Franklin find as much about sovereignty as solving a mystery

There are few things that turn Stephen Harper's crank asmuch as Canada's North.

Since coming to power back in 2006, he has made a pilgrimage tothe territories an annual rite. It's clear to anyone who hasaccompanied the prime minister on one of his northern tours just howmuch he truly enjoys being there.

That affinity was on full display Tuesday. Harper could barelycontain his delight as he delivered news of the discovery of one oftwo lost ships from Sir John Franklin's doomed Arctic expedition.

To be sure, there's political gain to be found in the North. Thediscovery of either HMS Erebus or HMS Terror the search team isn'tsure yet which wreck they've found is undoubtedly a good-newsstory for Harper after less-flattering coverage in recent weeks andmonths of the Senate scandal and the Conservative government'sdogged refusal to call a national inquiry into missing and murderedaboriginal women and girls.

The find likewise allows Harper to claim Canada is asserting itssovereignty over its northern territory. Much has been made by theprime minister and others of Russia's military buildup in theArctic. Harper himself has cautioned that Canada should not allowitself to grow complacent about its northern neighbour.

The Conservatives have made Arctic sovereignty a key theme sincetaking office. Harper recently told journalists aboard HMCS Kingstonthe Franklin search was part and parcel of asserting Canada'scontrol over its North.

"It ultimately isn't just about the story of discovery andmystery and all these things," Harper said last month."It's also really is laying the basis for what's, in the longerterm, Canadian sovereignty."

To Rob Huebert, an Arctic expert at the University of Calgary whocame along on Harper's recent trip north, the Franklin search hasmore to do with Canadian nationalism than Arctic sovereignty.

"The discovery of two historical wrecks from the 1840s thatsailed under the authority of Britain before Canada was even a statedoesn't really extend our claims of control over the waters of theNorthwest Passage," he said.

The discovery accomplishes two big things, Huebert added.

"The search for the Franklin allows us to have a metaphor as wedevelop technologies that do, in fact, allow us to asset bettercontrol over the region."

The find also helps cement a commitment to developing the Northas part of Harper's legacy, he said.

"When the history books go back and say, 'OK, what happenedunder the stewardship of Prime Minister Harper,' I think one of thethings that he wants, and I think one of the things that he deservesto have regardless of all the criticisms over everything else will be that he did in fact put in a much more rational and concretegovernance system for the Arctic from the federal perspective."

The search for the lost Franklin ships neatly ties togetherHarper's overall northern strategy into a powerful metaphor, saysCarleton University instructor Jeff Ruhl, whose research has focusedon the Conservative government's efforts to nation-build in theNorth.

"Harper's use of Franklin has served as a way in which all thedifferent elements of his northern agenda can be packaged in asingular thing," Ruhl said.

"Franklin has served the project in many ways as the symbolicmanifestation of Harper's overall northern agenda."
But putting politics aside, those who know the prime minister sayhis fascination with the North and the Franklin saga in particularis palpable.

"It's not in a kind of a layman's or a casual observer's levelof interest. It's someone who has bored down quite deeply into thehistory and is quite knowledgeable," said John Geiger, president ofthe Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

"He knows his stuff."

Conservative MP Peter Kent, a former minister of the environment,says Harper's fascination with the North does indeed seem to begenuine.

"I was with him when we announced the Naats'ihch'oh extension tothe national park system in the Northwest Territories," Kent says,"and he was like a kid as he visited the area and saw the peopleand some of the great, spectacular topography."

Geiger got a rare glimpse of the prime minister letting his hairdown aboard HMCS Kingston last month as it anchored off the shoresof Pond Inlet on the northern tip of Baffin Island.

He was among the handful of guests invited up to the ship'sbridge to join Harper and his wife, Laureen, in a lively discussionabout this year's Franklin search.

Excitement was in the air. People were slapping each other'sbacks. At one point, Geiger broke out the scotch and proposed atoast.

But for all the exuberance on the bridge that August night, therewas one thing about which Harper was adamant: they would find theFranklin ships.

"There was clear expectation," Geiger said. "When the primeminister looks at you intently and tell you there will be a Franklinfind this year ... that definitely raised the bar for all of us."