EvanL
11-15-2003, 04:52 PM
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=e717b19e-7003-45a0-acdd-e7bb8742c891
Otto Sverdrup wanted Norway's flag to wave in the North, but he settled for $67,000 instead, writes Randy Boswell.
Randy Boswell
The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, November 15, 2003
The author of a new book about Canada's quest for Arctic sovereignty has unearthed letters from the 1930s that shed new light on how Canada acquired three major islands from the Norwegian explorer who had discovered and claimed them for his own country.
Historian Gerry Kenney says the documents make clear for the first time that Canada essentially purchased the islands -- covering a total area larger than Nova Scotia -- for $67,000, in a thinly disguised cash-for-land deal aimed at maintaining the appearance of unchallenged Canadian control over its northern frontier.
The islands were discovered during an 1898-1902 Arctic expedition led by the Norwegian explorer Otto Sverdrup. He had dreamed, he once wrote, of journeying to the "many white spaces on the map which I was glad of an opportunity of colouring with the Norwegian colours."
To this day they are known as the Sverdrup Islands, and each of them was named after one of the expedition's chief sponsors: the Norwegian consul Axel Heiberg, and two brothers from a wealthy brewing family, Ellef and Amund Ringnes.
Last week, Canada Post and its Norwegian counterpart announced an upcoming joint issue of stamps commemorating the 150th anniversary of Sverdrup's birth, his Arctic discoveries and the "common bond" between Canada and Norway that his expedition symbolizes.
But when the islands were found more than a century ago, much different feelings were in play. Sverdrup's discoveries shocked the Canadian government, and officials in a host of ministries -- not to mention prime minister Wilfrid Laurier -- became concerned about the strength of our territorial claims in the Arctic.
Britain's possessions in the far North had been transferred to this country in 1880, but Canada had done almost nothing to assert its control over the vast region. Having a Norwegian explorer announce the discovery of new lands in Canada's North was an embarrassment and a wake-up call.
Several Canadian expeditions were organized in the early 1900s to help cement this country's avowed ownership of hundreds of Arctic islands. Those voyages and their leaders are at the centre of Mr. Kenney's book, Ships of Wood and Men of Iron, which is to be published early next year.
Canada even devised what it called "the sector principle" to attempt to justify its supposed sovereignty over all territory between the northern coast of mainland Canada and the North Pole.
But apart from the Soviet Union, which had its own expansive northern coastline, no other country accepted the logic of the sector principle. Norway and other nations argued that the discovery, occupation and use of land were more important features of sovereignty than geographical geometry.
By the 1920s, a worrisome question mark still hung over the Sverdrup Islands. In Norway, the aging Sverdrup was pushing his government to send police patrols to the islands as a demonstration that they were, in fact, Norwegian possessions.
The Canadian government -- like Norway -- was reluctant to spend much money to assert sovereignty over islands with little apparent value. The islands, partly covered by glaciers, were home to no Inuit at that time, no significant numbers of muskox or other Arctic wildlife and no known mineral deposits worth retrieving.
But allowing Norway a territorial foothold in North America was viewed as an unwanted political complication for Canada. And acknowledging Norwegian sovereignty over the islands might have undermined other Canadian claims in the Arctic at a time when Americans and Scandinavians were regularly exploring the polar region without seeking permission from Canada.
So, in the mid-1920s, Norway and Canada began formal discussions about the sovereignty of the Sverdrup Islands. Unwilling to spend money to assert its control over such remote and barren lands, but under pressure from Sverdrup not to renounce ownership, Norway gradually began pushing for a negotiated settlement.
It wanted Canada to pay Sverdrup, the Norwegian government and other sponsors of the 1898-1902 expedition a total of $100,000 in exchange for Norway assenting to Canadian sovereignty. Canada initially offered $25,000 but wanted Norway to accept the validity of the sector principle.
In the end, Norway agreed to recognize Canadian sovereignty over the islands but emphasized this was "in no way based on any sanction whatever of what is named 'the sector principle.'"
In return, Canada agreed to pay Sverdrup $67,000. Ostensibly, the payment would be made for Sverdrup's original journals and maps. The money would not be publicized as being part of an exchange that gave Canada unchallenged title to the Sverdrup Islands.
Now, Mr. Kenney says he's found unassailable proof that Canada basically bought sovereignty of the islands.
"Although the official record indicates that the grant to Sverdrup was for the delivery of his original maps, records and diaries, several pieces of official correspondence show that Canada was in fact purchasing much more than mere pieces of paper," Mr. Kenney writes. "It was to maintain a continuous, unbroken thread of sovereignty from 1880, when the British Crown ceded the Arctic to Canada, right through to 1930 and hopefully forever after. The continuity of the thread gave it its strength and Canada did everything in its power to demonstrate that the thread had never been broken."
The "real motive" behind the $67,000 payment, Mr. Kenney says, is revealed in an Oct. 17, 1930, letter from O.S. Finnie of Canada's department of the interior to O.D. Skelton, the powerful undersecretary of state for external affairs.
"The main objective of entering into our negotiations with Sverdrup was for the purpose of securing from the Norwegian Government a recognition of the British Sovereignty in that portion of the Arctic north of the North American continent," Mr. Finnie states bluntly.
Sverdrup, who reluctantly consented to give up his islands in exchange for Canadian cash, didn't have much time to enjoy his belated windfall.
He died on Nov. 26, 1930, barely two weeks after the deal was made.
Otto Sverdrup wanted Norway's flag to wave in the North, but he settled for $67,000 instead, writes Randy Boswell.
Randy Boswell
The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, November 15, 2003
The author of a new book about Canada's quest for Arctic sovereignty has unearthed letters from the 1930s that shed new light on how Canada acquired three major islands from the Norwegian explorer who had discovered and claimed them for his own country.
Historian Gerry Kenney says the documents make clear for the first time that Canada essentially purchased the islands -- covering a total area larger than Nova Scotia -- for $67,000, in a thinly disguised cash-for-land deal aimed at maintaining the appearance of unchallenged Canadian control over its northern frontier.
The islands were discovered during an 1898-1902 Arctic expedition led by the Norwegian explorer Otto Sverdrup. He had dreamed, he once wrote, of journeying to the "many white spaces on the map which I was glad of an opportunity of colouring with the Norwegian colours."
To this day they are known as the Sverdrup Islands, and each of them was named after one of the expedition's chief sponsors: the Norwegian consul Axel Heiberg, and two brothers from a wealthy brewing family, Ellef and Amund Ringnes.
Last week, Canada Post and its Norwegian counterpart announced an upcoming joint issue of stamps commemorating the 150th anniversary of Sverdrup's birth, his Arctic discoveries and the "common bond" between Canada and Norway that his expedition symbolizes.
But when the islands were found more than a century ago, much different feelings were in play. Sverdrup's discoveries shocked the Canadian government, and officials in a host of ministries -- not to mention prime minister Wilfrid Laurier -- became concerned about the strength of our territorial claims in the Arctic.
Britain's possessions in the far North had been transferred to this country in 1880, but Canada had done almost nothing to assert its control over the vast region. Having a Norwegian explorer announce the discovery of new lands in Canada's North was an embarrassment and a wake-up call.
Several Canadian expeditions were organized in the early 1900s to help cement this country's avowed ownership of hundreds of Arctic islands. Those voyages and their leaders are at the centre of Mr. Kenney's book, Ships of Wood and Men of Iron, which is to be published early next year.
Canada even devised what it called "the sector principle" to attempt to justify its supposed sovereignty over all territory between the northern coast of mainland Canada and the North Pole.
But apart from the Soviet Union, which had its own expansive northern coastline, no other country accepted the logic of the sector principle. Norway and other nations argued that the discovery, occupation and use of land were more important features of sovereignty than geographical geometry.
By the 1920s, a worrisome question mark still hung over the Sverdrup Islands. In Norway, the aging Sverdrup was pushing his government to send police patrols to the islands as a demonstration that they were, in fact, Norwegian possessions.
The Canadian government -- like Norway -- was reluctant to spend much money to assert sovereignty over islands with little apparent value. The islands, partly covered by glaciers, were home to no Inuit at that time, no significant numbers of muskox or other Arctic wildlife and no known mineral deposits worth retrieving.
But allowing Norway a territorial foothold in North America was viewed as an unwanted political complication for Canada. And acknowledging Norwegian sovereignty over the islands might have undermined other Canadian claims in the Arctic at a time when Americans and Scandinavians were regularly exploring the polar region without seeking permission from Canada.
So, in the mid-1920s, Norway and Canada began formal discussions about the sovereignty of the Sverdrup Islands. Unwilling to spend money to assert its control over such remote and barren lands, but under pressure from Sverdrup not to renounce ownership, Norway gradually began pushing for a negotiated settlement.
It wanted Canada to pay Sverdrup, the Norwegian government and other sponsors of the 1898-1902 expedition a total of $100,000 in exchange for Norway assenting to Canadian sovereignty. Canada initially offered $25,000 but wanted Norway to accept the validity of the sector principle.
In the end, Norway agreed to recognize Canadian sovereignty over the islands but emphasized this was "in no way based on any sanction whatever of what is named 'the sector principle.'"
In return, Canada agreed to pay Sverdrup $67,000. Ostensibly, the payment would be made for Sverdrup's original journals and maps. The money would not be publicized as being part of an exchange that gave Canada unchallenged title to the Sverdrup Islands.
Now, Mr. Kenney says he's found unassailable proof that Canada basically bought sovereignty of the islands.
"Although the official record indicates that the grant to Sverdrup was for the delivery of his original maps, records and diaries, several pieces of official correspondence show that Canada was in fact purchasing much more than mere pieces of paper," Mr. Kenney writes. "It was to maintain a continuous, unbroken thread of sovereignty from 1880, when the British Crown ceded the Arctic to Canada, right through to 1930 and hopefully forever after. The continuity of the thread gave it its strength and Canada did everything in its power to demonstrate that the thread had never been broken."
The "real motive" behind the $67,000 payment, Mr. Kenney says, is revealed in an Oct. 17, 1930, letter from O.S. Finnie of Canada's department of the interior to O.D. Skelton, the powerful undersecretary of state for external affairs.
"The main objective of entering into our negotiations with Sverdrup was for the purpose of securing from the Norwegian Government a recognition of the British Sovereignty in that portion of the Arctic north of the North American continent," Mr. Finnie states bluntly.
Sverdrup, who reluctantly consented to give up his islands in exchange for Canadian cash, didn't have much time to enjoy his belated windfall.
He died on Nov. 26, 1930, barely two weeks after the deal was made.