Who owns the Northwest Passage?

By M.D.

MIKE POMPEO, America’s secretary of state, raised Canadian hackles earlier this month when he said during a speech in Finland that Canada’s claim to the Northwest Passage was “illegitimate”. He was there to attend the Arctic Council, a body set up by the eight countries around the Arctic Ocean to resolve differences and disputes relating to the polar region. But if Canada does not own the Northwest Passage (see map), who does?