National Defence committee  There are four different phases of Operation Nanook, and for a full explanation of that I would refer you to our friends from CJOC to give you the in-depth answer. Having had experience with the nature of operations up there, I will say they cover the full realm of operations t

National Defence committee  Absolutely. The Arctic and offshore patrol ship—the Harry DeWolf class—is a critically new capability for the Canadian navy. It's the first time we've had a ship that is capable of going into the ice packs since HMCS Labrador back in the 1950s. We have right now taken delivery of

National Defence committee  It's an excellent question. The reality of climate change is that while there will be times when there are open navigation transits through the Northwest Passage in the height of the summer navigation season, the reality is that climate change actually increases the unpredictabi

National Defence committee  The chief of military personnel is working on a number of different initiatives to make sure we take care of the quality of life for our members and their families across the board. I would defer to her to speak to those in great detail. Many of them are still waiting to go throu

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. We have very strong co-operation when it comes to surveillance in the Arctic. That is thanks to Canada's three maritime security operations centres, where a number of government departments and agencies work together. I'm not convinced that what's m

National Defence committee  We can always improve. For example, we tested a new sonar system, called towed reelable active-passive sonar, a portable underwater sonar system that records passive data. It was deployed on the HMCS Harry DeWolf last year when transiting the Northwest Passage, and it was success

National Defence committee  That's a great question. It depends on what you look at. As far as submarines are concerned, it's Russia, but China currently has the greater surface vessel capability. In terms of ice capability in the Arctic, the two are comparable. We haven't really identified a direct threa

National Defence committee  That's a great policy question. I'm going to leave that one for my counterparts at the department of foreign affairs. I will say, though, that the regulatory protections covering the Arctic Archipelago are very strong, thanks to the Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Services Zone R

National Defence committee  It's an excellent point. We are examining everything that we do in the Canadian navy to make sure that we are conscious of the environmental impact. The system you referred to sounds a lot like sonobuoys. As we look at systems like those, we make sure that it is an expendable. I

National Defence committee  Recoverable is very challenging, given the number that we use. We are always working to make sure that we don't do any harm to marine mammals. There are programs on both coasts right now that are using a series of sensors to detect and track cetaceans in our operating areas to ma

National Defence committee  The Canadian Forces operates an integrated logistics system. If we are short a part on either of Canada's two main naval operating bases, then we will look for that part at either the central depot in Montreal, typically, or on the other coast to make sure we can sustain that ope

National Defence committee  For questions related to search and rescue, I'll defer to my friend from the Canadian Air Force. I will say that the way the navy looks at the Arctic environment is that we treat it as an expeditionary theatre. That means we need to deploy with all of the capabilities that we re

National Defence committee  The fortunate thing is that the design of the Canadian surface combatant actually involves a crew reduction. Right now, the Canadian frigates deploy on operations with a crew of approximately 250. We're anticipating the Canadian surface combatant will have a crew of around 210, s

National Defence committee  Things are always difficult in the Arctic in the winter. There's no daylight, it's extremely cold and everything is covered in ice. Clearly, it's tougher to carry out operations in an environment like that. I do think, however, that our capabilities are comparable to those of our

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. You don't need a nuclear submarine to respond to another nuclear submarine. The first thing you have to be able to do is detect that nuclear submarine. Then, you have a number of options, including calling in the Royal Canadian Air Force. A number of