Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
I am a Canada research chair in the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science at Dalhousie University, but more relevant to the discussions today, I am the president of the Canadian Network of Northern Research Operators, the CNNRO, which represents the many Arctic research facilities in the Canadian Arctic. I'm also the principal investigator for the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory, PEARL, at Eureka, Nunavut, and the president of the international Forum of Arctic Research Operators, FARO, which has 20 countries as members.
The CNNRO is composed of facilities across the Canadian Arctic that support many varied research programs, and some have been operational for many years, even decades. Currently we have 26 regular members and nine associate members. The genesis of the CNNRO was the realization that although each individual facility enabled excellent research, the great needs of the Arctic and the interfaces with large European and American projects required a more collaborative approach.
Although much of the discussion today will centre around CHARS, the very significant amount of research infrastructure already present in the Canadian Arctic should not be forgotten. As a specific example, in a recent proposal to the Canada Foundation for Innovation for operations and maintenance support, a subset of seven of the land-based members of the CNNRO documented a continuing investment in research support of more than $4 million per year from many sources.
The CNNRO is supportive of the CHARS initiative and is very pleased with the increased attention it has brought to Arctic research. When the station becomes operational in 2017, it will provide a welcome and significant increment to the overall research capability in the Canadian Arctic. Even before 2017, member facilities look forward to supporting research funded by CHARS across the Arctic.
In order to maximize the effectiveness of the investment that the Government of Canada is making in CHARS, we would suggest some minor improvements to the proposed legislation.
We are concerned that CHARS not be seen as Canada's only facility for Arctic research. CHARS is an excellent concept, but one site cannot hope to provide the necessary research infrastructure over the immense range of conditions in the Canadian Arctic. To give one specific example, the distance between my PEARL facility and CHARS is comparable with the distance between Ottawa and Charlotte, North Carolina. No one would—I hope—base decisions for Ottawa on data gathered in North Carolina. CHARS must be seen as an important part of a properly resourced network stretching across our country, not as a single stop for research and research dollars.
The new organization formed by the amalgamation of CHARS and the CPC will have research responsibilities that go well beyond the Cambridge Bay facilities and indeed will stretch across the planet to the Antarctic. As such, it is important that its management structure be well designed for its whole role.
We would call attention to the need for comprehensive reporting to you and to the public, not only about activities in Cambridge Bay but also across both poles and the full range of actors, both governmental and non-governmental, across the Arctic. We believe that the more comprehensive the reporting, the more efficient and effective will be the response to the many complex challenges confronting the Arctic. Full reporting will also aid in our interactions with the other Arctic countries and their research programs.
In terms of governance, we would like to emphasize the need to choose board members for the new organization from as wide a constituency as possible and to ensure that board members are and remain effective in their governance role. We note that there is no specific mechanism for choosing and monitoring the performance of board members and ensuring that the representation remains as wide and active as possible. A specific mechanism to deal with this issue would be welcome.
In conclusion, the CNNRO would like to thank you for the opportunity to present our comments today, and we look forward to supporting an exciting program of Arctic research in the future.