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INTRODUCTION
The uncharted rock on which our ship ran aground is just one fragment of an entire world we have yet to perceive.
(Winter, 2010)
Because of its hazardous ice conditions, the Canadian Arctic was a latecomer to the burgeoning polar cruise industry: the first cruise was offered in 1984. Since 2006, some regions, especially the Northwest Passage, have witnessed considerable growth in this sector. Despite this growth, cruise operators in Arctic Canada have kept a good human safety profile, although there is a "lengthy record and anecdotal history of groundings and other bumbles" (Jones, 1999:31). In August 1996, for example, the Hanseatic ran aground in the Simpson Strait, perforating two of the ship's fuel reservoirs, and all 153 passengers had to be evacuated by helicopter (Grenier, 2004). The latest of these incidents came in August 2010, when the Clipper Adventurer grounded on an underwater cliff in Coronation Gulf in the Northwest Passage. Although there was no loss of life or environmental catastrophe, the incident showed the stark reality of the individual, cultural, and environmental risks associated with polar travel, and it should send a warning to decision makers about the complexities of managing and governing cruise activities in Arctic waters. After an overview of Arctic cruise trends in Canada, we explore briefly what happened to the Clipper Adventurer during the summer of 2010 and comment on the implications of that incident for the governance of cruise tourism in Arctic Canada, particularly in relation to safety issues.
CRUISE SHIP TOURISM IN ARCTIC CANADA
Historically, ice conditions have precluded most commercial shipping in the Arctic. The first tourist voyage through the Northwest Passage by the Explorer in 1984 aroused sufficient interest in the region to warrant similar transits (Marsh and Staple, 1995; Jones, 1999); however, only two other crossings were successful during the next four years (Marsh and Staple, 1995). From 1992 to 2005, a more regular pattern of cruise activity emerged: not only were there one to three successful voyages through the Northwest Passage each year, but cruise ships also visited other locations in the Canadian Arctic such as Baffin Island, Hudson Bay, and Ellesmere Island. The trend toward a more sustained Arctic cruise industry in Canada was solidified in 2006, when 22 cruises operated...