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Canada's Position on the Arctic Refuge

The Big Picture:Canadian and Alaskan native communities north of the Arctic Circle depend on the Porcupine Caribou Herd for their sustenance and cultural needs. The most successful calving grounds for this migratory herd are in the Arctic Refuge, Alaska. Canada has permanently protected from development the lands in Canada used occasionally by the herd for calving and continue to urge that the U.S. do the same. This would be consistent with the commitment to protect and conserve the herd and its habitat in the 1987 Canada-U.S. Agreement on the Conservation of the Porcupine Caribou Herd.

Key points:

1. Research overwhelmingly shows that oil development in the Arctic Refuge will endanger the Porcupine caribou herd. Unlike some northern caribou, they have no viable alternative calving grounds.
2. The Gwich'in First Nation and other Aboriginal Peoples depend on the herd for their sustenance, culture and way of life.
3. Canada urges the U.S. to fulfill its obligations under the 1987 Agreement on the Conservation of the Porcupine Caribou Herd to permanently protect this sensitive ecosystem, as we have already done on the Canadian side.