Experts on Arctic issues are urging Canada to send Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier to a meeting of Arctic nations in Greenland later this month.

Their concerns come amid word that Canada may send a low-ranking minister or senior civil servant to the Arctic Ocean Conference in Ilulissat from May 27 to 29.

Denmark has convened foreign affairs ministers from the other four coastal Arctic nations — Canada, Russia, Norway and the United States — to discuss each other's claims to the Arctic Ocean under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

To that end, it would be an affront to the international meeting if Canada does not send Bernier or another top-ranking minister, said Michael Byers, who holds the Canada Research chair in global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia.

"First and foremost, it is ideally the foreign minister himself, Maxime Bernier," Byers told CBC News Tuesday in Iqaluit, where government officials and northern experts were meeting for a meeting of the Arctic Security Working Group.

"Given the importance of this issue, I certainly expect him to be there."

Under the United Nations Law of the Sea convention, signed by Canada in 2003, the five countries may be able to extend their sovereignty beyond the usual 200-nautical mile limit recognized in international law if the seabed is an extension of the continental shelf.

While in Ilulissat, Denmark is expected to ask Canada and the other countries to commit to following United Nations rules to claim sovereignty, as opposed to following their own international law agreements.

But another Arctic sovereignty expert says the countries will try to downplay the fact that there is a race for oil and gas resources on the ocean seabed.

Rob Huebert, an associate professor of political science at the University of Calgary, said Bernier should really be at the Ilulissat meeting to discuss how to resolve any inevitable overlaps in countries' claims.

"Since we already know that the Danes will be sending a minister … we should be, in fact, sending our foreign minister," Huebert said.

The Ilulissat meeting has the potential to be of substantial importance for the future governance of the entire Arctic region, Huebert added.

If Bernier cannot attend the Greenland meeting, he said another top minister should go in his place, like Defence Minister Peter McKay or Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl.

Both Huebert and Byers agreed that indigenous northerners should also be part of the delegation to the meeting.