Transport committee  We have had discussions with neighbours.

Transport committee  Certainly this has been public knowledge. You haven't passed this act yet, but it certainly has been announced by the Prime Minister, and the minute you do pass this, then it will be the law of Canada and then it will be up to us to make it much clearer.

Transport committee  The Russians in fact are playing catch-up. We were there ahead of everybody. Article 234 was a visionary article that we saw as necessary to protecting our interests. Others who weren't as active did not use it at that time. Clearly, the Russians have determined that their Northeast Passage is a much more viable commercial route than our Northwest Passage, and it's quite clear that they intend to maximize their interests commercially in that passage.

Transport committee  Clearly, you may do that once, but you'd never do it again if you're a military vessel. There is a provision for exclusion of military vessels in an exemption in the act. I don't think we've ever had a problem with any kind of pollution with any military vessels in the life of the current AWPPA.

Transport committee  Well, you've raised about a seminar's worth of questions here, and I'll try to reduce it to bite-size chunks. First of all, there's a mythology out there that somehow because there's snow and ice in the Arctic—the Canadian and all the other Arctics—it's similar to the Antarctic.

Transport committee  Part of our outreach and diplomacy, especially with respect to Arctic matters, is to consult with our neighbours, our friends, and others who are like-minded in other countries in general. In connection with our extension of the additional 100 miles, we did speak to a number of our counterparts abroad, and generally found very warm receptivity, certainly among the eight Arctic nations, and among others as well, particularly for the environmental aspect of it.

Transport committee  From our Arctic neighbours, no one has specifically said anything about the bill as such. We got some response when the Prime Minister announced this extension in August. Our American friends did want some more information on this. They are aware, clearly, of the 100-nautical-mile zone.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, members of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to talk about Bill C-3, which proposes to amend the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act. My name is Alan Kessel , and I am a legal adviser with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In fact, I note that the committee member has in the past supported this particular initiative of the government. We're encouraged by that, particularly because the provinces that have already indicated a strong interest in Canada adhering to this have indicated this is an alternative measure they see as important.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning to you and committee members. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is unfortunately not able to join us today. He is out of the country. He has asked me to speak on his behalf, and I am delighted to have a very competent team with me who will be able to answer many of your questions when we get to that portion of the discussion this morning.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'll talk a little about the image. I think Canada's image is rather good. I don't believe we have a problem with respect to image on this issue. If we were a country that didn't have any domestic mechanisms, or we hadn't signed onto the Convention Against Torture, or we weren't a leader in human rights, I could understand.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Like all international instruments, we talk to departments and our provincial counterparts at the beginning of the process, so we started talking about this issue when we were negotiating the protocol.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Was it a year? During the period, I don't know....

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Right. Was it 1992?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's very interesting you say that, because I spent ten years working on the development of the International Criminal Court treaty. It started its discussions at Nuremberg and Tokyo. We were grateful when we got what we did, and I think you have to look at each specific issue in and of itself.