Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mostly.

Foreign Affairs committee  No, we're very much independent in our decision-making. Obviously, we have a very close connection to the Government of Canada. I think we're called, technically, a departmental corporation. Our board is entirely from outside government. Our staff are all government employees.

Foreign Affairs committee  I imagine that's how it works. I'm not sure how they come up with the initial list.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll take the first stab at that. In terms of whether our work can contribute to sovereignty, it's a tricky question. It's a good question. I'm one of those who is doubtful that sovereignty is what we should be thinking about in terms of technical, legal meanings. Sovereignty is a very interesting proxy in Canadian policy for a whole range of things, domestic and international.

Foreign Affairs committee  One additional note on that—Dennis would be shocked if I didn't mention it. Of course, the three territorial governments have their own science agendas as well. The Yukon is developing one. The Northwest Territories already has one. When you said Canada, I assumed you meant the Government of Canada, but it's more generic than that.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll kick off on the general side, and then David can wade in here. We do work with a number of international organizations. We'll start with the one David indirectly mentioned with our recent trip to Alaska. We work closely with the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. We had joint meetings in April of last year.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'm Bernie Funston. I'm the chair of the Canadian Polar Commission. I'm very honoured to be here today with our executive director, David Scott. I'm going to say a few words to kick it off and then turn it over to David, who will run you through a presentation on the Canadian Polar Commission and what we've been trying to do with it since this new board was appointed in November 2010.