Fisheries Committee on March 10th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. Hodge. Thank you, Ms. Blaney.

For seven minutes, we go.... Actually, you're splitting your time, I understand.

We'll start with Mr. Finnigan for three and a half minutes, and then we'll have Mr. Hardie for three and a half minutes.

[Pat Finnigan, Liberal, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for addressing the committee today.

I have one question regarding the recording we just heard. I understand that was 2012. From what the Coast Guard has been telling us, the newer equipment is much clearer and much more efficient. Can you comment on that and tell us why you haven't brought a 2016 or 2015 recording?

[Scott Hodge]

That recording is on the new equipment that was installed in Iqaluit when Inuvik was closed. That is from the new equipment. That was from a freedom of information request. We asked for that three years ago and just got it a couple of months ago.

I know that recordings were made in Prince Rupert in January, when they tested out the fix they did up there, and we've tried to get copies of them. There are copies of recordings that were made by our members, but I can't really release those.

[Pat Finnigan, Liberal, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Thank you.

I have another question. If I understand, and of course it's certainly not the field of my expertise, but we're not cutting any rescue equipment or closing any.... In other words, as far as the equipment to get to the emergency call, everything is the same as it was. We're only talking about an emergency communication system.

If Unifor were eventually satisfied that the system does work as it should, would you be in favour of the new concentration of the whole emergency response system?

[Scott Hodge]

It's as we put it before. It's just like a 911 operator, but the difference is that in a 911 centre, you're waiting for a telephone to ring, and once the phone rings you know it's an emergency.

I don't know if you've been at a Newfoundland kitchen party or anything like that. There are conversations going on all around you, and every once in a while you'll hear something in another conversation that intrigues you, but you can't hear all of it.

It's the same sort of thing when you're listening to different radio channels. You're not just listening to channel 16, as has been pointed out. If you are, and it's in Prince Rupert, for instance, then you're listening to channel 16 on 22 different sites, plus you're listening to channel 83A, which is a Coast Guard working channel, plus a couple of other channels as well, plus MF. All of this noise is coming in at the same time.

The more you concentrate the noise and the more noise you have there, the less likely you are to hear somebody call for help. Often when a call comes in, it is exactly that. It's “help”, or somebody who asks if anyone can hear them. It could be anything. People in trouble don't always say “mayday”, or “fire” or “I'm sinking”. Sometimes it's a simple request.

I recall a fisherman who called up one time and said he was taking on a bit of water and had been taking on water, actually, for about four hours. They were off the north coast of Vancouver Island. The guy didn't seem concerned at all, but it was a big issue, because that boat did sink and there was loss of lives.

Emergencies aren't always just “help”. It's not like that. If you can't hear the call properly, what are you supposed to do? Sometimes it's only one call, and I can give you lots of examples.

[Pat Finnigan, Liberal, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Okay. Do I have any more time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

You have 20 seconds.

[Pat Finnigan, Liberal, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Okay.

Since the concentration or modernization, if I can use that word, began some years ago, do you have any statistics that show we've had a greater number of incidents, such as deaths or injuries, on the water?

[Scott Hodge]

I'd have to say no, but those statistics go up and down every year. I don't think the concentration will necessarily cause more accidents, but we don't have any statistics for what will happen in Victoria, for instance, when everything is combined into one room.

I mentioned earlier that some of our members are scared of actually going to Victoria, and there was comment that if they haven't been there, then how do they know? I worked in Vancouver Traffic—when it was just that—and when Vancouver Coast Guard radio came in. At that time, that was Victoria's area as well. It got noisy in there. You were trying to decipher a lot of different things when a lot of other things were going on around you.

When you take a room that was designed to hold four workstations and you stick 10 of them in there, the noise level will be increased a lot.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. Hodge. I appreciate it.

We will go to Mr. Hardie for the last few minutes, please.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Actually, I will split my time and allow my parliamentary secretary friend here one quick question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

It's looking like a kitchen party all over again.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Go ahead, Mr. Hardie.

We're dealing with issues of quality of audio and with the fragility of the network. For example, if Prince Rupert goes down, everything right down to western Vancouver Island is gone. We're also dealing with staffing issues. However, I also want to talk about community engagement and localization.

If Victoria is saying one thing about what's going on in their part of the ocean, Comox could be saying something else that's very local in that area. Is that correct?

[A voice]

Yes.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

In addition to that, with the closure of the station on west Vancouver Island, haven't you already lost a linkage to people in the community who also, on a volunteer basis or even on a contract basis, got directly involved in assisting where help was needed?

[Dale Gross]

Actually, that is true. Some of the officers I worked with in Ucluelet, at Tofino MCTS, were also members of the auxiliary and were also members of the ham radio club. They participated in a lot of local events.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

And that's gone.

[Dale Gross]

That's gone.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Okay.

Go ahead, Mr. Cormier.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you for being here.

I'd like to go back to a question I asked earlier. I know your group was very vocal about the quality of the new technology. As I asked the previous witness, there was a power outage in Victoria on February 21 that probably lasted 35 minutes or something like that.

Were you aware that this was human error and not due to technology? Were you aware of that?

[Scott Hodge]

Yes.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

You were aware of that. It doesn't have anything to do with the new technology, right?

[Scott Hodge]

It just happened after the new technology was installed.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I think you just said that you were aware that it was human nature. Again, it was human nature. It had nothing to do with the new technology, right?

[Scott Hodge]

Correct. A technician flicked the wrong switch.