Evidence of meeting #40 for National Defence in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vessels.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Commissioner, Arctic Region, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
We have very high confidence.
It's really with regard to some of the smaller yachts and leisure craft that don't have a regulatory requirement to have AIS on board where it's possible that some come in that we, as the Coast Guard, are not aware of, but for larger vessels, we have radar systems, we have AIS tracking and we're very confident in the number of larger ships that are entering the Canadian Arctic.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
The Auditor General has said that our surveillance capacity is insufficient and incomplete.
Assistant Commissioner, Arctic Region, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
My assessment—again, having worked with the Auditor General in developing the report and in reading the recommendations—isn't so much that from a Coast Guard perspective we feel that we don't have the information to do what our mandate requires. I think what the Auditor General is getting at is that there are multiple departments that have a use for maritime information and that this is shared through the MSOC, which is the fusion centre, but there are opportunities for increased collaboration to give a better maritime picture across departments.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
I am going to switch very briefly to Mr. Kirsch, though I would also like you to weigh in on this.
Mr. Kirsch, when you are engaged in a SAR event or activity and you require rescue capacity or assistance beyond what your membership is capable of, what's the typical time for being able to involve Coast Guard or the air force?
President, Civil Air Search and Rescue Association
It depends on where it is.
Conservative
President, Civil Air Search and Rescue Association
We're tasked by JRCC, the joint rescue coordination centre, and in the Arctic it's usually Trenton. We're in constant communication with them. Even up in the Arctic we use satellite phones, and we're able to talk to them and get things happening. The actual rescues would be done by the air force, or possibly by the RCMP as well, depending on the area we're working in or where the incident took place.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
Pick an example, then. Are there some examples of SAR events? The Coast Guard just told us there were 36 last year that they were involved in, if I heard correctly. What would be a possible scenario of a response time in reaction to an event?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
It's a good question. Unfortunately, Mr. Kelly has left you no time to answer it, but I'm sure you'll work it in the next time around.
Mr. Blois, you have six minutes, please.
Liberal
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
I'm going to start with Mr. Kirsch.
What would be the number of incidents per year related to the Arctic that your organization would be responding to? Do you have that number available for the committee?
President, Civil Air Search and Rescue Association
I actually don't have it right in front of me.
Dave is in the Northwest Territories.
Do you have any numbers, Dave?
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Maybe what we can do, Mr. Kirsch, is that you could table that. I think that would be something interesting for the committee members.
Unless you have it, Mr. Taylor...?
Dave Taylor Director, Civil Air Search and Rescue Association
I can tell you that in the Northwest Territories, we respond to between six and twelve requests for humanitarian assistance from the RCMP and, in most years, zero requirements from the air force.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Okay.
With Mr. Kelly and his questions, I think you answered part of what I was wondering about, which is the delineation of when you're actually called. The organization that was mentioned was the JRCC.
Mr. O'Rourke, would you have a sense of how often the good work of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association is involved and how often they are brought in? On a percentage basis, do you have that number?
Assistant Commissioner, Arctic Region, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I don't, no. The JRCC essentially is co-run by the Coast Guard and the Canadian Forces and uses all the different assets that are out there. It's something that we could certainly respond to with data, but I don't have it with me.
Thank you.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. O'Rourke, is the work of CASARA essentially to help identify and then there would be a response from the Coast Guard or the air force as necessary to actually rescue the persons in question? Or is CASARA doing some of that rescue work itself? It seems as though it's more about identification.
Assistant Commissioner, Arctic Region, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
It would be hard for me to comment on exactly what they're doing.
I think the main thing that I would want to delineate is the difference between maritime and other search and rescue. I suspect that a lot of the search and rescue they're involved in is actually land based and therefore not in the purview of the Coast Guard.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Kirsch, do you know what the delineation is of how often you're called?
President, Civil Air Search and Rescue Association
We don't do rescue, so we normally would be doing searches. I'd have to check the numbers to see what percentage of call-outs we get that actually involve a rescue.
In the Arctic and in a lot of other places, we do work for the RCMP all the time, so we are involved in searching for individuals—for hunters, fishermen and that kind of thing—in the Arctic and even in the south.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Kirsch, how big is your organization? You mentioned that it's volunteer driven, with civilian aviators. How many different planes or volunteers would you have at the ready to call as necessary?
President, Civil Air Search and Rescue Association
We have about 1,700 volunteers in Canada. We have several hundred volunteer aircraft that we use across Canada.