Public Accounts committee  I can speak for the Coast Guard demand. Basically, all the ice coverage information that we receive through RADARSAT, both for us and for the use of industry, is of great quality. If I look back, years ago we used to have black and white TVs versus HDTVs. That's what we're getting.

Public Accounts committee  I cannot comment on that. We're getting our imagery from Environment Canada. They would probably be best to answer that. This is one layer of information. We also have all our ships up north do observation, our helicopters do reconnaissance, and we're starting to use drones more and more as well.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, exactly. It depends on the volume of traffic, the area and so on. That's what a risk-based approach comes from. Basically, we've developed a methodology for search and rescue purposes that we call RAMSARD, risk-based analysis methodology for search and rescue delivery, and we're developing the same methodology for environmental response going forward as well.

Public Accounts committee  As I mentioned earlier, the expansion of the Coast Guard Auxiliary is one step to that, as is the introduction of the Arctic offshore patrol vessels up in the Arctic. That will allow me to deploy ships where they are most needed and make sure that we have proper coverage at the same time.

Public Accounts committee  We have, through OPP 1, renewed all our environmental response equipment, and there will be further investment through OPP 2 as well. We have 19 environmental response caches in the Arctic. We're updating all of the equipment. Also, we're engaging with the community to train them on how to use the equipment, how to report, and how to assess a spill, and we're hiring people on the ground as well.

Public Accounts committee  It was in Cambridge Bay when it was first noticed and reported to us.

Public Accounts committee  As I mentioned, Arctic waters are regulated through the NORDREG regulations. That's a mandatory reporting requirement, a regulation from Transport Canada. Only ships more than 350 gross tonnes have to report. Some smaller ships will report on a voluntary basis for safety purposes, and we encourage that.

Public Accounts committee  No. We have ships in the summertime. When the ice conditions allow ships to transit, we have our ships there as well to support the community resupply and to be there ready for any intervention such as search and rescue or environmental response. So we would have crossed paths at some point, but that's why we have the Inuit monitoring program, exactly for that purpose.

Public Accounts committee  Very little. The Kiwi Roa was the first one that I know of. It's very little. I'd say most of the people are very safety-oriented and will report, explorers and so on. Most of the traffic in the Arctic right now is large vessels greater than 350 tonnes. We have a line of sight on all of them.

Public Accounts committee  The report should be finalized by June, and that will come with an action plan looking forward on how we're going to implement it, basically looking at how the MSOCs are working today and what they could improve on in the future in sharing information and so on.

Public Accounts committee  In June.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  Once we knew the position, through the assets that were in place, we were able to monitor it and follow it. This was its first journey into the Canadian Arctic. We didn't know it was there. The ship isn't required to carry AIS, the automatic identification system, which is what we normally use to track ships in the Arctic.

Public Accounts committee  Thanks for the question. The said vessel is an Australian sailing vessel, the Kiwi Roa. It was, indeed, seen by our Inuit monitoring program, so that proved that it works. The requirement for reporting is done through NORDREG, which is a Transport Canada lead. A ship of the size of that sailing vessel doesn't require reporting.

Public Accounts committee  Thanks for the question. On that last point, we went from nine Coast Guard Auxiliary units up north five or six years ago to 33 as of last year. This is key for us in being able to rely on a community to quickly respond to a local call, as opposed to our having to deploy ships that will have to go hundreds of miles to get to that point, taking them away from the business of supporting the resupply.