Yeah, we can't rely on the Americans to protect our north, they have their own interests which don't necessarily jive with ours. Population wise we are starting to approach the main countries of Europe but our ability to protect our land is no where near at their capability. I think we need some big ice breaking ships for the north just to protect what we have. Probably Denmark is more ready for the opening of the NW passage then Canada is.
Here's a map of the area and the disputed territory.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/...putes-map.html