Russia has made significant investments in the north. It appears that for now Russia is done with the investments they have provided, in particular in resuscitating significant numbers of Soviet capabilities and installations, as well as a more significant forward deployment of resources. One of the concerns that should also be of interest to this committee is where Russia has essentially decided that, in the northern passage around Russia, which is technically international waters, Russia now requires Russian ships to accompany any ships that use that northern passage and is charging fees for that privilege.
This, again, shows that there is a disregard by our adversaries for international norms and international law when it comes to how we manage these very challenging, as well as scarce, resources in the north. Canada needs to, I think, double down on making sure it has the capacity to insist on the commonly agreed-upon norms, conventions and legal imperatives because those will have adverse effects on local communities when they are not being adhered to.