Foreign Affairs Committee on Oct. 7th, 2025

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

You can give a very brief response.

[Robert Sinclair]

I'll answer in English just to make sure I get it right. I apologize.

The waterways are opening and ice is melting. That doesn't mean it's safer. It's also more unpredictable. When you look at the draft of the ships that would look to transit through that area, they need deep water and those channels are the most fraught.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

We'll go next to MP Ziad Aboultaif.

You have five minutes.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We know that vessels and icebreakers pass through, especially from non-Arctic states.

Do we receive requests for permission to access? If we do, how many in the matter of a year, for example?

[Eric Laporte]

I don't have the numbers. I'm also not aware of a whole lot of icebreakers from non-Arctic states transiting through.

Transport Canada would be the government entity that monitors that.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Would General Rivière have any comment on the same question?

[Brigadier-General Daniel Rivière]

I'm sorry. I don't have a comment at this point. I don't have that data, unfortunately.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Sinclair, before the Arctic policy came out, we heard the term “pragmatic diplomacy”.

Is pragmatic diplomacy part of the new policy?

[Robert Sinclair]

Thank you for the question.

Yes, it is part of the policy. It's the second pillar. I would say it's based on an onion skin approach of working most closely with our closest allies—the U.S. and the Nordics—and then working outward from that with the EU, the U.K., Japan and the Republic of Korea to join the north Pacific to the Arctic.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Russia is not on the same list.

[Robert Sinclair]

It is most definitely not. We have some very direct language in the Arctic foreign policy that, as we've noted, there's no return to “business as usual”. It's for Russia to create the conditions for a return to business as we used to know it. We're not bashful about that in any way, shape or form.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Maybe it would be beneficial for the sake of this study to tell the audience what the percentage share is that we have as Canada in the Arctic and what the shares of others are—such as Russia, the United States and Denmark—as the main Arctic states.

[Robert Sinclair]

Russia has about 50% of the Arctic. I would add there that one of the impacts of “no business as usual” with Russia and the closing down of Russian society is an increased demand for access to the Canadian Arctic by researchers. That produces an impact on our Arctic, northern and indigenous partners in terms of the increased interest there.

We have 20-some-odd per cent of the Arctic. I couldn't give you figures about the U.S. and the Nordics.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

In light of what's going on with Russia in Ukraine and the overall policies and politics, Russia and China are co-operating a lot. They've become very strong allies—more than ever.

If they decide to do any military action or any move in the north, are we ready with our allies to defend that? To which level can that defence go in order to be able to not lose any sovereignty in the area?

[Robert Sinclair]

I think my colleague, Eric, is best placed for this one.

[Eric Laporte]

Thank you for the question.

Russia and China are working together in the north. That's a very big space. I could break it down.

In the North American space, we've seen, as mentioned before, Russian and Chinese joint maritime patrols of coast guard and naval ships. For joint long-range bomber flights, those instances were met by NORAD aircraft. Again, there is awareness and there is tracking. Those were turned around.

If we are talking about a Russian-Chinese conflict against NATO, first off, I don't see China being directly involved in a conflict against NATO, but certainly it could potentially be supporting Russia, as we've seen in Ukraine. There, the alliance is prepared. It has the plans, the authorities and the command structure in place to respond.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ahmed Hussen]

Thank you very much.

We'll go next to MP Anita Vandenbeld.

You have five minutes.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you very much.

Thank you for all of the testimony you've already given. It's very useful for our report.

When I asked you about the extended continental shelf, you said something along the lines of that we will be asserting our sovereignty primarily through diplomacy and the international rules-based order. I wonder if you could elaborate on that.

Also, you mentioned the 72 communities, 130,000 people, who are living in the Arctic who identify as Canadian—they go to Canadian schools, receive Canadian social insurance numbers and health care—and the historical presence of those people throughout millennia. Could you talk a little bit about how those things reinforce our sovereignty in that area?

[Robert Sinclair]

In terms of the extended continental shelf, we discussed mapping and knowing what we're talking about. There's the UN commission. We will work through that process, which is a very long-term endeavour. Again, it goes to our Canadian approach of rule of law, and it's important we walk the talk in that regard. I think there's important symbolic value in how we approached Tartupaluk or Hans Island and how we're approaching the Beaufort Sea negotiations. We negotiate; we don't act to force.

In terms of indigenous peoples, it's very much a shared sovereignty in the Arctic. I've heard Premier Akeeagok speak extremely eloquently about our very regrettable history of using Inuit as human flagpoles, but he turns it around and he says, first Canadians, Canadians first. That's the approach that informs our approach in terms of sovereignty and historical title. It's shared sovereignty.

Thank you.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

You mentioned also about Russia that, foremost, it is not business as usual. You just briefly mentioned some implications of that in terms of science. Could you maybe elaborate on other implications and how things are different now because of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine?

[Robert Sinclair]

First and foremost, in terms of the impact of the closing down of Russian space and limited engagement, we're missing huge chunks of data. It's 50% of the Arctic, and we're missing that data. That is a concern.

As well, there's increased pressure on Canadian communities that see researchers coming to them to try to undertake research and who are not necessarily always sensitive to capacities and how to meaningfully engage and consult with indigenous partners. When a project study is a twinkle in their eye, that's when they should be engaging to get local perspectives and seeing if they're going about this the right way. There's a bit of that impact as well.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Do you have some recommendations about how we can ensure that does happen?

[Robert Sinclair]

That's a very good question. I would say be part of the advocacy in terms of your recommendations and put forward best practices about how to meaningfully engage with indigenous partners in the Arctic, whether it's on research, whether it's on infrastructure, whether it's on how to best utilize indigenous knowledge and get ground truth. That would be my recommendation.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

To be clear, you're talking about nationals of other countries on research vessels who are coming in and doing this with permission?

[Robert Sinclair]

No, I'm talking about research institutes, universities, coming to Canada and looking to do research. We have an extensive ecosystem. Polar Knowledge Canada are great partners as well, but there needs to be better awareness amongst some—not all—foreign researchers.