National Defence Committee on April 27th, 2009

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

All right.

Mr. Da Pont, I find you did not say much about surveillance. We've seen Russian planes and perhaps even ships in the area. Can you tell us whether you saw any manoeuvres or whether any small Russian scientific submarines attempted to plant their flag on the ocean floor? Have you seen these things?

Further, we hear that in the area of surveillance there will be amazing improvements, but only as of next year. The Arctic is a vast area, but I do fear for our security. How can we protect both our sovereignty and security if surveillance is somewhat lacking?

[George Da Pont]

Let me explain to you some of the responsibilities of the coast guard. Today, surveillance is carried out under international standards because most countries have the same systems as far as the activities of their respective coast guards are concerned. Of course, I cannot speak to the activities you describe and which fall under the responsibility of the Canadian Forces or other entities. We are talking about a global system which is used everywhere in the world. We apply the standards.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Nevertheless, people have to talk to each other and work together. If you coordinate certain commercial operations, for example, that makes you a close observer. Have you witnessed the operations of other countries, such as Denmark or Russia? If so, could you produce a report for us?

As well, because of climate change, we already have to replace the Louis S. St-Laurent and add new equipment to the fleet. Do you have what you need to protect our security and sovereignty?

[George Da Pont]

I will answer first, and perhaps my colleague will add a few words.

We have witnessed some operations. Given our mandate, our activities and our location, we have seen scientific activities. Every time we see a foreign vessel in the North outside of the territorial boundary, we enter that information into the system. We have also engaged in shared operations. As I said, we were involved in a scientific operation with the United States last summer. We were also involved in the same type of operation with Denmark and the United States last summer.

When that type of thing happens in our area, of course we share the data.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Thank you, Mr. Coderre.

We will now move on to the last member, Mr. Boughen.

Vous avez la parole.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Thank you, Chair.

Let me add my voice to the voices of my colleagues in welcoming you here this afternoon.

I have a couple of questions. Perhaps one or two of the witnesses may feel they could respond to this one. Could you share with us the relationship you have in terms of the coordination with the sovereignty of Canada in your work in the Arctic?

[Danielle Labonté]

Would you mind repeating the focus? Is it the relationship we have, the coordination of sovereignty in the Arctic?

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

The Canadian Forces are really what we're talking about.

[Danielle Labonté]

Our role is fairly minor. We do have a small working group looking at specific issues. Basically, what's happening at Resolute and the polar continental shelf project is looking at greater cooperation, because the military is in the process of establishing its Arctic training centre at Resolute. There will be a co-sharing of facilities there and we are in conversation on those issues.

In terms of DND, we help them when they have issues they're trying to bring forward, such as when the vessels were going forward to cabinet. We helped to position that within the framework, but that was about the extent of it.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Thank you.

[George Da Pont]

On our part, with the coast guard, we have a strong and increasing relationship with National Defence around these issues. First of all, we, along with others, are part of the marine security operation centres that are run by DND. As you're probably well aware, there's one on the east coast and one on the west coast. There are coast guard people embedded in that. All of our information regarding marine domain awareness and so forth gets fed into those processes.

In the last three years we've also begun to have ongoing joint exercises in the Arctic, working with DND. What we've been doing in those exercises is testing our ability to work together, the ability of our respective systems to communicate with each other, and we practised joint exercises in a number of situations.

I'll give you one example, simply for context, of the benefit of those. Coming out of last summer's exercise, for the first time we were able to develop the protocols and procedures that would allow coast guard helicopters to land on DND vessels and vice versa. We are working on that interoperability, to be better placed, obviously, to support the Canadian Forces in the north and wherever else they may need help from us.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Thank you.

[Danielle Labonté]

May I add to my response? I should also say that we are members of the Arctic security working group, and John sits as a member on that committee. It's interdepartmental as well as territorial, and with other partners, and it's a good forum for exchange of information that helps this interoperability, amongst other things. We also participate as observers in operations like Nanook and so on.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Great, thank you.

To the northern affairs folks, can you share with us the involvement of the northern people in deciding a direction for economic development? I notice that much of your four pillars talks about economic growth. How are the folks who are native to the land involved in that decision-making and in carrying out those kinds of operations?

[Danielle Labonté]

Maybe I'll use the example of one of the programs that we run in Indian and Northern Affairs called strategic investment and northern economic development. It's a five-year program that's just been extended. We're at the beginning of the second five-year plan.

In that program we have $90 million over five years distributed equally across the territories. We work very closely through our regional offices in developing investment plans for each of the territories that is unique to their circumstances. In that context we work a lot with the territories, as well as with stakeholders in each of the territories, to look at future policy priorities or program priorities. For instance, tourism is something that's been of interest to all three territories--broadband, those sorts of issues. That's a key mechanism for us.

We will be consulting them in the creation of the new Economic Development Agency, through the round of consultations we have to do to create the new investment plans, which is happening right now. In the next month or so we'll be meeting with stakeholders across all three territories to talk about the investment plan, but also in terms of the future of the Economic Development Agency and what they see as being key gaps that need to be filled by that agency.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Thank you.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Mr. Chair, I have one last question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

You don't have enough time. Thank you very much.

I want to thank all the witnesses.

Thank you very much for your presentations and your availability.

We will suspend the committee for a few moments so the next witnesses can come to the table.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Good afternoon. We are resuming the 14th meeting of the Standing Committee on National Defence.

I would like to thank our witnesses for being here. We would like to welcome Doug Bancroft, Director, Canadian Ice Service, Environment Canada.

From the Department of Natural Resources, we have Monique Carpentier, director general, coordination and strategic issues branch, as well as Don Lemmen, research manager, climate change impacts and adaptation division.

Good afternoon to all of you. Thank you for being here today.

I will begin by giving the floor to Mr. Bancroft from Environment Canada. You have between five and seven minutes.

[Doug Bancroft, Director, Canadian Ice Service, Department of the Environment]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Environment Canada has a mandate to protect the environment, conserve Canada's natural heritage and provide weather and environmental predictions to keep Canadians informed and safe.

Environment Canada works to repair the damage of the past, to understand the environmental changes expected in the future and to collect and pass on this knowledge to develop, implement, and enforce policies that enable sustainable development.

The department develops and implements regulations, programs, policies and services in support of achieving this mandate. Excellence in the conduct of environmental science and technology is the foundation for providing services that enable Canadians to deal with economic and environmental challenges. Multiple aspects of these roles and activities contribute to supporting Canadian sovereignty in the North.

I will explain a subset of these roles now.

In fact, our role is twofold: we're there to protect Canadians from the environment in the north and to protect the environment from people in the north.

Key contributions to Canadian sovereignty in the north are the weather and ice predictions provided by the Meteorological Service of Canada,which supports Arctic civil, military, and environmental security operations. Our programs provide tailored weather and sea ice support to the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Coast Guard, the RCMP, and others who conduct security operations. The reality is that the greatest risk or threat to operations in the north is harsh weather and ice. Examples include tailored support for advanced winter warfare courses in Resolute, recently, the new long-range Ranger patrols that have been established, and such exercises as Operation Nanook.

Weather and sea ice science predictions support safe and efficient support to shipping and civil aviation, enable offshore industry, and allow space-based and aircraft monitoring for enhanced support of enforcement against illegal marine oil discharges.

Environment Canada is engaging in scientific inquiry and research to provide the science expertise for policy development and service provision in the north. There are many drivers that impact Arctic sovereignty, most notably climate change. Environment Canada is engaged in a broad range of climate change research and prediction. Global climate models project future Arctic warming in the north that is roughly twice the global average. These models also project continuing decline in Arctic sea ice extent, particularly in the summer. However, these models have not reproduced the accelerated sea ice decline observed over the last decade, suggesting that ice-free conditions may occur much earlier than previously thought. Although the decline in sea ice is universally projected in the Arctic, the timing of summer ice-free conditions remains quite uncertain, as do the regional details, such as when something like the Northwest Passage would open up compared to, say, the northern sea route over Eurasia. Refining these projections is an active area of research in Canada and abroad.

Climate change also has operational impacts on the work of our department. For example, the longer ice-free season is already attracting more tourists in cruise ships, which means more permits to issue and more surveillance of fragile ecosystems.

Environment Canada also conducts wildlife research and contaminants monitoring in the north in support of our legislative mandate, which is protection and conservation of the environment. We play an active role in the environmental assessment and permitting of development. We work closely with northern partners in the management of natural resources to develop sound work practices.

Environment Canada is engaged in a variety of research monitoring and enforcement in the Arctic with respect to species and protected areas, and it manages a number of national wildlife areas and migratory bird sanctuaries. We also have a significant enforcement presence in the north.

Environment Canada is also an active participant in several working groups under the Arctic Council, with members on various working groups. We lead the circumpolar biodiversity monitoring program, are actively involved in the preparation of an Arctic biodiversity assessment, and had a major role in drafting key segments of the Arctic marine shipping assessment, which is going to be released at the Arctic Council.

On air emissions, one of the contributions to changes in the Arctic is the emission of greenhouse gases and air pollutants as a result of changes to shipping activity. There are ongoing efforts to estimate shipping trends in the Arctic and the significance of the impact of increased emissions in the north.

On contaminants, we work with federal partners and academics to ensure that contaminants in the Arctic's unique and fragile ecosystem, which can be threatened by contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants, are monitored so that we can determine sources of things such as their long-range transport in the atmosphere to the colder Arctic climates. Environment Canada was instrumental is establishing the Stockholm Convention, a global agreement with over 160 countries to address this issue. As well, Environment Canada uses its statutory authority to enforce domestic emissions standards related to POPs.

On regulations, we use a variety of legislative and regulatory tools to address environmental issues. Our regulatory regime provides a consistent approach across Canada, including in the Arctic. The Arctic does, however, provide unique challenges related to the implementation of regulations in certain circumstances, and there is a need for specific regulations in these cases. We work with the territorial governments of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador to establish such northern regulations where required.

Finally, Environment Canada is ensuring that key pollutants are controlled across Canada, including in the Arctic, by administrating regulations on such things as PCBs and mercury.

In closing I would underscore that Environment Canada continues to support sovereignty and security operations conducted by National Defence, the Canadian Coast Guard, the RCMP and others.

Through our meteorological service and our regulations, Environment Canada continues to play a key role in enabling Canadians to reduce risk and derive benefit from opportunities in the North while building greater resilience in Canada's environment, communities and key economic sectors.

Exercising our authorities to implement international conventions and national statutory authorities is one of our department's strongest tools with respect to Canadian sovereignty in the North.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Thank you, Mr. Bancroft.

I will now give the floor to Ms. Carpentier and Mr. Lemmen.

[Dr. Don Lemmen, Research Manager, Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Division, Department of Natural Resources]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank you for your invitation to discuss our knowledge of the impacts of climate change on Canada's Arctic and how we must adapt to this new reality of change.

The short deck that I would like to present this afternoon is based on the findings and content of this major scientific national assessment that was led by NRCan and that I served as the lead scientific coordinator for.

Turning then to the second slide on the deck, I want to emphasize for committee members that this report looks at all of Canada and the issues that we're facing in terms of climate change impacts and adapting to them. It summarizes major progress over the last 10 years. It involved 145 authors from across the country and was reviewed by more than 100 experts from both the academic community and from governments.

We have to start off by saying that there is unequivocal scientific evidence that Canada's north is already experiencing widespread changes in climate and that local observations by northerners strongly support this instrumental scientific conclusion.

In the last 50 years, the climate of the Arctic has changed at a rate and magnitude that has no precedent within human experience. Significant increases in temperature and precipitation have been observed, particularly in the western Arctic. The most extreme years in our total observation record have occurred within the last decade, and every global climate model projects that these trends will both continue and indeed accelerate in the coming decades.

So with the remaining slides of this deck, then, I want to outline some of the changes and the implications of these changes that may be of interest to the committee.

The third slide highlights an issue that we've heard a great deal about already and, I'm sure, is of central concern to you, and that is the issue of marine shipping and the viability of the Northwest Passage as an international shipping route. The report does note the rapid decrease in summer sea ice extent over the last decade, but also notes that, despite this rapid trend in reductions, the year-to-year variations in sea ice extent will remain high. Ice hazards, even in comparatively open water conditions, will likely remain prevalent for several decades.

Based on the scientific literature that was available, the report talks about the Northwest Passage being consistently navigable by 2030, possibly, though, as soon as the next decade. And of course, we've seen the last three years of the Northwest Passage indeed being navigable.

In terms of the implications of these changes, then, the report notes that there's likely to be increased demands for up-to-date navigational charts, marine weather forecasting, ice reconnaissance and forecasting, icebreaking services, search and rescue capability, and marine traffic surveillance, exactly the types of issues that have been highlighted by previous speakers.

I'll turn to the next slide and the important implications that climate change is going to have for infrastructure in the north. A large proportion of northern infrastructure relies upon permafrost to provide a solid structural foundation. Warming of permafrost, and certainly melting of permafrost, can significantly impact infrastructure performance and also maintenance costs.

In addition, permafrost is often critically important in terms of tailings piles and tailings contaminant impounds that depend on the maintenance of frozen conditions to ensure that contaminants are not released into the environment. Changes in permafrost stability are increasing the demands for the engineering community, who must now consider the influence of climate change on plans for mine closure and abandonment and design, and indeed this is happening.

Another important element of infrastructure change will be on land transportation systems. Currently ice roads are a very important component of northern transportation infrastructure, but they are becoming less and less reliable to get the important access to remote sites and will eventually have to be replaced by all-season highways.

Another important issue on infrastructure is the combined impacts of sea level rise and decreased sea ice cover, which is causing increased rates of erosion along much of the Canadian coast, and in several places this will lead to increases in costs of construction and maintenance for coastal infrastructure.

Moving to the fifth slide, I know that one of the key concerns of this committee is the impacts of extreme climate events and their implications for safety. Safety is certainly most critical within small remote communities, which particularly Inuit, and increasingly tourists, are starting to access. Extreme weather events and the unpredictability of sea ice conditions are leading to more hazardous conditions that put people at risk on both land and sea. As a result, search and rescue efforts are becoming more frequent, and people are finding themselves in more perilous situations. The implication of this is that communities need enhanced emergency response capability and plans and strategies, where necessary, to deal with this potential increase in risk.

One of the major findings coming out of the assessment is summarized in the sixth slide. It captures quite nicely for most Canadians that over the coming decade we're going to see the emergence of a less remote Arctic. There will be increased navigability of marine waters and the expansion of land-based transportation networks. This will bring opportunities for growth in a range of economic sectors, as well as important challenges for cultures, security, and the environment.

In conclusion, I'd like to emphasize that Canada's Arctic is a complex social, political, and physical environment. Natural Resources Canada continues to make a unique contribution to understanding this complex environment. It works collaboratively with a number of other departments, including DND, DFO, DFAIT, Indian and Northern Affairs, Environment Canada, and Health Canada, as well as territorial governments and communities, on issues of specific interest to the north.

Mr. Chair, I'd like to thank you once again for your invitation to appear before the committee. We welcome any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Thank you, Mr. Lemmen.

Mr. Coderre

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

That was very interesting. But what strikes me is that every time we talk about Environment and you working with that department and that department, Natural Resources Canada is doing the same thing with that department and that department.

I have a simple question for both departments: who should be in charge? I feel there is so much red tape. Of course, everybody is singing together and we have an amazing chorus, but at the end of the day it's also an issue of governance. Of course you're all working together for operations and all that. Environment Canada is doing what they have to through their services. But let's forget about all the briefings. With your experience regarding sovereignty overall, who should be in charge?

Mr. Bancroft can go first, and then maybe Mr. Lemmen and Madam Carpentier.

[Doug Bancroft]

I'm not going to speak about who should be in charge. All of us are answerable, through our ministers, for our mandates. There is very strong collaboration in the north, perhaps more than anywhere else in Canada. The organization I'm responsible for, the Canadian Ice Service, is a partnership arrangement between ourselves and the Canadian Coast Guard. Our people embark on Canadian Coast Guard ships and in Transport Canada aircraft flying northern sovereignty patrols.

We don't do anything in the north as a single department; we can't. Our reliance is upon Industry Canada and the Canadian Space Agency to get missions such as RADARSAT-2 up there to provide us with the information required to do our job. There are collaborations with DFO science to try to come up with better models of ice, ocean, and atmosphere conditions in the future to inform us about why things are changing faster than we expected and what we can expect.

I understand what I'm responsible for, and I also understand there's not a chance I can accomplish that on my own.

I hope that is not dodging the answer.