Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being with us today.
My questions are for Professor Huebert. It's wonderful to see you again, Professor, and thank you again for being a witness for us at the public safety and national security committee when you attended back in the early spring to give us testimony about Canada's security posture in response to Russian aggression and the invasion of Ukraine. It's wonderful to hear your insights here today.
I want to sort of repeat back to you some of what you've shared with us and then give you the floor to elaborate. You mentioned that when we're thinking about China and the Canadian Arctic, we should be thinking about four areas. You mentioned science and how they have been doing scientific exploration in the Arctic since the eighties. You mentioned resources and how they have an interest in gold and strategic minerals up there. You mentioned fishing. You also touched on governance in terms of the Arctic Council being suspended and what that means for the governance structure we have had with that council, and how since then they seem to have been cozying up to Russia. That's what I understand from what you shared. You ended by talking about the strategic implications, and you highlighted even further that China and Russia now seem to be working very closely together. From what you said, it sounds as though they've done joint missions now into the Arctic with various marine vessels.
Taking all of that into consideration, can you give us your expert opinion with respect to what China wants to achieve in the Arctic, particularly in what we would consider to be our Arctic territory? What are they looking to achieve? Could you kind of sum that up in simple terms for us?