First, to provide a little bit more context, if you take a look at the entire spectrum of what we need to do, it covers from safety and security into defence.
Most of our effort right now is focused on that safety side, and that's supporting other government departments and agencies, being it a fuel spill or the like. For example, in Operation Nanook, in 2010, we worked with the coast guard on the scenario that was focused on oil spills. So there are many different scenarios that could happen across the north. That's what we're trying to do to ensure that we provide that same support in the north that we do in the south.
When it comes to drones, one way to have better situational awareness is through UAVs, or through drones. We did actually bring a drone up to the last Nanook--the Nanook 12. We brought a drone up to Nanook 12. I was there. Actually, I watched it being launched. It was used to provide reconnaissance--iceberg reconnaissance, some reconnaissance out in the areas. We found it to be very useful and beneficial to what we needed to do. Given the broad expanse of the area, given that, as some would say, 40% of Canada's terrain is actually in the north, many people have never stepped on much of it.
So drones, UAVs, could provide a good capability to support our different requirements. It's something we are looking at as we move ahead, as perhaps a capability that could better support us in the north.
As you look at this issue on UAVs, the challenge, I would throw back to the committee, is that there are certain laws and regulations that bind the use of UAVs within a civilian construct. So when using them within a city, there are clear laws that have to be respected. In the north there have to be as well. But given population expanse, with very few people, they do and have provided us with some real benefit in the north, as we saw in--