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The Canadian Arctic is a vast region of northern Canada. Technically the term covers that portion of Canada north of the Arctic Circle; a more practical definition is that portion north of the tree line, a definition that includes the country's geographical centre. Canada claims that its territorial waters extend all the way north to the North Pole, although this claim is not recognized by other countries, particularly the United States.
This is especially important with the Northwest Passage. Canada asserts that it controls this passage, the United States believes it should be an international waterway. Today ice and freezing temperatures makes this a minor issue, but global warming may make the passage available to commercial shipping, something that worries the Canadian government and the inhabitants of the environmentally sensitive region.
A political definition consists in Canada's three territories: Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
The entire region is very unpopulated with only a few thousand people in the vast area. It is heavily endowed with natural resources, but in most cases they are too expensive to extract to be worthwhile. The region remains quite poor, especially when the extremely high cost of most consumer goods is accounted for.
The region is home to about half of Canada's Inuit population (mainly in Nunavut), and several groups of First Nations (mainly Chipewyan peoples). About 69% of the population of the three territories is aboriginal, and the three territories each have a greater proportion of aboriginal inhabitants than any of Canada's provinces. There are also many more recent immigrants from around the world; of the territories, Yukon has the largest percentage of non-aboriginal inhabitants. [1] (http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/highlight/Aboriginal/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&View=1a&Table=2&StartRec=1&Sort=14&B1=Distribution01&B2=Total)
See also: Canadian arctic islands, Territories of Canada
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