Evidence of meeting #87 for Science and Research in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was north.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:45 a.m.
Adjunct Professor, University of Waterloo, Polytechnique Montréal and CSMC, As an Individual
There is a bit of a chasm between policy and reality. We see people in the north who are essentially hampered. They're handicapped by the fact that the ice is melting, and it's pretty hard to get things done.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
I have a very short period of time. I'm looking for concrete recommendations.
The question was this: Do you support a recommendation for the government to place a greater emphasis on concrete adaptation strategies in its official Arctic and northern strategy?
11:45 a.m.
Adjunct Professor, University of Waterloo, Polytechnique Montréal and CSMC, As an Individual
I would say no, because we need to ensure that we reduce the amount of soot and methane in the Arctic. That's what's going to get our goose at the end of the day.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
What you're saying is that the government should ignore the feedback of stakeholders who are saying that they need the government to adapt things like housing and indigenous hunting to climate change and that we should focus on emissions reduction in an area that doesn't produce a lot of emissions. Is that your recommendation?
11:50 a.m.
Adjunct Professor, University of Waterloo, Polytechnique Montréal and CSMC, As an Individual
Yes, because, for example, in Northwest Territories last summer, because of the wildfires, we had to empty the entire territory. Everybody left.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Just to be clear, though, it seems a little crazy to me that we wouldn't be supporting adaptation to climate change given that people live there.
11:50 a.m.
Adjunct Professor, University of Waterloo, Polytechnique Montréal and CSMC, As an Individual
Adaptation is very low-cost. The villages are very small. One of the adaptations—
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Would the other two witnesses like to jump in on this?
11:50 a.m.
Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University, As an Individual
It's an interesting question. Where I work in the Dehcho region, things are happening so quickly that it's all hands on deck, and there's always a willingness to partner with any organization. I think sometimes the challenge is the large number of organizations. There's a federal territorial government, a regional Dehcho government and a local government.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
What I'm getting at is that it's very clear that people who live in the north said they need help adapting to climate change—
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
—yet our strategy doesn't address that is all. Now I have some academics in front of me who don't live in the north objectively telling me that perhaps we should override the advice of people who live in the north to look at adaptation strategies. I'm not saying to get rid of mitigation strategies. It just seems to me that we should be helping people to figure out how to live there more effectively with climate change. However, I'm being told no. That seems weird to me.
11:50 a.m.
Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University, As an Individual
Well, I'm not saying no. If I understood your question, it was whether the federal government should develop adaptation strategies. These need to be co-developed with local communities, to be clear, and I think we're developing the science and knowledge simultaneously—
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Then the recommendation would be that the government should support or place a greater emphasis on co-developing adaptation strategies to address climate change and the challenges of living in a region where climate change very much impacts the dwellers who live there. Would that be a recommendation any of you would support?
11:50 a.m.
Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University, As an Individual
From my perspective, that would be well received by the communities I work with.
11:50 a.m.
Adjunct Professor, University of Waterloo, Polytechnique Montréal and CSMC, As an Individual
So do I, but the question you asked at the beginning is whether it's one or the other. I'm saying that both need to be there.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
It wasn't. Perhaps you misheard, but I'm happy to send you the transcript.
Thank you.
11:50 a.m.
Adjunct Professor, University of Waterloo, Polytechnique Montréal and CSMC, As an Individual
Maybe I misheard. That would be great. I'm looking forward to it.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here.
I'd like to start off with Dr. Derocher.
You mentioned in your testimony the logistics that are needed, and the hub-and-spoke model potentially. I'm wondering where CHARS might play a role. I understand it was set up in Cambridge Bay in 2019, and it was turned over to Polar Knowledge Canada in 2023, I believe. Could that organization increase capacity if we were paying the right attention to it?
11:50 a.m.
Prof. Andrew Derocher
One of the challenges with CHARS—I was involved in some of the earlier consultations about this—is that most of us did not advocate for a single location in the Canadian Arctic. The scale is just too large. We accepted that a hub was useful. Most of us actually recommended Resolute for the hub because it existed with the polar continental shelf based there. Then a series of smaller stations would be established in the communities, run by the communities, where researchers could more easily integrate with those communities. I've worked a lot in these communities. It's challenging to even find housing in small places like Ulukhaktok. It's hard for researchers to get in there and find a place to stay.
Going forward, CHARS exists. It's excellent. However, it would not have been my choice for a high Arctic station. It's mid-Arctic by my standards. Again, it's establishing new research, whereas it really doesn't facilitate much of the long-term research that's going on in many other parts of the Arctic, such as Bylot Island with researchers from Laval. It's very distant. While it's useful, it needs to be replicated on a smaller scale across the Arctic.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
In terms of our study, to understand the network, I went up to Eureka and we refuelled in Cambridge Bay. I would say it's a pass-through to other locations as well. What you're saying is it's also important to look at what we already have in Resolute.
11:55 a.m.
Prof. Andrew Derocher
Yes, resolute, for sure, but I would say there are other communities. Igloolik already has a base of operations for wildlife researchers and other researchers there. There are many places across the Arctic. Where I'm working right now is sort of subarctic, out of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, which is an excellent facility but very underfunded.
We have some kernels to work from, but we really do not support the diversity of researchers. It is a dwindling community as well. I think if we build it, they will come, but we also have to have the support to get there.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you.
I'd like to go to Dr. Boudreault on the handover of the management of CHARS to Polar Knowledge Canada.
Do you have any comments? I believe you were on the board.
