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I’m in Resolute, Nunavut, Canada,

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the last stop on my Arctic voyage.

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It is one of the most northern and coldest
inhabited places in the world,

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and the only reason I'm allowed to film here
right now

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is because we have someone on polar bear watch.

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There is some evidence of prehistoric settlement here,

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but this town didn’t exist until 1947,

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when the US and Canada built a weather station
here,

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and it wasn’t populated until 1953,

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when the government of Canada forcibly resettled
Inuit from Northern Quebec here

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as part of a power play in the Cold War.

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The High Arctic relocation is a dark chapter
in Canada’s history,

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and the stories of those who were moved into
appalling conditions,

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are tales best told by people who were there,
not some British tourist.

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There are links in the description for context,

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and I strongly recommend you watch them.

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But what I can talk about is why the 1950s
Canadian government

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thought it was worth uprooting people from
their homes

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and moving them this far north.

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The North Pole, and most of the Arctic Ocean,
are international waters.

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There’s no land below the ice,

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so they’re treated the same as the Atlantic
or Pacific.

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But unlike countries further south,

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where it’s easy to say where your coastline
ends and the sea begins,

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up here in the north it’s a little bit more
complicated.

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In the fifties, there was an open legal question:

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if no one lived on these northern islands,

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if they’re not even habitable,

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could they really be part of Canada?

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Particularly when the United States is sending
hundreds of soldiers up here

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to stake a claim, to shore up the defense
against Soviet Russia.

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The shortest route from Russia to America
for aircraft carrying nuclear bombs,

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and later, for intercontinental ballistic
missiles,

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was over the North Pole.

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Over here.

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Over Resolute.

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And while the Canadian government were happy
to co-operate with America,

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they were not about to risk being pushed out.

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The government's solution, back then:

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move some people who they think don’t matter,

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and make it clear to the world:

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this is Canadian territory.

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Look.

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Canadians live here.

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The repercussions from that still go on today,

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and so does the argument about sovereignty
up here:

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just for different reasons.

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Because while the Cold War has ended,

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and missiles will hopefully not be flying
over the North Pole any time soon,

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there is now a very different question.

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Climate change means that the Northwest Passage,

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the once legendary sea route through the north
of Canada,

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is now theoretically open for shipping a few
months a year.

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The north of Canada is not just frozen ice
that goes all the way to the pole,

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and most of the maps you see are really misleading.

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This here is one of a cluster of islands,

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nowhere near as big as they look on most maps,

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and if there’s no ice between them, it’s
a shortcut.

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The Arctic is now a possible route between
Europe and the west coast of America,

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instead of going through the Panama Canal:

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and that cuts over 4000 miles off the journey.

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And the first cruise ship has already gone
through:

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by the time you watch this, it will have gone
through.

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And it's not an old icebreaker with a hundred
people on it like I’m travelling on,

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but a massive cruise ship with thousands of
people,

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eight restaurants, and a casino.

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Like it or not, this town, this space here:

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this is part of a tourist route now.

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Now, Canada says some of the Northwest Passage
is part of their territorial waters,

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almost like a big, wide river.

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Anyone going through should be cleared with
them,

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be subject to Canadian law, and perhaps in
future,

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they should pay a tax.

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The US and Europe?

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They say it’s international waters and they
can do whatever they want.

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And the consequences could be serious:

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if this does become a major shipping route,

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then sooner or later there’s going to be
a major shipping accident,

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particularly if climate change brings unpredictable
storms to the ocean here.

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The idea of more oil being spilled in the
Arctic is worrying a lot of people.

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In a few decades, as the ice melts, more channels
open,

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and drilling for oil and gas becomes possible,

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our next international battles,

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political or otherwise, might be for the Arctic:

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not just about who owns it, but for its entire
future.

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Hi, I'm Chris Hadfield, this is...

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I'm Tom Scott!

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This is Tom Scott, we're here in the Arctic.

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That's it from Generator Arctic!

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That's all!

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Thank you very much!

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It's been an incredible experience, thanks
for coming along,

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and go the web site that's written, you can
see all the details.

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And go see their show, Massey Hall, November
12th...

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November 12th in Toronto!

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Chris, there's the camera,
take it, go for it!

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Take it, submerge it, go!

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Hey, it's not so bad!