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‘As far as 90 north’: Joseph Elzéar Bernier's 1907 and 1909 sovereignty claims

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2010

Janice Cavell
Janice Cavell*
Affiliation:
Historical Section (PORH), Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, 125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2, and Department of History, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada (Janice.Cavell@international.gc.ca)
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Abstract

Joseph Elzéar Bernier's well known sector claim of 1 July 1909 was predated by a similar, but until now unknown, proclamation in 1907. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, although eager to assert Canadian sovereignty, was unwilling to countenance the first claim because he did not think that the right time for such a gesture had yet come. However, in 1909 Bernier's action was welcomed, but only as a convenient way to counter the widely publicised American claim made by Robert Peary. In the eyes of government officials, neither of Bernier's proclamations held any real importance for Canada's northern sovereignty which rested primarily on the 1880 transfer of ownership from Britain. Bernier believed that his achievements had never been sufficiently recognised, but in fact the problem was that he himself overrated their significance.

Type
Notes
Information
Polar Record , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , October 2010 , pp. 372 - 373
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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