Thank you for the presentations today. I think it's a very important topic. The Arctic is viewed by most of the world as a crisis area, where change is so rapid now that the assumptions we made even back in Ilulissat don't really hold up as well anymore because the conditions have changed so dramatically.
I have a question for Ms. Johnson. This Arctic Council is an international body dedicated to international issues. You see the agenda is very importantly speaking about responsible Arctic resource development and sustainable communities. Those are really national issues. They are of great importance, but they are national issues. How do you see that those particular issues, which need to be played out in Canada prior to being played out on the international scene, represent the best foot forward here? Quite clearly, the Arctic Council has been engaged in issues—such as search and rescue, ecosystem management areas, and shipping—to do with the importance of the connections between the countries and the international aspect of the Arctic.
What we see here are sub-themes that focus very much on responsible resource development, which is part of Canadian policy. How do you see that this is the best direction forward when we see a circumpolar Arctic requiring so much international cooperation on the issues that are not simply national but international?