Canada and the Search of a New Model of Sovereignty in the Far North in the 1920s - 1930s: from Effective Occupation to the Sector Theory

Territorial disputes with neighboring countries in the Arctic in the 1920s forced Canada to correct the system of ensuring of its sovereignty over the islands of the Arctic Archipelago. In the 1920s Canada opened six police posts on these islands and from 1922 began to patrol these islands annually by a special vessel. In the mid-1920s Canada also expanded the set of arguments for justifying its sovereignty by referring to the sector theory, which signified dividing the entire Arctic into sectors among countries in the region. Despite the lack of recognition of the sector theory in the United States and Norway and by many well-known lawyers of that time, Canada achieved de facto recognition of its sovereignty over the Arctic Archipelago from these countries and from these lawyers through its active actions within the framework of the traditional method of establishing sovereignty - effective occupation.