HALIFAX — Canada's largest icebreaker is preparing for an expedition to the North Pole.
The trip marks this country's final data-collection mission in the High Arctic before making an official claim to the barren, but strategically important area at the top of the world.
The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent is scheduled to leave Halifax harbour Friday.
A crew that includes international scientists will map the ocean floor all the way to the pole in a bid to prove Canada's claim.
The data will be used to to define the outer limits of Canada's continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.
Once the data is analyzed, a submission is expected to be presented to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in 2018.
