Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 5th, 2013

[Tom Paddon]

Just very quickly, in terms of environmental impact of this particular project, it's of particular interest in that there's no processing, so there are no tailings ponds and no chemical additives or anything else. It's very simplistic, because as you say, it's a very high-grade ore and a very large deposit. It's simply a matter of mining, crushing, taking it to a port, and then shipping it out. In terms of environmental impacts, those have been carefully looked at through the Inuit-driven and -governed Nunavut Impact Review Board.

In terms of the benefits, I think we usually associate the benefits with jobs. Jobs are an important part of it, but I think there's a broader collaboration, which is to provide for stronger communities in the north. Companies are very interested in having long-term success. Long-term success is best found if you can have vested local interest in ensuring that you are successful.

So we want to see stronger communities, well-educated, healthy communities that can participate in the projects and ensure their viability over the long term. There's a natural alignment there, and we should all take advantage of it.

In terms of how it can be exported, I think one of the things that Canada can point to is that this is a very well-developed, mature, safe place to make investments that frequently measure in the billions of dollars. Industry is interested in those kinds of contexts rather than ones that might be subject to greater change.

It is an enviable situation to have, and we should make sure that people understand that it's something to aspire to.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You have perfect timing. Thank you very much.

That's it for this round. We'll have to catch anything maybe in the following round.

Mr. Bevington, you have five minutes.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Thank you to our presenter.

I was in the aboriginal affairs and northern development committee meeting this morning where I think your expertise on the Nunavut environmental assessment process would have been really appropriate. But this is of course a discussion of Arctic policy and not a discussion about national policy. It's about how the Arctic Council works.

The Arctic Council has six main working groups. There are four environmental protection strategy working groups, and there are two additional groups, a sustainable development working group and an Arctic contaminants action program. So the Arctic Council's work is pretty well laid out in many ways. It deals a lot with international agreements on the environment and how to protect that.

You spoke about how you'd like to see a facts-based approach at the Arctic Council. Could you elaborate on what you meant by that? Do you mean that the people who are dealing with these issues in these working groups are not striking out and looking at facts?

[Tom Paddon]

I should probably start by elaborating on what I said, which was that there is from time to time in the public consciousness a lack of, in my opinion, facts-based consideration of what's happening in the north rather than within the Arctic Council.

So in talking about the potential benefits or the potential activities of some sort of an Arctic business strategy or an Arctic business group—I'm trying to avoid using the word “council” to differentiate it from the Arctic Council itself—there is value in presenting a more accurate picture of what is actually occurring in the north.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Are you speaking about the environment or are you speaking about—

[Tom Paddon]

I'm talking about industry in general. As an example of what's happening in Canada this very—

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Isn't what happens in the Arctic a matter of national policy in terms of economic development on your project, other mining projects, and oil and gas projects? There are national policies set by the Government of Canada or by the three territories whenever they have a chance to input any little bit into that policy. Don't you agree?

[Tom Paddon]

Well, I'm probably not explaining myself well. My point is that I'm not talking necessarily about just the Canadian national consciousness. I'm understanding how from a broad-based point of view there is value in ensuring that there is a good understanding of what's occurring in terms of the levels of accountability to which business is generally held in much of the Arctic, not just in Canada but in other countries as well, be it Norway or whatever.

So there is value in having—

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Are you proposing a show-and-tell approach to the Arctic Council and saying that we should be there to promote what we're doing in each individual country and exhibit that, so other countries can take a look at it? Do you think the Arctic Council has to deal with setting up international agreements on these very important topics that are crucial to the north?

I know that you, in dealing with the north, would understand how important international agreements on search and rescue are, or international agreements on handling ecosystem management between countries that share common waters and common species. Don't you think those things are subjects that an international group dealing with cooperation—not with show-and-tell but with cooperation—need to have as their highest priority?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You have 45 seconds.

[Tom Paddon]

They are indeed the business of the Arctic Council. The suggestion is that there could be benefit from the Arctic Council engaging and having the input of business in the Arctic in order to consider that input in formulating those types of agreements and the work of the Arctic Council itself.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Wouldn't countries bring that forward as part of their engagement with the Arctic Council? Our national government's engaged there. If they had a business interest, they would include that in their development of international cooperation, wouldn't you think?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Could we have just a quick response?

[Tom Paddon]

Absolutely, they could, but, just in the same way that businesses come together to form chambers of commerce or anything else, they too can decide to promote a particular perspective.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

We're going to move over to Ms. Brown for the last question of this round.

You have five minutes.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I didn't know I was getting one. I thought Nina was going to get it.

Mr. Paddon, thank you very much.

You said in your opening remarks that your parents were medical missionaries in the north. May I therefore assume that you were born in the north?

[Tom Paddon]

Yes.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

So you have a vested interest—

[Tom Paddon]

Absolutely.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

—in the health of the north, and in seeing the environment cared for and the peoples of the north cared for. I wonder if you can talk—I'm going to assume that you're 29 plus tax as I am in age—from your life history of being in the north about the changes you've seen. Are the things going on there now positive? Are they helpful? Or are there some things that you should say to us that we need to stop and take stock of?

[Tom Paddon]

That's an interesting question, because I'm from a community of 500 people in the north and a community that is, along with its neighbouring community of Sheshatshiu, tri-cultural. It's settler, Inuit, and Innu in one small location. Things have changed a great deal since I started observing in some sort of a useful way, which was somewhere in the 1970s. I think that along with some of the recognition and empowerment of aboriginal people have come challenges. It's a maturation process that we can expect to take some time. Peoples are expected to make the advancement that my culture made over a much longer period of time. There are rough spots in it.

I have no doubt there is plenty of good work to be done now in the north, and my particular interest is—and you're right, I'm vested—in seeing what can be done with the tools at our disposal to make things as beneficial, from a number of points of view, as possible. I have responsibilities as CEO of a business that is owned by other businesses that have stakeholders and shareholders. But I also have responsibilities as a resident and a long-term passionate stakeholder in the north to see what else can be done. I think there's plenty of opportunity to take the common interests of business, of aboriginal people, and of the state or states—if we're talking about the Arctic Council—to fashion something that is more than the simple interests of any one of those. That's what I would hope we could find a way to do through the Arctic Council.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

We're seeing new opportunities in the north. We had some witnesses here, before we had our break, who were talking about the incredible opportunities for education in the north. They said they are seeing new opportunities for Internet access. In fact, some of the northern areas have Internet access that even Ontario would envy. We're seeing those kinds of things open up, and I'm sure they're making more opportunities for skills development which in turn are making opportunities in business for people to get jobs and to have some new input into their own communities.

[Tom Paddon]

I think the fundamental question is whether the appropriate controls and authorities exist at the right place to ensure that things are done responsibly and to the appropriate level. From my experience, both in Labrador and Nunavut, the state has all of the tools it needs at its disposal, and the aboriginal people in both Nunavut and Labrador have the tools they need at their disposal to ensure that their opinions are appropriately considered. When you have that and the ability of, or the interest of, or perhaps the perception of industry that it is the long haul that works—and that is dependent on beneficial relationships all around—then you can have appropriate and responsible development.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

We're going to go with Ms. Grewal for five minutes.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Paddon, for your time and your presentation.

In order to successfully navigate the future of the Arctic, we must first build a bridge between the traditional knowledge of the people who live there and the new realities of their rapidly changing communities, and then there is an ongoing effort to ensure that the circumpolar communities adapt quickly to these changes.

In your opinion, how can we provide these communities with the tools that will help them in the transition?