National Defence committee  As I said, I did not take part in that operation, so I can't comment on it.

National Defence committee  That's right.

National Defence committee  Absolutely. That is what happened in Calgary, in fact.

National Defence committee  I'm not very familiar with that case, but I believe that it is justified when sandbags have to be laid quickly because of flooding. However, arrangements could be made with civilian companies or volunteers to remove the sandbags, even though that can take days, weeks or months. I think that civilian authorities have options other than turning to the Canadian Armed Forces to remove them.

National Defence committee  Sir, I'd just suggest that it would be a great question for Lieutenant-General Parent when he appears before the committee.

National Defence committee  Within the scope of the tri-command, we have about six working groups focused on areas of mutual interest. Communications would be one, for example. Our activities hemispherically, our partnering activities with Mexico, for example, could be another one. One of the working groups is focused on chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear response.

National Defence committee  Sir, I believe the strategic review has been completed. I believe they have provided a report to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense in the U.S., and our Chief of the Defence Staff. That hasn't made its way out as an impact yet to Joint Operations Command.

National Defence committee  Nothing has impacted us yet, although we look with anticipation at the focus on the north that we believe is in the report, and things like the north warning system and what the future of it will be. We look forward to that.

National Defence committee  I can't comment on what happened in Saint-Jean because I was not in this position then. However, the provincial liaison officers were in place long before then, so that is not new. The fact that we respond as a last resort is not new either. For example, this year in Winnipeg, I was in direct contact with public safety officials for several days to ensure that they were responding, not us.

National Defence committee  I believe that the Canadian Armed Forces could be called on to do anything the government asks. I therefore cannot say that the Canadian Forces should or should not be performing such tasks. In fact, the Canadian Armed Forces were needed to provide support to civilian authorities as a last resort.

National Defence committee  Maybe General Loos will have something to add. From a Canadian joint operations perspective, we are monitoring all threats to North America. At this time, we do not consider that the Russian activities along their northern slope constitute a military threat that we need to address.

National Defence committee  I don't have at hand the particular lessons learned from that exercise. I'll search—

National Defence committee  We would be glad to come back to the committee with the lessons learned out of that. I'm afraid I don't have them at hand. Certainly we go through that process every time. It was associated with Operation Nanook . They're available, I'm sure. I would perhaps be venturing if I said something.

National Defence committee  If I can I'll start and then I'll pass it over to General Loos as the commander on location. If I were to summarize the challenges in the north from an operational perspective, logistics would be one of them because of the nature of the north. We treat it very much like an expeditionary operation.

National Defence committee  Thank you very much. From a departmental perspective, we're the Canadian Joint Operations Command and we're provided with assets and resources and capabilities by the army, the navy, and the air force primarily, and sometimes other parts of National Defence like the chief of military personnel, who can provide us with healthcare specialists, for example—our doctors and nurses.