Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the invitation to address the committee.
As the last commander of Canada Command, responsible for Canada's north from a military perspective, my comments today, as I'm sure you're aware, will be focused on the threats to Canada's north and on what the Government of Canada can do to address those threats.
To provide you with some context, I had the privilege of travelling throughout the north for over two and a half years, working closely with the commander of Northern Command, my U.S. counterpart responsible for the U.S. Arctic, as well as exercising in the north with many different partners.
I'm sure the committee has already heard from other witnesses that threat can be determined by two factors, which some would say are different sides of the same coin: first, the threat; and second, the capabilities. They come together to determine the level of the threat, from low to high.
To be fair, it's difficult to find a country today that has stated an intent to challenge Canada's northern sovereignty. Could this change? Yes. Intent to cause harm can change very quickly, which is why examining those nations that have the capability to act in the north if they decide to do so could provide the committee with a clearer picture of what the future threat or threats could be to Canada's north. From the vantage point of capabilities, the answer is very clear: the Russian Federation.
If the committee has the time, it should take a close look at what the Russian Federation has accomplished across its north over the last three decades. It's not just about defence, which I heard not too long ago; it's also about being prepared for aggression.
China, on the other hand, has the capability to act across the Arctic, but it lacks the ability to sustain forces. I would disagree with what I've heard. I believe Russia has the ability to sustain military operations across the high Arctic and subarctic, given what it has built across its northern shore over the past decades. Yes, I know that goes counter to what we're seeing today in Ukraine; however, there's a strong reason to have that conclusion. This is who we should keep an eye on.
What could the Government of Canada do to be ready for future threats in Canada's north? Again, the answer is up for debate, which I'm sure you've heard, but the fact is that whatever we do will be expensive. You've heard this many times. It's usually, as a minimum, about four times more expensive to build and maintain any infrastructure in the north than it is in the south. Perhaps that's a reason to build our capabilities over the longer period on a multi-year plan or to develop and put together a strategy to protect Canada's north, something that has been lacking for many years. We need a plan to protect our north.
Next, we need to be able detect threats: air threats, maritime threats, land threats or a combination of some, or all, as you just heard, multidomain threats. In this respect, the weakness that we have remains in the area of maritime domain awareness—what is going on above and under the waters of Canada's Arctic. Yes, it has improved, thanks to technology, but more needs to be done. As well, this capability should be managed by one organization.
On the one hand, when we talk about NORAD modernization, should we also be speaking about, perhaps, its being responsible for managing maritime threats across Canada's north? There is a strong reason and a strong case to make to do that. To manage those threats, NORAD has many of the pieces and parts in place already, but clearly it needs a mandate to do that.
Finally, detecting threats on the land is difficult. We have current capabilities that we could use and build on to address that—the Canadian Rangers. I've worked with them in the north, in person, on the ground. As a reminder, for the discussion, there are five ranger groups in the Canadian Ranger program. Their role is to conduct patrols across the north, report unusual activities or sightings, and perform sovereignty or national security duties.
As such, I would submit to you that we need, first, to expand the ranger program to fully cover our north, and second, to professionalize the program. Yes, the Canadian Rangers do amazing work with what they are given, but the support they receive in terms of equipment, training and logistics needs to improve dramatically for the rangers to be prepared to detect modern land threats across Canada's north. Again, this is the most economical, quick and efficient way to establish an on-the-ground northern land surveillance system.
In addition, one could also add drones to the entire package, medium and large drones patrolling across our Arctic with the rangers and the Canadian Army. It would go very far to increasing our ability to detect land threats across approximately 2.6 million square kilometres of Canada's north. Drones of this nature have been used across Canada's north in the past, but they have yet to become part of Canada's regular inventory of its military.
Once we detect a threat, hopefully we have the capability to respond to that threat. NORAD modernization in its fullest sense, to include new combat aircraft for Canada, will meet the need to effectively respond to threats in our northern airspace. Responding to a maritime threat, as you may have just heard, can take many forms, including through air power and medium and large drones, but to be able to respond to a maritime incursion across our north with a Canadian warship is more problematic.
Why is that? You need, on the one hand, icebreaking capability [Technical difficulty—Editor] the coast [Technical difficulty—Editor] ship-borne weapon systems, which rests with the Royal Canadian Navy. Could we bring these two solitudes together—arm the Coast Guard and build an icebreaking capability for the navy? I leave this for the committee to ponder.
Last, to respond to the land threat, our military would initially have the rangers in place across Canada's north, supported by drones, but they would need to be augmented by the Canadian Army very quickly. The Canadian Army can effectively fight in the north. We've seen that. However, we would need to get military personnel on the ground in the north quickly, where needed, to contain a land threat.
The Royal Canadian Air Force has already demonstrated the ability to move military personnel into the north from the west or east of Canada.
