Natural Resources Committee on March 2nd, 2022

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We'll go back to you, Mr. Maguire, for your last half-minute.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Will any of the $10.3 million in funds go to assessing the benefits of establishing this office?

[John Hannaford]

The intention of the funds in the supplementary estimates is really, as a I say, twofold. There is the creation of the centre of excellence or the elaboration of the centre of excellence, and also some degree of research and development.

This is pursuant to the—

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

I have just a short amount of time here.

With the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act, the government has talked about “Coordinating with allies and partners of the United States, as appropriate, to better assess the nature and extent of unidentified aerial phenomena.”

I believe it would be prudent for Atomic Energy of Canada to proactively reach out to their American counterparts to discuss this legislation and to inquire regarding how they are handling these reports and investigations. Would you be open to reaching out to the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission to start this important conversation?

[John Hannaford]

I will certainly take that under advisement.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

That's the end of the time.

What I'm doing here with the yellow card is giving you a 30-second notice for your time. The red card means your time is up. Don't stop mid-sentence, but wrap up your thoughts. Then we'll move to the next person.

We are now in our second hour of questions with the officials. In this round, everybody gets six minutes.

We'll now go to Ms. Dabrusin, who will have six minutes.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I think it was Ms. Jones.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We'll go to Ms. Jones.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'm really happy to hear the comments and the presentations here today.

There are a couple of things I want to raise. First of all, in the estimates, there have been allocations to look at off-diesel programs in remote and rural communities across Canada. Can you tell me if there's been much uptake on that program, what the interest level is like and whether we are having success in doing those transitions in communities, either partly or wholly?

[John Hannaford]

Thank you very much for the question. This is, obviously, an important part of our overall suite of climate measures, and it is an opportunity to look at a more sustainable set of energy supplies for our northern and remote communities.

The program is currently advancing more than 90 renewable energy and capacity-building projects in 131 communities, 123 of which are indigenous communities. The program has signed 55 agreements in announced projects for British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Thank you.

My next question is about the estimates and the funding we saw allocated for wildfire resilience. We've heard the stories in the news, especially out of western Canada, about how climate change is contributing to wildfires. Can you tell me what that money is actually targeted for and what the intended use of it is?

[John Hannaford]

I might turn to my CFO on the specific funding in this case.

[Shirley Carruthers, Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Management and Services Sector, Chief Financial Officer, Department of Natural Resources]

The funding in the estimates for the wildfires is $2.88 million this fiscal year. The investment is actually $29.3 million over five years. It will support the increased mapping of areas in northern Canada at risk of wildfires and enhance the capacity of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, which is jointly funded in partnership with provinces and territories.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Has that been advancing or is that a completely new initiative that's just getting started?

[John Hannaford]

I'll turn to the Canadian Forest Service to give a bit more of an update on that.

Beth, please go ahead.

[Beth MacNeil, Assistant Deputy Minister, Canadian Forest Service, Department of Natural Resources]

Thank you. It's a good question.

This is money to enhance the mandate of the CIFFC, as we call it in Winnipeg, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Work is under way.

One of those enhancements is a very important program called FireSmart Canada. It will allow us, in Canada, to reduce the risk of fire. It's on the prevention end. The other important piece of work that's under way with this funding is the establishment of an indigenous working group and bringing indigenous knowledge to the table when it comes to risk reduction and prevention for fire.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Thank you. I love that program.

The other piece I saw in the estimates was around funding for the polar continental shelf program. I'm wondering if you can tell me what this is doing. Is it supporting employment, training and new opportunities for indigenous people and northerners? If so, can you provide me with some information on how that's going to work and how they'll be engaged?

[John Hannaford]

Yes. The polar continental shelf program is a long-standing science platform that has facilitated research in a whole range of different areas that pertain to the north, including the effects of climate and issues pertaining to mammals and shoreline in the north. It also includes a specific facility, a hub in Resolute Bay, in Nunavut, and is, as I say, an important convenor with respect to science.

There are specific programs that are part of the overall program that target training of indigenous peoples, so it therefore provides employment opportunities in the north. Obviously the facilities in the north also support local communities, and the specific science that is done attaches particular importance to indigenous-related activities.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

It's building on the existing investments and commitments that were already there.

[John Hannaford]

That's correct, and it is continuing to push ahead with respect to this critical area of science and also with respect to this area that is critical to our sovereignty.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Good. I have another question.

Also in the estimates, there was some funding that was allocated for transition of diesel, specifically for indigenous communities.

Can you tell me how the federal government is working with those communities and those partners to ensure they can reduce the emissions in their area? Are they the people coming forward with this program, or are we outreaching to them in terms of looking at what the options are?

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

We need a very brief response on this as we're out of time, and we need to move to our next person.

[John Hannaford]

I'll turn to Ms. Johnson to respond quickly on the process there.

[Mollie Johnson]

You bet.

These projects are effectively clean energy projects. We have two streams to the program. There is capacity building, where we work with communities so that they are able—it's almost like predevelopment—to prepare for the kinds of clean energy projects we will be building in communities to get off of diesel. The other part is building those projects in partnership with communities.

Those are sort of the two sides of the house as we are trying to work to reduce reliance on diesel but also prepare for the clean energy projects that will be built in communities.