Canada slams French bid for Atlantic shelf rights

OTTAWA, March 25 (Reuters) - Canada criticized France on Wednesday for trying to claim exploration rights off the eastern Canadian coast, home to rich reserves of natural resources.

Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said Ottawa "will take all necessary measures to defend and protect its rights with respect to its continental shelf".

The dispute concerns the two tiny French islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, which sit just off the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Cannon said France had revived a claim for the rights to an extended continental shelf from the two islands despite a bilateral agreement in June 1992, which he said had settled the matter once and for all.

"Canada does not recognize France's claim to any area of the continental shelf in the northwest Atlantic Ocean beyond the area set out in the arbitration decision," he said in a statement. "Canada has made France aware of its position on several occasions."

Just over 6,000 people live on the tiny islands, the only remnants of colonial New France.

Canadian media reports from Paris say the islanders have been pressing France for the right to access the same offshore oil reserves that lie in Canada's waters.

No one was immediately available for comment at the French embassy in Ottawa. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Rob Wilson)