While Canada stands quietly by, the European Union is stealing the Arctic agenda, northern experts say. (CBC)

Canada is being slowly pushed aside as the rest of the world sets the agenda for opening up the rapidly melting Arctic, say leading northern experts.

With Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government focused on building a military presence in the North, agencies such as the European Union are seizing the initiative over developing rules that will eventually govern fisheries, energy exploration and transportation in the region.

"The opportunity for us to take constructive steps diplomatically is now being usurped from us by the Europeans," says Whitney Lackenbauer, a University of Waterloo history professor and co-author of Arctic Front: Defending Canada in the Far North.

"They are going to steal the agenda."

In late November, the EU issued a "communication" on the Arctic, a discussion paper aimed at developing a formal Arctic policy as global warming opens the region's once ice-choked seas.

Lackenbauer and other Arctic experts say that document could weaken Canada's Arctic sovereignty by creating a role for international bodies in regulating such matters as shipping and resource development.

"Arctic challenges and opportunities will have significant repercussions on the life of European citizens for generations to come," says the document. "It is imperative for the European Union to address them in a co-ordinated and systematic manner."

The EU seeks a voice in environmental regulation, energy development and governance. This despite a hands-off statement last spring from the five nations with Arctic coastlines saying they would assume responsibility for such matters themselves.

That so-called Ilullisat Declaration is a good example of the kind of international co-operation the EU seeks, says ambassador Dorian Prince. It just doesn't go far enough.

"We think the best solution is an agreement between the coastal states of the Arctic and, of course, strongly endorsed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," Prince says.

"We think the solution lies in better multilateral regulations."

Europeans accused of hypocrisy

But Rob Huebert, of the University of Calgary's Institute for Strategic Studies, calls the EU document "hypocritical."

"On every single point, they take this moral high ground. But then in every single instance, whenever there's something where their interests come to the forefront, that's where the exception is."

The EU talks about the importance of environmental protection, but wants international ships to have freedom of navigation in Arctic seas. That would put regulation in the hands of the UN's International Maritime Organization, whose environmental standards are much lower than Canada's, Huebert says.

Similarly, the EU says it supports indigenous populations — except where their activities give offence to Europeans concerned about animal welfare.

The document also calls for international regulations on new Arctic fisheries and "a level playing field and reciprocal market access" for energy development.

Canada should be circumpolar leader: Coates

Canada will probably have to accept some international involvement in the Arctic, if for no other reason than because it makes sense for the circumpolar region to be dealt with consistently, says Ken Coates, a Waterloo historian and Lackenbauer's co-author. But the terms of that agreement are likely to be better if Canada proposes them, not the EU.

"We're always responding to other folk," Coates says. "It's one of these things that keeps us back on our heels. Why is it that the world knows more about what the EU intends to do up North than what Canada intends to do? We should be one of the dominant powers in the circumpolar world."

The Department of Foreign Affairs said in an e-mailed message from a spokesman that Canada will continue talks with the EU on northern issues and expects to release a joint progress report on Arctic co-operation in 2009.

EU document not all bad, professor says

Not everyone sees the EU document as a threat to Canada's interests.

Michael Byers, an international law professor at the University of British Columbia, says it shows the EU will recognize the UN process under which the Arctic nations are dividing up the contested parts of the region.

Byers also pointed out the EU is a strong proponent of action to combat climate change and he welcomed it and the UN into Arctic discussions.

"The Arctic is a huge place," he says. "There are lots of places for the UN to become more involved. But it doesn't involve calling into question rights that are well-established under the law of the sea."

Still, Lackenbauer says, Canada's Arctic policy seems to be stuck on providing military infrastructure. He points to the broader view in the EU document, which includes discussions on climate change, pollution, sustainable development and healthy aboriginal communities.

"This is all the stuff that used to be on Canada's agenda."