National Defence Committee on Oct. 18th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Ms. Mathyssen.

Just as a point of clarification with regard to Ms. Mathyssen's first question about drones, are the drones that you have deployed to Yellowknife operable in the high Arctic?

[LGen Eric Kenny]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.

We're still in the procurement process for the remotely piloted aircraft system. The aircraft, to meet the high-level requirements, has to be able to operate in the Arctic and to be able to operate out of places such as Yellowknife.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Yellowknife is hardly the high Arctic, though. That's what caught my attention. When I say high Arctic, I mean north of 60, at least.

[LGen Eric Kenny]

One of the things we're also working on in space-based capability is having the satellite infrastructure in place to operate in the Arctic. It is a very difficult to have communication as well as surveillance capabilities in the high Arctic. Part of this remotely piloted aircraft system integration is the ability to operate north of 65, in particular with a communications infrastructure in place, and it leads into some of the NORAD modernization announcements on some space-based capabilities that will be delivered in the coming years.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Next is Ms. Kramp-Neuman for five minutes, please.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Perfect. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Just from a question standpoint, is it normal practice to have the chair ask questions during committee?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

No, of course it's not. It's the prerogative of a cranky old chair.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Fair enough.

Thank you for your service to Canada and your sacrifice.

With all due respect, through our lens, we don't have enough pilots, we don't have enough sailors and we don't have enough boots on the ground in general. In your opinion, how is this affecting our general operations?

[LGen Eric Kenny]

I'll start and then I'll defer to my colleagues.

From a Royal Canadian Air Force perspective, and as laid out by the chief of the defence staff, we have a crisis of personnel at this very moment. Our focus is on reconstitution of our forces. Specifically, we're making difficult choices about what we can do for operations.

Within the Royal Canadian Air Force, my focus right now is on the recruitment and basic training of new members we bring into the Canadian Armed Forces and the retention of our most experienced members. Combined, that will allow us to grow our ranks over time, but in the short duration of the coming years, we are consciously looking at what capabilities we're privileging over others to make sure that we are not overstretching our members and in particular the families as we move forward, because that leads into retention, as I mentioned earlier.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Perfect. Thank you.

For many reasons that we could dive into, it's clear that we do have a personnel crisis. One of the issues is that of housing. In relation to our Arctic right now, with regard to the study, how many Canadian Armed Forces members do we currently have stationed in the Arctic, and is there appropriate housing for them? If we want and need to expand our presence in the north, what is the housing and the quality of the housing going to look like on our operational bases?

[LGen Eric Kenny]

I don't have the specific number of members who work in the Arctic or in the territories. I would defer to my colleagues on that. They may have some of those answers.

I will say that one of our main concentrations of forces is within Yellowknife. We have a squadron there, 440 Squadron, that provides Twin Otter capability. That's where Joint Task Force North is located. We also have additional members located in both Inuvik and Iqaluit. There's also the Ranger population up there. Within Yellowknife, there are some housing options that are available to members who live there.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Unless others have the answer to Mrs. Kramp-Neuman's question, if you could undertake to find that out, that would be helpful. I think it's a pretty legitimate question.

Thank you.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

To follow up on that, regarding the personnel crisis with the navy, if 15 Canadian surface combatants were delivered today, how many could our navy fully staff and operate?

[VAdm Angus Topshee]

The fortunate thing is that the design of the Canadian surface combatant actually involves a crew reduction. Right now, the Canadian frigates deploy on operations with a crew of approximately 250. We're anticipating the Canadian surface combatant will have a crew of around 210, so the savings there allow us to continue with the current establishment that we have.

We are, though, very carefully examining our crewing and establishment models to make sure we create a sustainable structure and we are exploring what other navies around the world are doing, so we will not necessarily continue with the same crewing model, in order to maximize our operational effectiveness.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Perfect. Thank you.

The last question is with regard to the Royal Canadian Air Force.

How many fighter pilots are we short today compared to January of 2020? Do we have a ballpark figure?

[LGen Eric Kenny]

Since 2020, the number of fighter pilots has increased by, I want to say, about two, which is actually a big success in fighter pilot strength. What we saw during the pandemic, and it is still being realized, is a slight increase in the number of fighter pilots. If you were to look at the numbers prior to 2020, you saw a decline in the 10 previous years, year over year.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Okay.

If Canada were called upon today to meet NORAD and NATO requirements at full strength simultaneously, do you think we could muster these forces, yes or no?

[LGen Eric Kenny]

From an air force perspective, we prioritize our efforts based on our capacity. That would be a recommendation we would give to the chief of the defence staff.

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Okay, that's fair enough.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Mr. Robillard. You have five minutes.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

How do the Canadian Rangers enhance the CAF's work in the north? Could they be put to better use? Would it be appropriate to improve their capability in the region?

[MGen Conrad Mialkowski]

Thank you for your question.

The Canadian Rangers have three main roles in Canada's Far North.

First, they ensure the CAF's presence in local communities. Second, they work with those communities to strengthen their resilience and capacity in response to certain situations. Third, thanks to their knowledge of the local area and its climate, the Rangers support the CAF in the deployment of patrols in those places.

The Rangers contribute as members of their communities. A typical Canadian Ranger is about 48 years old, works 13 days a year as a Ranger and has 13 years of service.

By supporting their communities in times of hardship and when they require assistance—such as during floods, forest fires and evacuations—the Rangers have a vanguard role in the CAF. They serve as liaisons with other CAF sectors, including the Royal Canadian Air Force, and they take part in ground search and rescue missions. Although search and rescue is the responsibility of communities and is not one of the CAF's official responsibilities, the Rangers often support those missions.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

How does the CAF factor climate change into Arctic security?

What challenges do you foresee? Specifically, which ones will require investments beyond what is currently planned.

[MGen Conrad Mialkowski]

Thank you for your question.

The activities of the Canadian Rangers will not be all that different from what they are today as far as climate change is concerned. We don't anticipate much change in terms of the Rangers' training or equipment. They use their own snowmobiles, boats and all-terrain vehicles. Heavy equipment requirements will stay the same—firearms, survival equipment and such.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Thank you very much.