Canada is usually considered a co-operative, neighbourly sort of country that prefers to negotiate over disputes.
Except, it seems, when it comes to the Arctic.
A survey of citizens in all eight countries ringing the North Pole suggests Canadians are the least willing of any to compromise on sovereignty disputes -- even when nobody else agrees with them.
"That was an absolutely stunning result of the poll, that among eight Arctic Council members, the Canadian public is the least flexible," said Janice Stein of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.
"We are more intransigent than the Russians. On this issue, the Canadian public seems to have dug in its heels in a way that is wholly atypical."
The Munk School is using the survey it commissioned to kick off a four-year study on the Arctic. The poll queried 9,000 people in the United States, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and both northern and southern Canada on a variety of northern questions.
It found that Canadians from coast to coast to coast were remarkably united on the Arctic. Just over half of both northerners and southerners said that the region should be the most important element of Canada's foreign policy. Similar percentages agreed the country's military presence in the region should be beefed up, even if it means doing less elsewhere in the world.
"The majority of Canadians feel that the Arctic should be a top priority," said Stein.
Canadians were also remarkably united in what kind of development the country should be pursuing in the North. The importance of high-quality public services, environmental protection and search-and-rescue capacity were supported by more than 80 per cent of respondents. Two-thirds ranked military infrastructure among the top needs.
But northerners have a low opinion of Canada's current attempts to support that development.
Only 38 per cent said Canada is well-equipped to provide quality health care, education, and drinking water to northern residents, and only 11 per cent thought Canada's capacity to respond to an emergency such as an oil spill is adequate.
Still, when it comes to who should be running the northern show, the beaver was notably territorial.
Those surveyed were big on the Arctic Council, an advisory and research group composed of the eight circumpolar nations. But they didn't want anyone else in the club and showed less support for expanding its membership than any other country.
About three-quarters of them insisted the Northwest Passage is in Canadian waters, a position that has almost no international support. Norway, with 23 per cent of its respondents agreeing, came closest.
More than 40 per cent of Canadians agreed with the statement: "My country should pursue a firm line in defending its sections of the Arctic." That was more than in any other country.
Fully half of northern and southern Canadians said Canada should pursue "full sovereignty rights" in what it claims for the Beaufort Sea. Only 10 per cent of Americans felt that strongly, and two-thirds of them said a negotiated settlement was the way to go.
Stein acknowledged that the strong stand Canadians seem to have taken on the Arctic may simply be because they're better informed about it than citizens in other countries, particularly those in the U.S.
But she also pointed out interest and concern about the North has been growing strongly in recent years, driven by media accounts of sovereignty disputes, resource potential and climate change.
"The Arctic is the issue of the future."
Still, she said, there is a danger of Canada getting too far out of step with its international partners over how the region should be divided, protected and governed.
"We could be isolating ourselves."
Although the Munk School takes no official position on the issue, Stein said that Canada is going to have to eventually sit down with its neighbours.
"Clearly, there's no alternative but to arrive at a political solution," she said.
"What this research does show is that there is space for a political solution. If we want it, it's out there."
