April 24, 2023
Professor, Professor Emeritus published in new book on maritime governance
Professor Emeritus Nigel Bankes has contributed two chapters to the book Shipping in Inuit Nunangat: Governance Challenges and Approaches in Canadian Arctic Waters.
"The Modern Case Law on the Powers and Responsibilities of Flag States: Navigating Canada’s Arctic Waters" (Chapter 11) has two principal goals. First, it assesses the powers and responsibilities of flag States in light of the growing jurisprudence of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and arbitral tribunals established under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) on the interpretation of the relevant provisions of that convention. Second, the chapter considers the implications of this case law for flag State powers and responsibilities within an Arctic context, especially in light of the adoption of the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
"Indigenous Self-determination and the Regulation of Navigation and Shipping in Canadian Arctic Waters" (Chapter 17), which Nigel co-authored with Suzanne Lalonde, explores the legal and policy opportunities available to Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic to achieve self-determination with respect to navigation and shipping activities in the Arctic.
Professor David Wright co-authored Chapter 16 with Meinhard Doelle, A. John Sinclair, and Simon Dueck. "The New Federal Impact Assessment Act and Arctic Shipping: Opportunities for Improved Governance" explores opportunities to improve the governance of shipping and related activities in Canadian Arctic waters through the application of the federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA). The chapter considers a range of activities potentially associated with shipping in the Arctic, such as vessels used in fishing and aquaculture, supply vessels for northern communities and industries, shipping related to the transportation of resources extracted in the Canadian Arctic, shipping related to energy projects, tourism and other passenger related shipping, and the Arctic as a shipping route for global trade. The chapter considers the role that each of four distinct assessment processes under the IAA could make to the governance of shipping. Given the prevalence of other assessment processes in the Canadian Arctic, the chapter then considers how the IAA’s processes will interact with assessment processes beyond the IAA, such as those at territorial and Indigenous levels.
Shipping in Inuit Nunangat: Governance Challenges and Approaches in Canadian Arctic Waters is an open access publication and is a timely multidisciplinary volume offering novel insights into key maritime governance issues in Canadian Arctic waters that are Inuit homeland (Inuit Nunangat) in the contemporary context of climate change, growing accessibility of Arctic waters to shipping, the need to protect a highly sensitive environment, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The volume includes policy, legal and institutional findings and recommendations intended to inform scholars and policymakers on managing the interface between shipping, the marine environment, and Indigenous rights in Arctic waters.