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Climate change is causing rapid loss in Arctic seaice, raising the prospect of international shipping through the Northwest Passage within decades, perhaps even years. This poses serious security and environmental risks to both Canada and the United States, and yet the two countries are locked in a diplomatic dispute with respect to the legal status of the waterway. In this presentation, a Canadian expert on the law of the sea of the Arctic will argue that the Canadian position--that the Northwest passage constitutes Canadian internal waters subject to the full force of Canadian domestic law--serves the national interests of the United States far better than reliance on lax international legal regimes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]