Northern sovereignty

One thing that struck me the last time I was in Nunavut was the scale of the public buildings built by the Federal governament. The population is not sizeable but, for example, the Courthouse is full sized. Now, it makes sense to build for the future and I do not begrudge the fact that Iqaluit has a decent hospital (pictured) -- such is very necessary as transporting the ill south is often impossible -- but I wonder if the scale of construction is intended to reflect an assertion of northern sovereignty? Granted, Baffin Island is clearly Canada and the dispute below deals with ocean shelf but certainly Canada's claim is strengthened by a strong presence in Nunavut:


Russia, Canada in rivalry over Arctic resources; expect favourable UN ruling


The Associated Press
MOSCOW - Russian and Canadian foreign ministers both said Thursday that they expect the United Nations to rule in favor of each of the two nations’ competing claims to Arctic resources.


Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Norway have all been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to contain as much as a quarter of the Earth’s undiscovered oil and gas.

Canada's Lawrence Cannon and Russia's Sergey Lavrov said after their Thursday’s talks that both nations claim that the Lomonosov Ridge under the Arctic is an extension of its continental shelf.

The dispute has intensified amid growing evidence that global warming is shrinking polar ice, opening up new shipping lanes and new resource development opportunities.








"We will submit our data on the Lomonosov Ridge and we are confident that our case will prevail backed by scientific evidence," Cannon said at a news conference after the talks