Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Canada and the United States formally established NORAD in 1958 as a binational military command. NORAD's mandate of aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning is more important than ever in meeting current and evolving threats to North America.
The last major investment in NORAD capabilities was in the late 1980s, when the North Warning System was established. National Defence has made recent investments in maintaining current capabilities. For example, in January 2022, Public Services and Procurement Canada, on behalf of National Defence, awarded an in-service support contract for the North Warning System to Nasittuq Corporation, an Inuit-owned company. We are now focused on improvements to address rapidly evolving threats.
Modernizing NORAD and strengthening continental defence more broadly are becoming even more important in the context of two fundamental shifts in the global security environment.
First, we are seeing the return of strategic competition among states play out tragically and in real time on the ground in Ukraine. This shift in geopolitics will not be limited to Europe. It will also play out at home, on our continent and in our Arctic. We need to shore up our defences.
Second, the increasingly stark implications of climate change are increasing international interest in the Arctic and will lead to more demands on our military to respond to emergencies, including conducting search and rescue.
We are actively working to deliver on the direction in Minister Anand's mandate letter to modernize NORAD in collaboration with the United States, and to more broadly strengthen our domestic defences. This commitment is also an important element of high-level bilateral discussions with the United States. It features in the “Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership”, which was established during the Prime Minister's engagement with President Biden in February 2021. In August 2021, the Minister of National Defence and the U.S. Secretary of Defence released a joint statement on NORAD modernization, which identified priority areas to guide future investments and collaboration.
We've conducted an extensive analysis to identify key threats, gaps and potential solutions to defend Canada and Canadian interests in this new reality. Our analysis benefited from ongoing collaborative work with the U.S., including through NORAD.
We also looked at the full range of domestic defence challenges Canada will face in the coming years, and engaged academics, industry, and territorial and indigenous governments to seek out broad perspectives and ensure we maximize the broader benefits to Canada of any future investments in continental defence.
In closing, I would simply note that the minister has been quite clear about her intent to bring forward a robust package of investments to strengthen continental defence in the near future.
I look forward to your questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.