Mr. Chairman, we have in the last year entered into an internal exercise with respect to the north that includes a northern operation out of Yellowknife. We have various entities that come under that command throughout the northern areas, such as our Canadian Rangers.
Our Canadian Rangers will be our eyes and ears in the north and in much of the remote areas. We will expand that operation, as we are indeed expanding the junior ranger program which helps young people become involved with something that is very valuable for them in terms of development of life skills.
Those programs will be increased. We will also establish more exercises in the north. We have two naval ships that we will be sending up there this summer as part of an exploration of the passage areas. Ultimately, yes, we will address this question of the Northwest Passage. We are likely to see that passage opening for shipping in a few years with the effects of climate change, perhaps 10 or 15 years. We must be prepared for that possibility and what that means in terms of sovereignty and environmental conditions. These are matters that we are quite cognizant about. We are continuing to address them.
At the present time we are looking at the organizational structure of the northern command and subsequently how it relates to our most northern areas will have to be fully addressed.