Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Oct. 29th, 2009

[Dr. David Boerner]

Okay.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Ms. Roy, you were talking about northern air transport.

One issue that has come up has to do with your new regulations on the length of runways, the size of planes, and the number of passengers that can be put on those planes. This is a very serious matter for many of the northern communities.

We have situations in our communities in the Sahtu and in other areas of the north such that the existing carriers are not going to be able to fill their planes if your regulations come into place in the next year, which I understand they will. I want to raise that concern with you. Right now a real concern for northerners is to find some economical way of delivering people into those communities until these runways are lengthened.

I do not know if you want to comment on that.

[Guylaine Roy]

That is in the area of the safety and security group at Transport Canada, so I could raise the issue with my colleagues in safety and security. It is not an area I am responsible for, so I could not elaborate on it, but I could certainly bring your comments back to my colleagues in safety and security.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

You're doing a northern transportation assessment. Could you describe that in a little more detail?

[Guylaine Roy]

Thank you for the question.

We have decided to do such an assessment to be able to see, over a period of 20 years, in light of economic development, what the transportation requirements could be. We have issued a request for proposal for a consultant to do such an assessment, and we've asked the three territories to sit down with us on the steering committee to oversee this assessment.

In the context of the northern strategy in terms of transportation, we know what exists, but we want to look into the future and see, over the next 20 years, potentially what economic development could occur and what the transportation requirements would be. That's the idea of looking forward a bit.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Is there a timeframe on it?

[Guylaine Roy]

We hope to have a contract in place very soon and maybe next year have the results of this assessment.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

On another topic, you mentioned NORDREG. The Prime Minister announced 15 or 16 months ago that he was going to go ahead with the mandatory registration under NORDREG. What's the holdup?

[Donald Roussel]

We have mentioned that it will be ready for shipping season 2010. We expect to be able to publish it in the Gazette, probably before the end of the year. So it's coming. There's no holdup, but we have to consult with the stakeholders, of course, and make sure they understand the details.

It's on track.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Mr. Sarantakis, you mentioned the stimulus funding. If that has completely been put out, you should have a dollar figure on all the stimulus money for the territories.

[Taki Sarantakis]

The stimulus money essentially is roughly $4 million for the Yukon, $5 million for the Northwest Territories, and $4 million for Nunavut. This was a per capita allocation, so this is what the three territories would receive notionally under that program.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

That's because, of course, the territories were not in a position to apply for additional stimulus money under the program and were limited to this particular amount of money.

[Taki Sarantakis]

I believe this was in the budget, but I'm not entirely sure. The way the program was designed, each province would receive a notional amount of its per capita allocation, and then to the extent that provinces and territories accessed that, it would be available to them, but if they didn't, it would be used for other purposes. All three territories have essentially accessed their funding.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We are a little bit over there, but thank you very much, Mr. Bevington.

We'll now go to Mr. Duncan, for seven minutes, for the last questions in our first round.

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

I thank the witnesses.

The north is a big subject, as you know. I was interested in the geo-mapping presentation, because I took the geo-mapping policy resolution to the party convention in Montreal in 2005. That became a government initiative. Now I see you've actually started the process, and I think it's all good news.

My question related to that is kind of technical. We have the radar satellite. I'm curious as to whether that is something that's useful in the geo-mapping exercise. I'm also curious about how Radarsat works in terms of coordination with the Dash-7 flights, or whether they're coordinated at all, and where mission control is for Radarsat. I think it's a vital initiative for the nation. I know it has larger implications than just the north, but my question is specific to the north.

I'm asking the question to both departments.

[Dr. David Boerner]

I can start on the geoscience part.

Geoscience is really a forensic detective story. There are certain events in the earth's history that have concentrated energy and minerals, and our job is really to try to find the evidence that points to those events, so we integrate every piece of data we can possibly get. In general, it's extremely difficult to get enough information to solve the problem. A thing like Radarsat is an invaluable piece that we use as part of the basic integration of data at the very early stages, because it covers the whole territory. So it's an absolutely integral piece to our thinking. It doesn't on its own solve the problem, but it is certainly used.

For the rest of the question, I'll turn to my colleagues, I think.

[Donald Roussel]

Thank you.

When dealing with mission control, I actually don't know where it is. But we still get the information. Probably the Department of National Defence or other people can give you the information you require.

You asked how Radarsat works with our airplanes, the Dash-7 and the two Dash-8s we operate. When the satellite goes around the earth every 19 minutes, it scans the sea areas. It's good for all three seas: the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Arctic. The satellite then conveys that information to the planes, which see if there are vessels around that have not reported, or if they have reported, whether they are creating pollution. Then following that, of course, the mission of the planes is to focus more specifically on the actual ship that is a potential suspect. So that's the way it works, in a nutshell.

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Okay, thank you.

The committee is dealing with or is focused on economic development primarily. Part and parcel of that in the north is the whole permitting process. In the Yukon, I think we're nearing completion of the review of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act, the YESAA legislation. That's a Yukon-federal initiative, but I'm wondering how much involvement the two departments had in that review process.

Perhaps that's an unfair question.

[Guylaine Roy]

Are you indicating that the Yukon is reviewing its own legislation in terms of environmental assessments, and you want to know how we've worked with them? Is that the question?

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Yes, on YESAA.

[Guylaine Roy]

I don't have a specific answer on the Yukon example, but what I can say about environmental assessments is that I'm sure you're very aware of our streamlining of the process in the context of the infrastructure investments. In light of the economic downturn and the stimulus funding, there were steps taken by the government to streamline the environmental assessment process. So that's what I can say about the federal government's involvement.

If you want, I can find out more about the Yukon process and how we work with them. I don't have an answer right now.

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Okay, thank you.

What we've done with the Arctic waters in terms of extending our legislated jurisdiction and NORDREG reporting is all very significant. I don't think it's well known or understood by the public. We have international conventions that deal with all of this. The government has indicated that we're planning on signing international conventions that will allow us to hold ships accountable for polluting our waters. I'm wondering if you can perhaps describe those conventions, what they are and how they would help in that regard.

[Guylaine Roy]

I think you're referring to the conventions under the Marine Liability Act.

Some amendments have been made to the Marine Liability Act. The bill was passed by Parliament in June. The amendments include the legislative framework for two international conventions related to marine pollution.

There are two conventions that we are supporting. They've been ratified and they're going to come into force in January. One is a new international convention that was agreed to at the International Maritime Organization. It deals with bunker oil spills. What it does is impose compulsory liability or responsibility related to bunker fuel spills. Bunker fuel is what helps propel vessels; it's your gasoline in the vessel, in a way. The convention we have ratified will force carriage of insurance.

The other convention is about oil spills from a tanker that carries oil as a cargo. It is a convention that had been in place for a while, but the international community realized that it was necessary to increase the coverage for potential liability, because as you know, if you have a tanker spill, it could be major. There were a couple of major spills, and it was felt that there was a need to supplement the fund that already existed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Duncan.

We will now begin our second round with Mr. Bagnell. You have five minutes.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The majority of inhabitants north of 60 are aboriginal people, but also they have the highest unemployment rate. Our topic being economic development in the north, could each of you answer what plans or initiatives you have in place to increase aboriginal employment in the north in the various programs that you have talked to us about this morning?