Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the invitation to speak today.
As I am a long-time northerner, in my opinion the perfect person was chosed when it was announced that the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq would chair the Arctic Council. While many study the north, you can only truly understand the challenges and complexities facing the north if you have lived there.
Climate change, economic development, sovereignty, and the environment are important issues to the north. All of these directly impact the safety and well-being of northerners. In my role within the Government of Nunavut, balancing these issues with meeting the needs of our citizens influences how we make decisions in delivering programs.
Recently, the Arctic Council created a task force to work on an international instrument for Arctic marine oil pollution preparedness and response. I believe that a draft document has been completed and is under review. Prior to this, an agreement among circumpolar states was reached on search and rescue in the Arctic. This is to be applauded. However, a commitment of substantial resources to both people and equipment is required to meet the intent detailed in the agreement.
Search and rescue in the Arctic is something I live with on a daily basis. Culturally, being on the land, using the natural resources by fishing and hunting to obtain food, skins, and other material is a part of traditional northern peoples' lives. Today, it also has a large economic benefit. Many are hunters or trappers and rely on the land as part of their livelihood.
Over the years, we have seen a steady increase in search and rescue incidents. Climate change is a major factor facing a hunter today. Hunters must travel farther from their homes into areas they traditionally did not travel. This puts them at greater risk of getting lost or worse. Elders now say they can no longer read the weather.
The Government of Nunavut responds to approximately 150 search and rescue incidents each year. In 2012, we responded to 178 incidents involving 315 people. Most search and rescues involve northerners, but as northern development escalates, tourism and vessel traffic in the opening Arctic waters will naturally multiply. The increase in air transportation and shipping that coincides with resource development will further add to the environmental and human risk. The increase in economic development equals an increase in shipping. As the Arctic seaway opens more and more, sea traffic will expand. A major emergency or environmental disaster is waiting to happen.
We have already been beset with challenges involving a cruise ship and two fuel tankers in Nunavut waters. All three incidents took place within one month of each other. The motor vessel Clipper Adventurer, with 128 people on board, ran aground near Kugluktuk. It took the Coast Guard two days to reach the ship and remove passengers to the local community. Such incidents could have resulted in loss of life or a huge environmental disaster. The nearest Coast Guard ship was 500 kilometres away in the Beaufort Sea.
While the Canadian Forces can respond with 11 hours to an incident anywhere in the Canadian Arctic, that response will likely be a Hercules aircraft with SAR technicians. They will and have given their lives to assist those in need, but their efforts could be futile without the ability to evacuate survivors in a reasonable time. Also consider the 100,000 international airline passengers who fly over the Arctic every day. A forced landing in one of the harshest climates in the world would require a response in a matter of hours. How do we develop the response capacity for the Arctic? How do we consider the costs?
Purchasing equipment, building facilities, and training personnel will be expensive. For example, look at the costs of the proposed offshore vessels. The costs of these vessels will be in the many millions of dollars, with additional millions of dollars in operational costs annually. But I would suggest they are better equipped to operate in southern waters than in the Arctic. With the lack of port facilities the operational time in the Arctic will be limited to just a few weeks before they must return to a port.
But we don't have to do that. For less money than the cost of these vessels, we could equip, operate, and at the same time support Arctic communities and people to take on this role. We would add seasonal employment, increase the capacity to respond in a timely manner, increase our sovereignty, increase our situational awareness in the area, and in the long run save money. Task the Canadian Rangers into a role that would meet all these objectives.
For approximately $1.5 million annually, vessels in the north could be operated by northerners. The operations and maintenance budget could fund the patrol during the summer months and be the eyes and ears of the military. Moreover, the vessels could be utilized for marine search and rescue calls. People could also be trained in marine oil-spill containment. The vessels would proudly carry a Canadian flag.
As co-chair of the northern round table on search and rescue, it has become more and more apparent that what is lacking is a national search and rescue policy. The Government of Canada, after a royal commission in the 1970s, set up the National Search and Rescue Secretariat. Its role was to set policy and develop processes and procedures for inter-jurisdictional, inter-departmental response for search and rescue.
Over the years, there have been many reviews and reports published with conclusions and recommendations on improving and developing a national search and rescue policy. These documents are available on the secretariat's website. Few, if any, of the recommendations have ever been implemented.
I would suggest that the Arctic Council develop a national search and rescue policy that could be held up as an internationally accepted instrument for other Arctic jurisdictions to adopt and implement. The benefit would be for all our citizens.
As resource development increases, so will the population in the Arctic. There's a constant need to replace outdated infrastructure and to add new facilities. This will only grow as the north develops. But without the implementation of a long-term transportation strategy, and the financial backing to execute the plan, we are hostage to a very fragile system. Perishable food, drugs, and other supplies must come by air. While many goods come during the annual sea lift, the daily necessities rely on this system. Serious medical emergencies cannot be handled in many communities, and rely only on the air transportation system. This system is at best antiquated and limited.
In Nunavut, only two airport locations have instrument-assisted landing systems. Runways are mostly unpaved, have limited capacity to land large aircraft, and have only basic Nav Canada services. Should we ever lose a power generation plant, only half the communities have a runway that will accept aircraft large enough to bring in replacement generators.
Northern development has always been tied to transportation. Note how in Canada the area once called the Northwest Territories became a large part of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. This all came about when the railroad was built and opened the frontier. The north is the next frontier to be opened, and a transportation system will be the only way that the potential of the north is realized.
As noted previously, there is only one deep-water port, and it is located at the abandoned Nanisivik mine site. While the annual sea lift is critical to the operation of all communities in Nunavut, it adds an additional risk due to the lack of proper docking facilities. Fuel must be pumped to a shore-receiving area in floating booms, increasing the chance of an ocean spill. All equipment and goods must be transferred from the main ship to tugboats pushing barges, which are then pushed ashore for offloading—again, increasing risk and time to deliver. Without proper docking facilities, even with a heavy-class icebreaker, emergency supplies could not be landed in communities in the winter.
A major emergency in the community will quickly overwhelm the resources available. Without further development of transportation infrastructure, most communities would have to be evacuated if we lost the most basic services. The loss of a power plant, fuel storage facility, or water treatment facility could close a community for many months, if not years. The human and financial impact would be devastating.
The north has changed in the 30 years I've lived there. While I know that most northerners are much more resilient than their southern neighbours, we are unfortunately becoming a just-in-time society. A five-day blizzard in Iqaluit impacts throughout Baffin Island communities. Perishable foods such as milk and vegetables are quickly sold out. The supply chain is interrupted, and priority shipping of goods leaves other goods, no matter how badly needed, sitting in Ottawa or Yellowknife.
We recently held a conference on food security and the need for utilizing more country food such as locally caught fish, seal, and caribou. But what was missed is that in today's world food security comes from a robust and sustainable transportation system, a system that will allow for the products and goods to be shipped at a comparable cost and as reliably as for southern shipping.
I thank you for your time, and I hope I've have given you some ideas and some thoughts to take away.