National Defence Committee on Dec. 3rd, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You can bank it, yes.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Sweet. Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Ms. Gallant, you have five minutes.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you.

Since Base Petawawa's firefighting training area was confirmed to be PFAS-contaminated, can you tell us what the short-term and long-term effects of PFAS on the personnel stationed on Base Petawawa would be?

That's for Brigadier-General Forestier.

[BGen Colleen Forestier]

With regard to PFAS specifically, I'm not a complete expert in PFAS, but I am aware of the fact that PFAS is associated with certain specific conditions over time.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

What are they?

[BGen Colleen Forestier]

I don't have a list of them specifically with me right now.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay.

Can you confirm that spores from anthrax can persist in the soil for decades, and that viable spores have been found in 200-year-old bones and are resistant to radiation, Dr. Forestier?

[BGen Colleen Forestier]

I can't answer that question, Madam. I'm sorry. I don't have expertise in that particular area.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay.

This is for anyone.

After Canada turned Grosse-Île near Quebec into a bioweapons lab during World War II specifically for the development of anthrax and the development of anthrax cluster bombs, do you know how the anthrax was disposed of? Is there somewhere where there would be a record of that?

[Peter Hammerschmidt]

Yes. Surely there will be a record of it, and we could dig up those records and provide that information.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Could Canadians independently look up that record and find out for ourselves?

[Peter Hammerschmidt]

I'll ask Mr. Sattar to see if he knows if it's on the inventory.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay.

[Saleem Sattar]

We do have a warfare agent disposal inventory. It is not publicly available. It can be made available, of course.

In the federal contaminated sites inventory, we have a list of 13 sites, all at Suffield, where there's a record of some biological and chemical agents that had been used, but other than that, we're not tracking an inventory per se.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Would that be mustard gas and sarin and VX?

[Saleem Sattar]

I don't know the specific agents. We just know there was a lot of research and testing done at that site over many years.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

What were the findings when the Chrétien-Martin Liberals announced $10 million in funding for a scavenger hunt for chemical munitions that were lost or disposed of after World War II?

[Peter Hammerschmidt]

I'm sorry. I'm unable to answer that question.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Is that ancient history, then? You don't know what that scavenger hunt would have turned up back in those days. Would there be a record of it?

[Peter Hammerschmidt]

There would be.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

How would we find those records?

[Peter Hammerschmidt]

I think we'd just have to try to find them in our archives and provide them.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay.

What, if anything, do you know about the mustard gas munitions dumped in the Baltic Sea after World War II? Are they still injuring fishermen out there?

[Peter Hammerschmidt]

Again, I'm sorry. I don't have the specifics on that.