Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
I was asked to speak today on whether the Canadian Forces are properly equipped and trained so as to enable us to protect and assert Canadian national sovereignty in the Arctic.
I know that you recently heard from members of Strategic Joint Staff and DND's policy group. I intend to expand on their comments in order to convey how it is that Canada Command operates and so exercises sovereignty over an area that is unquestionably one of our country's most precious inheritances, but also one where the harshness of climate, ruggedness of terrain and tyranny of distance make the conduct of operations extremely difficult.
The main theme of my comments centres on the principle upon which Canada Command was founded, namely, that we are truly a joint command that takes the capabilities of the navy, army, air force and space forces, and blends them in order to create an integrated effect. This means that we examine what we want to achieve in Arctic operations and then look over the breadth of the Canadian Forces to see what we can currently bring to bear and what capabilities we need to develop for the future.
In fact, we also look outside the Canadian Forces. When we plan and conduct operations, whether in the north or in the rest of Canada, we recognize that the military is but one element of state power and authority. We have close contacts at the federal, provincial, and territorial levels, and with the peoples of the north, and we strive to deepen those partnerships, ensuring that our operations are part of a whole-of-government effort.
Looking even more broadly, we are engaged in discussions with our Arctic neighbours. For example, there is the Commander of Joint Task Force North, Brigadier-General Dave Millar, who I believe you will be getting up to see in the not too distant future. His command is located in the Arctic, and he runs operations from there. Over the past few months, he has met with the commander of the U.S. Joint Task Force in Alaska, as well as the Danish commander of Island Command Greenland.
In fact, Rear-Admiral Kudsk of the Danish navy actually observed Operation Nunalivut, a sovereignty operation conducted earlier this month, and I hope we'll have a little more time to talk about it. He and Brigadier-General Millar spent the night out on the land with one of the Canadian Ranger groups on patrol on Ellesmere Island.
In the same spirit of cooperation and openness, we notified Russia that a maritime patrol aircraft would be overflying a scientific ice station that is located in international waters in the Arctic Ocean. Again, this occurred during Operation Nunalivut, with surveillance flights being but one of the means of building awareness of activity in the north and of establishing our presence there.
Of course, it's this increase in activity, in conjunction with climatic change, that drives expanded efforts in the Arctic. Sovereignty is one of the pillars of the government's northern strategy, and that includes an appropriate military role. But the effects we achieve are not merely those of awareness and presence. Perhaps to an even greater degree, our operations in the north support other government departments in exercising their mandates.
These are the departments and agencies that retain the lead for dealing with northern security issues. Despite this, they often draw upon the capabilities of the Canadian Forces to help fulfill their mandates. That's no different from the role we fulfill elsewhere in Canada.
What change in the Arctic means for us is that we will need to be prepared to do more of what we have been doing and also improve our ability to operate in the north.
The frequency and intensity of our operations have already increased significantly. As well, there are a number of initiatives underway to increase the footprint of the Canadian Forces in the region and to expand our operational capabilities: initiatives such as the expansion of the Ranger program, development of Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships, as well as construction of a berthing and refuelling facility and a training centre in the Arctic.
I hope to be able to expand on the scope of the exercises we're conducting as well as on some of those initiatives, perhaps in response to your questions.
Fundamentally the Canadian Forces are not militarizing the north; rather, they are developing greater capacity to conduct broad-based and more effective sovereignty operations in our Arctic. To do that, we're not just developing greater military capacity, by which I mean air, land, sea, and special forces, as well as infrastructure and training; we are also, as a result of our operational presence through the joint task force command, our institutional strength in planning, and our culture of exercising, helping other government departments develop and mature their own capacities to deliver greater operational effect.
We have learned that in the north everything must be done in a cooperative fashion, whether jointly within the Canadian Forces, with our partners at all levels in Canada, or with our Arctic neighbours.
If you consider the harsh terrain, the limited infrastructure, and the vast distances involved, you see an environment in which the challenge of deploying and sustaining military forces is even more difficult than operations conducted at the other end of the earth, but that is what we are doing, in significant numbers and with increasing frequency. We are addressing those challenges. Increasing activity on our part is under way, and new capabilities and facilities are being brought online.
The Canadian Forces will play their part in what must be a whole-of-government approach to exercising sovereignty over Canada's Arctic, while also reaching out to our own peoples in the north and to our Arctic neighbours as well to ensure that Canada exercises its responsibility as an Arctic nation.
Mr. Chairman, I don't know if you wish to take questions at this stage or to proceed to the second presentation.