A Historical and Legal Study of Sovereignty in the Canadian North: Terrestrial Sovereignty, 1870-1939

by Gordon W. Smith, P. Whitney Lackenbauer (Editor), Tom and Nell Smith (Foreword by)

Overview

Gordon W. Smith, PhD, dedicated much of his life to researching Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic. A historian by training, 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. This work is the first in a project to edit and publish Smith’s unpublished opus - a manuscript on “A Historical and Legal Study of Sovereignty in the Canadian North and Related Law of the Sea Problems.” Written over three decades (yet incomplete at the time of his death in 2000), this work may well be the most comprehensive study on the nature and importance of the Canadian North in existence. Volume 1: Terrestrial Sovereignty provides the most comprehensive documentation yet available on the post-Confederation history of Canadian sovereignty in the north. As Arctic sovereignty and security issues return to the forefront of public debate, this invaluable resource provides the foundation upon which we may expand our understanding of Canada’s claims from the original transfers of the northern territories in 1870 and 1880 through to the late twentieth century. The book provides a wealth of detail, ranging from administrative formation and delineation of the northern territories through to other activities including government expeditions to northern waters, foreign whaling, the Alaska boundary dispute, northern exploration between 1870 and 1918, the background of Canada’s sector claim, the question concerning Danish sovereignty over Greenland and its relation to Canadian interests, the Ellesmere Island affair, the activities of American explorers in the Canadian North, and the Eastern Arctic Patrol. The final chapter examines the Eastern Greenland case and its implications for Canada.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781552387764
Publisher:	University of Calgary Press
Publication date:	11/17/2014
Series:	Northern Lights , #17
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	512
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

DR. GORDON W. SMITH (1918-2000) was a historian who spent his early career as a professor in Canada, the West Indies, and Africa. He devoted the last twenty-five years of his life to researching and writing the international history of the Canadian Arctic.
P. WHITNEY LACKENBAUER is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of History at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, and the author of numerous books, including The Canadian Rangers: A Living History (2013), and co-author of Arctic Front: Defending Canadian Interests in the Far North, which won the Donner Prize in 2009.

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

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Foreward
Tom and Nell Smith

Editor’s Note
P. Whiteny Lackenbauer

Introduction: Territorial Sovereignty before 1879
1. The Transfers of Arctic Territories from Great Britain to Canada 1870–80
2. Period of Relative Inactivity and Unconcern, 1880–95
3. Organization and Administration of the NWT, 1895–1918
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. Vilhjalmer Stefansson 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 Eastern 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. Roch, and the Northwest Passage Voyage of 1940–42

Notes
Bibliography
Additional Readings
Index

Editorial 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

From the Publisher