Thank you, merci, mahsi cho.
It's an honour to be here today to address this committee. My name is Glen Sibbeston. I'm the chief pilot at Trinity Helicopters in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
Trinity Helicopters is an aboriginal-owned business, and I, myself, am a Métis from the Dehcho region. I have spent much of my life in northern Canada. My background includes a nine-year military career as a Sea King pilot, a couple of years as a mechanical engineer in the Northwest Territories, and about 10 years of civil helicopter flying in northern Canada. My most extensive experience is in the Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories, between the Mackenzie Valley and the Yukon border, but I've worked through much of northern Canada.
As a civil helicopter pilot, I have worked for mining companies, energy companies, government land inspectors, geologists, park wardens, and wildlife biologists. Basically anyone who needs intimate access to wilderness areas beyond the transportation infrastructure of Canada finds a need for helicopters.
As a Métis person from Fort Simpson, I was raised with an aboriginal viewpoint but educated in the western tradition. I have what I think is a balanced view of the tension between aboriginal, business, and government concerns. My perspective comes from seeing dozens of exploration projects, from having had hundreds of conversations with people who are trying to accomplish things in northern Canada, and from having had thousands of flight hours over the wilderness.
I have chosen to focus on three issues that I think are key if Canada is to develop its northern natural resources in the most beneficial way. First is transportation into the vast expanse of forest, mountain, and tundra areas of northern Canada; second is making peace and aligning interests with the aboriginal peoples who have occupied these lands; and third is the complex and unpredictable regulatory process that a resource developer must face before being able to turn a stone. These three issues, in my opinion, comprise the most significant barriers to development in the north.
The north is vast. Over one third of Canada's land mass is located north of the 60th parallel. Most of it lacks transportation infrastructure such as roads, rails, airports, and seaports. Even Canadians think of Yellowknife as being a long way north, but from Yellowknife, the north pole is more distant than the Mexican border. The average distance between communities in the Yukon and Northwest Territories is in the order of 200 kilometres. This figure is larger in Nunavut.
Many communities are not served by all-season roads. In fact, most roads end without penetrating very far north of 60 degrees. The most northerly route is the Dempster Highway, which ends at Inuvik, having passed mainly through the Yukon Territory. The Yukon has the best developed road network, the Northwest Territories less so, and Nunavut does not enjoy the benefit of a single highway.
It costs about 10 cents to move a tonne of goods one kilometre by road. This service is fairly reliable and schedules are flexible. At the end of the road, air transport often becomes the best alternative. What does a miner face when exploring past these roads? Costs soar.
If the destination is served by a large runway, that same tonne of goods can be moved by large aircraft for about $2 per kilometre. If a runway is not available, a smaller bush plane becomes necessary and the cost goes up to $10 per kilometre. The worst case is a very rugged destination where a helicopter is necessary. In this case, the cost rises to over $20 per kilometre to move that same tonne of goods. Many a geologist has quipped that rich deposits prefer spectacular scenery, which can be found only at the most remote and rugged locations.
In approximate terms, at locations within 100 kilometres of highways, transportation costs exceed $1,000 per tonne. If you're nearer than 100 kilometres to a highway, you can get your goods to site for less than $1,000 per tonne. Once you pass that line, the cost will tend to go above $1,000 per tonne. And by the time you're approximately 300 kilometres from the nearest road, you're looking at $5,000 per tonne to move your goods to site, and ever more so as you get further away from the road system.
Shipping is available to communities with sea access. Costs per tonne vary from $230 per tonne for Kivalliq communities to $665 per tonne for Kitikmeot communities, and the high Arctic is over $1,000 per tonne.