Arctic Climate Governance : Can the Canary in the Coal Mine Lift Canada’s Head Out of the Sand(s)?

This paper considers Canada’s climate policy at the federal and territorial levels of government in light of the accelerated impacts and vulnerability of Canada’s Arctic region. The paper considers the level of awareness of current and expected future climate impacts in the Arctic, and the effect of this awareness on climate policy. Climate policy is considered in three broad areas, climate adaptation, climate mitigation and the effect on each jurisdiction’s development path. The paper concludes that there is good awareness of the current and predicted future impacts of climate change in all jurisdictions studied. For reasons explored in the paper, this awareness of the particular vulnerability has not, to date, resulted in climate policy innovation in Canada’s Arctic jurisdictions, and there is no evidence that it has influenced national climate policy in Canada