What is the Northwest Passage?

The Northwest Passage is the sea route through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago connecting the Atlantic Ocean (entering at Davis Strait or Hudson Strait) and the Pacific Ocean (exiting at the Bering Strait). Several routes are possible through the channels of the archipelago, with the most commonly used modern route running through Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Viscount Melville Sound, Prince of Wales Strait, Amundsen Gulf, and the Beaufort Sea. The total distance from Iqaluit to the Beaufort Sea is about 3,600 kilometres.

European search for a Northwest Passage to Asia began in the late 1400s and continued for more than 400 years. Major expeditions included Henry Hudson (1610 to 1611), William Baffin (1616), James Knight (1719 to 1721, lost), Sir John Franklin (1845 to 1848, all 129 men died, one of the worst disasters in Arctic exploration), Robert McClure (1850 to 1854, completed by sledge), and many others. The first complete navigation by ship was achieved by Norwegian Roald Amundsen in the Gjoa from 1903 to 1906, taking three winters in the Arctic. The first single-season transit was by the RCMP St. Roch in 1944.

Modern Arctic shipping has expanded as climate change reduces summer sea ice. The Soviet icebreaker Manhattan completed the first commercial-scale transit in 1969 (a US-flagged tanker). The cruise ship Crystal Serenity made the first luxury cruise transit in 2016 with about 1,000 passengers and crew. The Russian icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy reached the North Pole in August 2007. Federal Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers (led by the heavy icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent) support Northwest Passage transit and northern community supply. Two new heavy Polar Class 2 icebreakers (the CCGS John G. Diefenbaker and a sister ship) are under construction for delivery by 2030.

Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage is contested. Canada considers the Passage internal Canadian waters under the doctrine of historic title and exercises full territorial jurisdiction. The United States (and other maritime powers) considers the Passage an international strait under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with the right of transit passage. The 1988 Agreement on Arctic Cooperation between Canada and the United States provides a diplomatic accommodation: US Coast Guard icebreakers may transit with Canadian consent without prejudice to either party's legal position. The 2019 federal Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, the federal Oceans Protection Plan ($1.5 billion announced 2016), the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship programme, and the modernised North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) all support Canadian Arctic sovereignty.