Thank you for the question.
I believe there are two parts to it. The threat has already been dealt with, but certainly there's an increase in activity across the board. One of the first parts of my mission in exercising sovereignty is knowing what's going on. That's a big thrust for us, to get better at surveillance, and get better at integrating and fusing information from different sources and from partners, so we know what that activity is, where it is and, if necessary, how we can get there after being able to locate it.
There is more commercial activity and other shipping activity. There are certainly more adventurers there, both summer and winter. We make it part of our business to try to keep tabs on that activity, in the event that we get a request from other northern partners—whether they be federal, territorial, or municipal—to come and help with search and rescue, or to respond to any crisis situation.
In terms of activities more broadly, I would say that I administer and look after one group of activities under my own command to exercise sovereignty, and to prepare and posture ourselves to respond to any kind of operation—safety, security, or defence. We hold operations on a regular basis, and we call them the N series. Operations Nanook, Nunakput, and Nunalivut are in different areas with slightly different focuses, but in all cases we look to work with other government departments to get better at that piece.
I won't speak to the details, but the army as well has ramped up its activities in the north so that it's better prepared to come up and operate when I call for it in time of need.
The air force has regular activities in the north, whether it's resupply to Alert, surveillance missions with the CP-140, or NORAD activities. For anything that we call to move north, in terms of forces, we've got airlift support that goes up.
The navy also has a presence in the north through fisheries patrols, and also through something we call Op-QIMMIQ, which is about surveillance and presence.
Those activities are integrated, and in our premier northern operation, Nanook, they're meant to be joint. We bring all those forces together. We bring our interagency forces together, and some of our allies, with a different set of scenarios each year.