OTTAWA - Mapping the outer limits of Canada's continental shelves in the Arctic is essential in order to allow the country to control oil and mineral exploration in a responsible way, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said Friday.

After returning from a trip to the polar cap where he visited a northern Canadian research outpost, Lunn said he was confident that scientists would finish their work on schedule by 2013, allowing Canada to stake its claim to controlling development near the North Pole.


``I really think it's important that we have jurisdictional control to ensure that we decide what's in our nation's interest,'' Lunn said in a phone interview. ``We (would) make the rules on ensuring that the environment remains protected not to mention the economic benefits of the natural resources as well. ''

Lunn said that under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, scientific research is the key to mapping out boundaries. He said it means that the only major question about Canada's claims was on how large its shelves would be extended.