The visit by warships HMCS Shawinigan and HMCS Glace Bay to the former fur trading post set up in 1685 on the shores of the Hudson Bay, is the latest move to challenge rival claims in the Arctic by Russia, the United States, Norway and Denmark.

Warmer weather has triggered a melting of polar ice that is expected to reveal new shipping routes, including the famed Northwest Passage, oil and gas resources, and allow fishing.

"The ships that docked here have steamed roughly 2,400 nautical miles, all of them in Canadian territorial waters. This is the heart of the country. This is a demonstration of Canada's will to exercise sovereignty over our own back yard," Commodore Bob Blakely, commander of Canada's naval reserve, told AFP from Churchill.

"The sea is a highway that's open to everyone. We will allow everybody passage as long as they ask for our consent and comply with our rules: use our resources wisely and don't pollute the fragile northern ecosystem," he said.

"It's like having a path behind your house. Nobody minds the neighbours walking along. Just don't dump your garbage there and don't take my vegetables out of the garden," he said.

Canada and the United States are at odds over control of the Northwest Passage and the resource-rich Beaufort Sea that touches both Alaska and Canada's northern territories.

Canada and Russia both claim overlapping parts of the Arctic continental shelf. Norway, Denmark and the United States have expressed "reservations" about Russia's claim, Canadian officials said.

Canadian Defence Minister Bill Graham recently caused controversy when he visited the disputed Hans Island that sits on the boundary between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Denmark's Greenland.

A military air base was established in Churchill in 1942, but closed in 1980. A naval listening post was closed at the site a few years earlier.

The community of nearly 1,000 residents now looks to seasonal shipping and tourists who come to see beluga whales, polar bears and the aurora borealis to sustain its economy.

There are no plans to re-open the base, but Canada's military will soon expand its northern military headquarters in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, as well as increase the number of Arctic air and naval patrols, Blakely said.

"We will be more focused on protecting Canada's interest in the north," he said.

The two warships docked in Churchill will sail further north on Sunday with 80 sailors aboard to take part in training exercises with the coast guard, Inuit rangers and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Another frigate, HMCS Fredericton left Halifax on Thursday to safeguard Arctic waters against illegal fishing, military officials said.

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