The practice of Canada’s use of historically established titles in relation to Arctic Sea spaces

Abstract

The basis for this study was the marked similarity of the geographical position of Canada and the Russian Federation as states with a significant continental part in the Arctic and the longest coasts in the Arctic. The interest in the Canadian experience of implementing the Arctic legal policy and, in particular, solving the problem of the legal regime of the Northwest Passage, is caused by the similar problems facing the Russian Federation in relation to the waters of the Arctic straits of the Northern Sea Route. The article deals with the following problematic issues: the role of the sectoral principle in the history of the formation of the status of Canada’s Arctic spaces; the practice of environmental national-legislative regulation of Canada in the Arctic; the concept of historical waters: historical titles in the system of direct baselines in the justification of Canada’s rights to Arctic Sea spaces; Canada’s historically formed position regarding the passage through its Arctic waters foreign courts; experience in the formation of legal titles of the Russian state for the Arctic spaces. The objective of this scientific study is to identify trends in the practice of Canada’s use of historical titles when extending sovereignty and jurisdiction to the adjacent Arctic Sea spaces. The aim is to formulate possible recommendations for improving the normative and law enforcement practice of Russia in this area.