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'Canadian Internal Waters' is a Canadian legal term of art that refers to "...the waters on the landward side of the baselines of the territorial sea of Canada,...".TP 14202 E Interpretation - Transport Canada The waters include, but may not be limited to, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Strait of Georgia, Queen Charlotte Sound, Hecate Strait, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the Bay of Fundy, and a section of the Northwest Passage. ^[1]

Contents

Dispute

See also

References

External links

Dispute

The legal status of a section of the Northwest Passage is disputed: Canada considers it to be part of its internal waters, fully under Canadian juristriction, arguing that they are archipelagic waters under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.^[2] The United States and most maritime nations,¹ consider them to be an international strait,^[3] which means that foreign vessels have right of "transit passage".^[4] In such a régime, Canada would have the right to enact fishing and environmental regulation, and fiscal and smuggling laws, as well as laws intended for the safety of shipping, but not the right to close the passage.^[5][6]

See also

★ Territorial claims in the Arctic

References

1. Northwest Passage gets political name change - Ottawa Citizen
2. UNCLOS part IV, ARCHIPELAGIC STATES
3. Climate Change and Canadian Sovereignty in the Northwest Passage
4. The Northwest Passage Thawed
5. UNCLOS part III, STRAITS USED FOR INTERNATIONAL NAVIGATION
6. The Northwest Passage and Climate Change from the Library of Parliament - Canadian Arctic Sovereignty

External links

★ Oceans Act PART I: CANADA’S MARITIME ZONES Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone Section 4

★ Oceans Act PART I: CANADA’S MARITIME ZONES Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone Section 5