CANADA MOVES TO STOP ARCTIC POLLUTION

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32274, 17 April 1970, Page 13

CANADA MOVES TO STOP ARCTIC POLLUTION

(From MELVIN SVFRIN, N.Z.FA special correspondent) i TORONTO, April 16. i The Canadian Government has invoked what it described as “the right of self-defence” against pollution in moving to impose strict controls on ships using Arctic waters. A bill introduced in the ! House of Commons by the Prime Minister (Mr Trudeau) provides heavy penalties for ships polluting waters in a huge triangular area that encompasses Canada’s 500,000i square-mile Arctic archiI pelago. .

As expected, the United States reacted quickly, declaring that It did not recogI nise “any exercise of a coastal state’s jurisdiction over our vessels on the high seas.” Washington also expressed regret that Canada had decided on a unilateral approach to a problem “we believe should be resolved by cooperative international action.” Arctic Waters A revolutionary aspect of Canada’s action is that it claims the right to control pollution in Arctic waters as far as 100 miles from the nearest land. The west side of the triangle runs from the AlaskaYukon boundary almost to the North Pole, 100 miles from the coast of the cluster!

of northern Canadian islands. On the east, the line is not that far out because it runs midway between Greenland, the Danish possession, and the coast of such big Canadian Arctic islands as Ellesmere, and Baffin.

Any individual found guilty of unauthorised waste deposit in this vast region might be fined up to $5OOO a day. In the case of a ship the penalty might be as high as $lOO,OOO a day.

A fine of up to $25,000 is provided for anyone failing to report a harmful deposit of waste in the waters or in any mineral development close enough to the waters to pose a pollution danger. Another provision of the bill gives the Government power to order destruction or removal of any ship deposit-

ing waste or considered likely to deposit waste in Arctic waters.

In addition to settint up this Arctic pollution preserve, the Government decided to extend Canada’s territorial limits to 12 miles from three on all three ocean coasts— Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic. This will enable Ottawa to conserve fisheries resources and extend pollution control over foreign and Canadian shipping. But while Canada concedes that the 12-mile limit declaration is open to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, it makes no such commitment on its Arctic pollution legislation. In fact, it firmly denies the right of the 'Court to rule in any dispute 1 i that might arise. 1

This reservation seemed to upset Washington as much as the anti-pollution move itself, and it is possible that the United States will still seek to challenge the action before the International Court. But Canada reasons that the Court is not a genuine authority in such situations. It notes that no body of law or precedent exists to govern pollution of the seas. - In declaring that pollution in the Arctic is a domestic matter, the Trudeau Government is trying to fill what it regards as a gigantic void in the legal machinery necessary to protect Canada from ecological disaster. The discovery of a major 'oilfield on the northern slopes lof Alaska and last year’s successful trip through the

north-west passage by the supertanker Alaska have underlined the importance of providing some means of controlling pollution before regular commerce is introduced in the north. If an oil tanker were to break up in these waters, it could spill enough oil to ruin hundreds of miles of shore-! line. And with much of the! area locked in ice the year] round, tides could not be relied upon to clean up the mess eventually. One oil spill has already] damaged 1000 miles of! Alaska’s Kodiak Island shoreline, and this convinced the] Canadian Government that. Washington, for all its good I intentions, remains powerless; to do more than plead with companies to be careful. | Mr Trudeau has not made!

]any move to exclude the ships of any nation from the Arctic. He has simply declared that if ships choose to travel there they will have to be equipped so as not to expose Canada to the risks of pollution. The Prime Minister has said that he would welcome ! adoption of international I rules that would protect I marine environment. When that happens, he will be willing to give the International i Court responsibility for ad-1 (ministering them. His unilateral action and the United States reaction seem likely to hasten the start of negotiations to that lend. In the meantime, Mr (Trudeau has said that he has a country to protect. And he apparently doesn’t mind stepping on a few toes to do It.