Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2009

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

A quick question for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. How does the recent expansion of the harbour facilities at Pangnirtung aid economic development in the region?

[David Burden]

The construction of the small craft harbour in Pangnirtung is going to play a significant role in the advancement of the emerging fisheries, which I indicated in my remarks is a huge economic driver in the eastern Arctic. It's also going to help with strengthening the local economy and expanding the local fisheries in the areas I've indicated. That kind of infrastructure, because of the lack of roads, helps open up the areas for community traffic. Most of the challenges, particularly in the fisheries, come from transportation and high-cost fuel, so any infrastructure there is an added improvement. This one has been really well received, and is going to benefit the community, I think.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Very good. Thank you very much, Mr. Payne and witnesses.

Now we'll begin the second round. It's a five-minute round, and we'll start with Mr. Russell from the Liberal Party.

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon to each of the witnesses.

I'll concentrate my remarks primarily on DFO and the coast guard. I want to put on the record a statement on page 10 of the submission by Mr. Burden. He indicated, “The Government has made every effort to counter the misinformation upon which anti-sealing campaigns are based”. I don't want to get into an argument, but that certainly flies in the face of the response I received to an order paper question I placed and the information relayed to me from DFO. I just want to make that statement. They can refute me at another time, but it certainly didn't jibe.

On Pangnirtung itself, what is the completion date for that harbour?

[David Burden]

The completion date would be 2012.

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

We were in Pangnirtung. We had lunch at the fish plant. We had a great meal. We saw how important that particular facility was to the people in Pangnirtung and to the region generally. We understood the importance of accompanying infrastructure.

What other small craft harbour assets does DFO have in the Arctic? I know Pangnirtung has been added, but what other assets do you have?

[David Burden]

Pangnirtung is the first facility we have in the eastern Arctic. In the western Arctic we currently have three small craft harbours facilities.

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

That's a pretty skimpy presence, one would say, given the scope of the area.

I just wanted to ask you if you could quickly go through the process. On OB turbot, Canada has been allocated, I think, 1,500 tonnes from the NAFO Scientific Council. Then Canada has a decision to make on how that's allocated. It has certain legal responsibilities, probably like under the Nunavut land claims agreement.

What process does DFO go through in terms of assessing how that gets distributed to people in the eastern Arctic? I know there are various fisheries organizations and sometimes coalitions. Just give us a quick sense of what you would do in terms of the allocation. I think it's important for us to understand, particularly from an economic development perspective.

[David Burden]

In my opening remarks I referenced the role of the co-management boards. A lot of our interactions with the communities are to ensure that we're working cooperatively and we're understanding their capabilities and abilities to prosecute the fishery.

As you indicated, through some of the settlement agreements there is a requirement to share the allocation, as you've referenced, the 1,500 tonnes that we have on the new NAFO. That's actually 3,000 tonnes: 50% of it goes to Greenland, and then under one of the agreements, Nunavut, from Quebec, have an entitlement. Then obviously you have the residual amount, which the minister will be making a decision on shortly.

[Todd Russell, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Thank you for that. I know my time is getting short.

Climate change is huge. We all know it. It's having a tremendous impact on the north in so many ways.

Pollution control--I know my colleague had asked about this earlier. I know you have some things in your docket.

Do you feel your capacity to track shipping movements in the Arctic is adequate?

There are new projects that are coming online. I think you said there were three under environmental assessment and 15 new ones that may be coming up.

With all of this increased activity, the added pressures of climate change, the increased activity, has any modelling been done to say these are the new assets we're going to need; this is what we're going to require as a department to respond adequately?

Are the people involved up there? You say you have these community kits. Who operates these community kits? Who disperses them? Who implements a spill response?

[Wade Spurrell, Assistant Commissioner, Central and Arctic Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

On the community kits, the coast guard has a tiered response to pollution incidents in the Arctic. We have small community kits that are available, pre-deployed in each community, because logistics is always a challenge in the north, as you know.

We have worked with communities in the past to develop relationships and train individuals; however, there is always a turnover. We visit the communities on a regular basis. We're presently re-evaluating where the best relationship is in the community for the use of the environmental response kits.

We do have staff positioned in the north. We have the ability to cascade resources from Hay River, from the other sites, and eventually from our sites in the south.

We are increasing the amount of material in the Arctic this season and next season as part of the healthy oceans initiative. We're putting in an additional $2 million worth of response equipment into the Arctic this year and next year.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Unfortunately we're out of time, Mr. Russell. Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Mr. Dreeshen, followed by a member from the Bloc, Monsieur Lévesque.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for attending today.

As you know, our committee will be travelling to the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Nunavut later this month to continue our study. It's going to be my first opportunity to head north of 60 degrees, so I'm looking forward to that.

I'm also interested in some of the things I've heard have happened. One of those, and perhaps Parks Canada could address this, is that Nahanni National Park has recently been expanded. I was wondering if you could describe the extent of the expansion and the environmental benefits of having this particular area so that it can be studied and protected and so on.

[Bill Fisher]

Thank you.

Well, the park has expanded by sixfold. So at close to 40,000 square kilometres, it will be Canada's third-largest national park.

Before, the park boundaries were set to protect just the corridor of the river. Now they have expanded significantly to protect key habitat for grizzly bears. It'll have a population of grizzly bears larger than the entire southern population. And it will provide a better-connected corridor for wildlife moving along the mountain corridors. That's critical for Dall sheep, moose, wolverines, and other species. The expansion of the park will be significant in that regard.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

How then does this park tie in to encouraging and analyzing economic development that happens in the region? What kind of communication do you have with Environment Canada and so on?

[Bill Fisher]

Certainly we work with the other federal departments in terms of opportunities for tourism. Nahanni will essentially become an iconic site that many people from around the world will be interested in visiting, and not, any more, just to travel down the river by canoe or raft. They will also come to take part in some of the most spectacular hiking available anywhere in the world, such as in the Ram Plateau area and around Glacier Lake, which are expansions to the park. Opportunities from Watson Lake, Fort Simpson, Nahanni Butte, and even Whitehorse will be bigger now because of the change in the size of the park.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Thank you.

Mr. Burden, I noticed in the text we have that you didn't have enough time to go through the northern land claims process. I'm wondering if you could perhaps enlighten me as to what is happening there, what the process is, and what you see occurring in that area.

[David Burden]

Our department is a partner in the process. Obviously, it's an INAC lead, and I know that officials from INAC have been here before the committee.

From our perspective, things that touch the water and the use of the water are fundamental to the land claims participants. Obviously, making sure that the habitat is protected is the big issue for us and for them. Ensuring, through the co-management boards and the hunter and trapper organizations, that we use....

It goes to the issue of taking our scientific knowledge, mirroring it, and combining it with traditional knowledge of the local features and with the community's hunting habits, then bringing that together to develop a sustainable fisheries plan for the community.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

I see.

If he's not paying attention, I'll ask one more question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

You have one minute.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

We were looking at the BDC profile in the north, and there is a chance to discuss that. If I have any time left, could you perhaps give us a bit of an idea of what BDC is dealing with there?

[John Connell]

Thank you for the question.

In Nunavut, there are 17 clients with about $14.8 million in financing outstanding. In the last fiscal year they authorized four deals for $6 million. I don't have data offhand on the other territories.

I can tell you, though, that they work quite closely through the various Community Futures Development Corporations in the north. That's an important resource for economic development. And the BDC lends expertise to those particular corporations, which also provide small business loans. I think there are three Community Futures Development Corporations in Nunavut. There are seven in the NWT and none in the Yukon. To cover the Yukon, they signed an MOU partnership agreement with the Denendeh Development Corporation, which is an external delivery partner of Aboriginal Business Canada. They are trying to maximize the partnerships they have in the north to deliver that financing expertise.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you very much, Mr. Connell and Mr. Dreeshen.

For members' benefit, we have the BDC as one of our witnesses, you may recall, on the Ottawa witness list as well. So there will be lots of opportunity to follow up with that.

Mr. Lévesque.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to take the opportunity to remind you that we still do not have enough Type A (H1N1) flu vaccine. If there are windows open, we are going to have even less, because it feels a little cold out there.

Mr. Connell, I believe that the development of small tourist businesses is your area. I am the member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou. We have a business there called Cruise North, a tourist business developed and operated by Makivik, and a Russian company, I think. This is a cause of considerable concern in the little villages along the coast because the people are wondering whether the pilots on the boats that come close to shore really know what the dangers there are. These communities would not have the economic capacity to deal with a shipwreck, for example, or an accident at sea.

Have measures been taken to make sure that the pilots have the skills that are needed for piloting along those shores?

[Wade Spurrell]

Is the community located north of the 60th parallel?