Foreign Affairs Committee on March 21st, 2013

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Grewal, for five minutes

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

The far north is a significant area of focus for our government's policies. Part of the difficulty is that it encompasses so many distinct departments, all of which have their own jurisdiction.

How are government departments working together to best implement policy? Could you say a little bit about that?

[David Burden]

Well, there is a Government of Canada approach to everything we do. The response we gave on research, that we marshal and pool our resources, would go the same way to how the Government of Canada works in the north.

When we look at our programs and services, it is whole of Canada, but it's not just the government. One of the most impressive areas I've seen in the western Arctic is what's called BREA, the Beaufort Sea partnership initiative which involves industries, NGOs, governments, all of the federal family, the territorial governments, and all of the land claim beneficiaries. This group comes together on topics of mutual interest. It really helps make the dollar go much further than it would in as expensive an environment as we're looking at.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has a very large mandate due to Canada's extensive coastlines. What are some of the unique challenges DFO must address in dealing with the Arctic policy that it didn't have to deal with before?

[David Burden]

I don't think anything has really changed.

You know, people talk about climate change, and the Arctic opening up, and how we're going to have ice-free waters. I think that's a bit of a misconception. The reality is that reduced ice doesn't mean no ice. There are a number of vessels transiting those waters for.... They're there earlier and they're there later. We're going to have to look at how we can provide services to that.

Clearly, as more folks are plying those waters, we'll want better charting. We'll want better coast guard coverage. We'll want more informed science on what the ramifications of those interactions will be. We have a plan in place to address this, and it's just one of those things where you never have enough money to do everything you want to do. No organization does.

It comes back to what we talked about earlier: partnerships. If we can continue to find the synergies in those linkages, I think we'll be well served going forward.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

In the past, Canada has had problems with foreigners coming to fish in our fertile waters. With more access to the Arctic Ocean, what is the risk that this will happen again, and what can be done to pre-emptively address this?

[David Burden]

Again, on the partnership side we have Transport Canada aerial surveillance, where we look for pollution. We have sovereignty patrols from the coast guard as well as the Department of National Defence.

What I do is that I have some of my conservation officers on board those assets when they're going out. There is very good cooperation. If there is a spare seat, we usually try to fill it. That allows us to have a core program that's going out, but we have add-ons to them.

We've done a considerable amount of work on surveillance programs to enforce our fisheries mandate and ensure that those who are fishing in our waters are complying with our rules and regulations. When they don't, then because of this capacity we're able to take appropriate action and deal with it.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Okay.

I'll pass the rest of my time to Mr. Dechert.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You'll pass all 30 seconds to him.

We're supposed to finish up at 12, so let's just finish up with what you have, Bob.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

That's very generous of you.

Thank you, Ms. Grewal.

I have one quick question for Mr. Burden about the importance of icebreaking operations to the fishing industry.

I know there are currently icebreaking operations starting in some of the southern waters that you're responsible for. I wonder if you could tell us about the significance of that to the fishing industry and about the plans for the Arctic region in that regard.

[David Burden]

I don't profess to speak for the coast guard. I spent many years in the agency, and it was some of the proudest service I had, but I think the commissioner would rather speak to the coast guard issues.

That said, as I said in my remarks, as you have more traffic, there will be more requirement for more of a coast guard presence in the Arctic. The government has unveiled plans for a replacement of the Louis S. St-Laurent, and the John G. Diefenbaker is something we're all looking forward to having in our tool kit. Clearly, we have assets available to us as we look at advancing the programs and services. Those assets are tasked over a broad area.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Lois, do you have a quick question?

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I would like to ask one small question.

As we see the north open and we know that ecotourism is going to become more interesting, has DFO done some research, or do you have any baseline for research on what impact that will have on the fish stocks in certain areas?

Are there any agreements on where ecotourism could go? Are we starting to build those alliances with our circumpolar neighbours? Do you have any thoughts on that?

[David Burden]

It's a very good question, but I don't have any knowledge—

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

DFO doesn't have any—

[David Burden]

Well, the ecotourism side would be outside of our mandate, but I understand where you're coming from on what the ramifications of it would be. I guess I could hide behind the comfort of knowing that it's emerging but it's not emerging that much, and it's in areas where clearly we're not having a lot of fishery. It is in areas where people want to go to see polar bears, and they want to go to see ice, and those are not really conducive to fishing.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

The backtrack would be whether we have acquired any research data on where cruise lines go now in fishing areas and whether we expect that any of that information will be applicable in the north or whether we are dealing with something that is so totally different that we just don't know yet.

[David Burden]

I think it's more the latter.

To answer the first part of your question, if there's a vessel transiting in the Arctic, particularly a cruise ship, we know where it is and there's reporting. I imagine Jody Thomas and others have spoken about NORDREG and that kind of stuff. That's one part of it. The other part of the response would be that we're just not seeing them in the same areas where we're prosecuting the fishery.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Certainly, there is unlikely to be the same volume as we would have, say, in the Caribbean or along the east coast of North America.

[David Burden]

No. There are a few vessels. I'm familiar with one, the Hanseatic. It basically makes a circuit and just keeps going through. I've run into it pretty much every time I've been in the Arctic in the summer. That's usually as it's going up through there.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Ms. Sauvé.

[Renée Sauvé]

I will just comment from an Arctic Council perspective.

This idea of increased marine tourism and potential implications to environments and communities of the north is something that's been recognized. Certainly, Minister Aglukkaq has recognized that as a priority initiative that she would like the council to put some effort into developing best practices or guidelines for, because I think this is something she's heard a lot from her constituents about regarding their concerns about the potential implications of increased marine tourism on their environment and their communities. It is something that is top of mind—let's put it that way—in an Arctic Council context.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you.