Thank you very much.
I have two points to make to this committee in regard to Bill C-12, one specific and one more general.
The first one pertains to my area of expertise, which is Arctic and strategic studies and Arctic security. That is part 4, the changes to the Oceans Act and specifically to the Coast Guard.
This particular element of the change to the Oceans Act is part of the larger picture of the transformation of the Coast Guard into a much more security-focused agency. It has been moved into the Department of National Defence, and it has been increasingly given more vessels and more activities. One of the functions of Bill C-12 is that it is going to be giving the Coast Guard more elements in terms of security patrols and gathering of security matters.
One of the challenges coming forward is that the Coast Guard is not law enforcement. One of the questions that is going to have to be addressed in the longer term, as more of a security mandate is given to the Coast Guard, is what in fact that means in terms of the individual members of the Coast Guard and what they will have to be doing in that particular context.
The additions that are proposed in Bill C-12 are in fact good, but there is obviously a greater need within the overall holistic understanding of what the transfer of the Coast Guard to DND and this larger security mandate ultimately means.
The second point I would make is with regard to the overall focus of Bill C-12 to secure the borders. One of the elements that many observers have made is the question that then follows: This obviously is securing against specific individuals, and there is the fact that you have within Bill C-12 a focus on the improvements in dealing with particular issues related to the drug trade and other aspects, which raises the question of how then this overall act pertains to the identification and the proactive actions taken against individuals who are violating our borders.
At the highest level, this gets to the issue of the strategic concerns that are now arising in terms of the increasing aggressive actions that we see being taken by Russia, China and Iran, as reported in our defence update and the Canadian Arctic foreign policy.
The question that really arises is how, then, this particular act strengthens, in the overall effort to protect at the strategic and more regional levels—how will it deal with the questions surrounding issues of the increased activities of organized crime and states that are said to be participating in the development of many of these drugs, the precursors and other elements that we are trying to strengthen the borders against.
Ultimately, the question is this: The borders need to be strengthened, but who are they being strengthened against, and how then does this pertain to the administration of the other agencies that are tasked with this job?
Thank you very much.