Canada lays claim to North Pole

Canada will build two new military facilities in the Arctic in an effort to assert sovereignty over the contested region, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today.

Harper was speaking in Resolute Bay, Nunavut – about 370 miles south of the North Pole – just a week after Russia symbolically staked a claim to the North Pole by sending submarines.

Although Harper’s visit has been planned for months, it has taken on new importance since the Russian subs plunged two and half miles to the Arctic shelf and planted their country’s flag in a titanium capsule.

Harper said both installations will help support Canada’s ownership claim to the waters and natural resources of the Northwest Passage.

“Canada’s new government understands that the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is: Use it or lose it,” Harper said.

“Today’s announcements tell the world that Canada has a real, growing, long-term presence in the Arctic.”