Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was excited about a new initiative to continue the search for the lost ships of the Franklin Expedition. So excited, in fact, his government is spending $275,000 for a four- to six-week search to find HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, more money than was spent in three previous searches by Parks Canada since 2008.

Harper seemed to be excited because the ships are “iconic in our country’s history.” He added the wreckage is a national historic site — “the only undiscovered historic site.” He did not, however, utter the word sovereignty, even though his ministers have said in the past finding the wreckage was directly linked to Canada’s claims in the Arctic.

The mystery of the Franklin Expedition has captured the imaginations of Canadians (and the British) since the two ships under the command of Sir John Franklin disappeared in 1845 on a quest for the Northwest Passage. Within a few years of their disappearance, the British Admiralty launched a series of searches by land and sea. Eventually, scattered human remains and artifacts were discovered but no trace of the ships themselves.

Critics claim there is no connection between the Franklin Expedition and the present dispute, partly because Canadian ownership of the Arctic islands is not an issue. The controversy is limited to Canada’s claim it also owns the inland waterways, which some foreign countries, including America, say are international waterways. Of course, if the sea lanes are international, then so are the resources underneath, which was never much of an issue until climate scientists predicted Arctic waterways will remain open longer in the future.

In the government’s mind, however, there is much more at stake in finding Franklin’s lost ships than simple historical interest. If the ships are discovered, the location could become a world heritage site under the United Nations and boost Canada’s claim for environmental, historical and cultural sovereignty in the region.

Discovery of the ships is unlikely to change our understanding of history, but it could have impact.