Foreign Affairs Committee on March 5th, 2013

[Duane Smith]

It varies among the permanent participants. The Inuit Circumpolar Council was created long before the Arctic Council to ensure that the Inuit view and the Inuit rights were respected. This organization was put in place to do that.

So within the Arctic Council framework, we're a part of that, yes, but it has limited success, I guess I would say, primarily because of the lack of capacity within the permanent participants to adequately be involved in various activities where they should be, and also recognizing that even the states sometimes have limited capacity on some of these issues.

Again, it's as much as we can do within that structure. If we had more capacity, then I think much more could be achieved within the work of the Arctic Council.

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

What do you see as the proper kind of balance between economic development and the protection of the environment in the north?

As well, do you foresee a significant expansion in commercial business in the Arctic in the near or medium term? Where will that increased activity mostly be seen in the Arctic? Could you tell us something about that?

[Duane Smith]

That's why I was reflecting on and pointing out the Inuit modern-day treaties or land claims, because they have their processes in place in regard to how development will proceed within those areas. This is also recognizing that some activities proceed much more rapidly than others.

You're asking me for my view on this. I would just say that the Inuit view in the past has been that, yes, we welcome development, but at a pace that can be managed in such a way that it has minimal effect on the environment and the ecosystem within that area, and at the same time remediating as it proceeds, so that we're also cleaning up behind ourselves at the same time as we're developing.

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

Thank you, sir.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

We're going to move over to Dr. Bennett.

Welcome to the committee. We'll give you seven minutes.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to follow up on the question of my colleague opposite with regard to the effectiveness of the permanent participant mechanism and what you were suggesting in terms of capacity.

What would it take for there to be improved capacity for the permanent participants? Is that support that needs to come from all governments, or is it something that Canada should be helping with in a different way?

[Duane Smith]

Thank you for the question.

I think it's a little bit of both. It's not just the responsibility of Canada but the responsibility of the Arctic states, when the Arctic Council was created, to ensure that the permanent participants were meaningfully involved within the Arctic Council.

I would suggest that we would entertain having the ability for a few technical people. That's the extent of it. In regard to all of the research, the activities that are taking place within the Arctic Council, I can't go into each and every one of them because the magnitude and the scope of it has elevated so much in recent years due to increased attention, due to the mandate and the activities being undertaken within the respective states on the Arctic. But it would be good if we had a couple of technical people to assist us in ensuring we adequately covered these activities. I'm not suggesting that we would need a staff of 20 to 40 people; I'm just suggesting a few people to assist us in ensuring our views are considered within these activities.

I would also point out that the Inuit Circumpolar Council is much more active than others. Within the Arctic Council we're actually leading a couple of projects within one of the working groups under the Arctic Council. So it all depends on the capacity of the permanent participants as well.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Obviously part of the job of this committee is to make recommendations. So you would hope that in the report on Arctic policy, increased capacity, resources, and research capacity, particularly, would be part and parcel of supporting the permanent participants like you.

[Duane Smith]

Well, I would hope so, especially within this short timeframe, because not only Canada but North America.... The United States will be the chair right after Canada, so the Inuit Circumpolar Council takes the view that North America will also be dealing with this issue over the next four-year timeframe. If we want to ensure that the agendas of both of those chairmanships are achievable, then the Inuit Circumpolar Council, as resident within those two chairmanship regions, has the capacity to ensure a system in achieving those.

I would also suggest that it's the responsibility of the eight Arctic states as well. It shouldn't just be Canada or the United States. It's a process that's been under discussion for many years within the Arctic Council. The senior Arctic officials haven't been able to come up with a structure or formula to adequately address permanent participant involvement. Right now you have one indigenous organization that's suspended within Russia, and how do we deal with that issue, because they need to be there because they're recognized as participants, but they're not at this time.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

I guess that's the question. I'm pleased to hear that the minister has been consulting, but I'm also a bit wary that sometimes this government's view of consultation is more like an information session.

On things as important as climate change, how will you ensure that the voices of indigenous people, the Inuit, are presented to the council and dealt with as a priority to the council while we have the chair?

[Duane Smith]

Coincidentally, I will be in Ottawa next week. I'm hosting a workshop under the Arctic Council, where I'm bringing Inuit and other experts from the circumpolar Arctic together to conduct a workshop in regard to their observations, their knowledge, what they're trying to do to adapt to the changing Arctic, what they see taking place within their communities, how it's affecting them. We want to document these as well as go out into the field to the degree possible where we can gather further first-hand information and knowledge within those communities and put it into a report, where, as you suggest, we would make the appropriate recommendations based on this information to the Arctic Council on how to alleviate the negative impacts of the changing climate.

That's one key example, and it's focused at this time on Inuit and experts within the Arctic who are knowledgeable about that issue.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

In the present structure, as a permanent participant, are you able to put that forward even if Canada didn't put climate change as a priority?

[Duane Smith]

I do note that climate change, to some degree, is in the policy. But it's an agreed-upon activity project that's undertaken within the Arctic Council, which Canada is a part of. Not everybody is going to agree to the extent on every activity, but it's recognizing that certain things need to be conducted so that everybody can make a better informed decision on such things. If Canada agrees or not, I can't say, because this project was approved under the Arctic Council at the last chairmanship, and ICC is trying to deliver on that mandate within our schedule.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

We've been visited by the European Union representatives. Do you have a view as to whether the European Union or China, Singapore, should be granted permanent observer status, and whether they should be in the room or in some other little room?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

That's all the time we have, but I'll let you answer the question, Mr. Smith, if you would.

[Duane Smith]

Okay, I'll try to be very brief.

The EU itself is not a country and it's not a state. It's a group. They do have their own policies in place that actually conflict with not only our culture but the sustainable practices that Canada signed onto as well. But again, all we can do as the Inuit Circumpolar Council is advise the Arctic Council that we would like to see certain things changed by some of these applicants to reflect the practices and agreed-upon processes within the Arctic Council. The Arctic Council has signed on, as the eight Arctic states, in regard to various processes and understandings, and the observers are supposed to agree to that. So that's a question that still needs to be clarified.

In regard to the other applicants, there are of course human rights issues. There are key questions such as how they would proactively contribute to the mandate of the Arctic Council. The second pillar within every observer applicant is how they're going to work with the permanent participants. That's one question they continue to ignore answering when they have applied.

The Arctic Council is in the process of developing criteria in regard to observers, where observers will be periodically reviewed, on a regular basis, so that it's ensured they're taking part in the Arctic Council activities in a proactive manner.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Mr. Smith. That's all the time we have. We're over just a bit there.

Mr. Williamson, we're going to start the second round at five minutes per witness. Mr. Williamson, the floor is yours.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Thank you for joining us today.

I want to follow up with a little more precision on something you just said. You said that the EU has practices that conflict with the culture, and I believe you said “development”. Could you tease that out a bit? What are you suggesting there?

[Duane Smith]

I don't recall saying “development”, but what I was saying is that the Arctic Council has signed on to a process that reflects and recognizes the eight Arctic states' domestic practices. The EU has put a ban in place, even though it doesn't reflect the need to protect seals in this case, but it's a ban that has a negative effect not only on Canada, but on the cultural practices of the Inuit within Canada and the other regions. We'd like to see that resolved in a manner, as well as develop an understanding not only with the EU, if they were successful in their observer application, but with all of the observers in regard to how they would work closely with us in delivering the Arctic Council mandate.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

I think it was in your initial notes that you talked about polar bears, or you referenced them, anyway. One of the things we're hearing on the news and reading about is a declining population. Yet, when individuals who are actually on the ground in the north are asked for their opinion, we get a different opinion altogether. What's your view on this question of the polar bear hunt and the numbers and the various views that are out there?

[Duane Smith]

As I stated earlier, there are more polar bears on this earth now than ever before. It's part of the management practices that not only Canada but the Inuit organizations have agreed to within their modern-day treaties for sustainable use and management. Canada has also signed onto recognizing the Inuit right to harvest those species as well as to exercise how they conduct those harvesting activities with others.

There are certain criteria, including that a harvest has to be conducted in a traditional manner, and so on. That has actually turned out to be a mechanism that's supportive of increasing the polar bear population, because if those hunts are unsuccessful, then an allocated tag is taken off the quota for that year and it cannot be used again. It's actually beneficial to have certain numbers allocated for that purpose because of the low success rate.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you. I have one last question.

Do you think the Government of Canada should actively refute these findings, promote the polar bear hunt in a manner similar to what they've done for the seal industry, and be active on it?

[Duane Smith]

To some degree, Canada is. We have been working with Canada. Canada is overseas as we speak, along with many other Inuit organizations, in Thailand right now in regard to the CITES convention which is under way at this time. We're working together to try to lobby the various countries not to support the United States' proposal to list polar bears in appendix I.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

We'll move to Mr. Bevington for five minutes.