Premier moves to assert Arctic claim

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in the territory of Nunavut, announced plans for an army training center and a port on the third day of an Arctic trip meant to assert sovereignty over a region with potentially vast energy resources. Denmark will stake a claim with a scientific expedition starting Sunday.

The race to secure subsurface rights to the Arctic seabed heated up when Russia sent two mini-submarines to plant a flag on the North Pole seabed last week. The U.S. and Norway also have competing claims in the region.

Canada and the U.S. have dismissed the Russian move as legally meaningless. A U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker is bound for the Arctic to map the ocean floor off Alaska; the mission’s lead scientist denied a political motive.