1141 West and the channel west of Greenland, and on the north by the
parallel of 83 1/4?. This order constituted Canada s notification to other
countries that she cla'
the Arctic Is s_north-tann/1341a(northern tip
of Ellesmere).
Canadian
The King Report of 1905 ended with the warning that Canada0s title to some
of the Arctic Islands was "imperfect" (no doubt he had in mind the Norwegian claims
in the northwestern corner of the Archipelago and the U. S. claims in central
Ellesmere) and with the recommendation that Canada "exercise jurisdiction where
any settlements exist%
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? Between 1903 and 1910, the Government of Canada sent five expeditions to the
territoriee received from Great Britain in 1880, giving them instructions to
maintain peace and order and to establish police posts, castoms offices, and post
offices at strategic points where rewired. The first of these expeditions took
place in 1903-04 and included a detachment of Northwest Mounted Police. The
police were ordered to "impress upon the captains of whaling and trading vessels,
and the natives, the fact that after reasonable notice and warning the laws will
be enforced as in other parts of Canade", Landings were made at Cape Sabine
(Melville Island) and Cape Herschell (Ellesmere Island). The second expedition
in 1904,-05 established Mounted Police stations in HudeOn Bay. In 1906, an expo.-
dition took formal possession of Cornwallis, Griffith, Bathurst, Byam Martin,
Melville, Prince Patrick and the Parry Islands. The 1908-09 expedition covered
a similar area plus Banks. and Victoria Islands. The 1910 expedition touched at
North Devon and other islands in the Queen Elizabeth group along Melville Sound.
At the instruction of the Canadian Goverment, the expedition of 1909 ene
forced the issuance of fishing and whaling licenses in the Archipelago. When a
question of Greenland Eskimos hunting on Ellesmere cane up in 1920, Denmark told
Canada that it regarded Ellesmere as "no man's land". Thereafter Canada renewed
its efforts to establish sovereignty on the island to forestall a Danish claim.
In 1922, the first of annual expeditions to the Arctic Islands sailed up to the
southern tip of Ellesmere. Royal Canadian Mounted Police posts were established
at Craig Harbour (southern Ellesmere) and Pond Inlet (Baffin Island). The 1923
expedition included a magistrate and complete court to conduct the trial at Pond
Inlet of an Eskimo charged with murdering a white trader. In addition to re.
supplying the two stations, a third station was established at Pangnirtuag (Bafe
fin). In 19240 another post was established at Dundas Harbour (Devon). No new
posts were set up in 1925, but in 1926, Bache Peninsula (Ellesmere) was estab-
lished and in 1927, Lake Harbor (Baffin) was established.
Beginning in 1923, these posts were used as bases for various surveys and
investigations, mostly an Baffin Island, In 1927, an RCMP inspector made a
patrol from Bache westward to Axel Heiberg, Sverdrup, Kieg Christian, Cornwall
and Graham Islands. In 1929 an RCMP twiam hsoveVed rye guiti,m, arbour west to 11-1,-ee
Winter Harbour on Melville, then northerly to Hecla and griper Bay, then northe
easterly to Bache. These islands were visited: Devon, Cornwallis, Bathuret,
Melville Lougheed? Edmund Walker, King Christian, Elle Ringnes, Cornwall, Axel
Heiberg :Ind Ellesmere.
The patrols of 1927 and 1929 seem to be significant as the first efforts by
Canada to "maintain order" in the most remote parts of the northwestern islands
of the Archipelago, where Canadian sovereignty was least clearly established.
Today there are a considerable number of settlements in the southern half
of the Arctic Archipelago, mostof them on Baffin Island. In the northern half,
or Queen Elizabeth Islands, there are only the five weather stations and posts at
Craig Harbour and Dundee Harbour, While ther1skimo population of the southern
half, particularly on Baffin, is fairly numerous (2800 in 1951), the only Eskimos
:= permanent n the Queen Elizabeths are some 100 settled there in 1953 by the Government,
There are practically pmanent white residents in the Arctic Archipelago exe
t for missionaries. The total white population in 1951 was under 150?
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