National Defence committee  I think the training centre will have some staff there during the time when there is training or when the Canadian Forces are going to have students and units up there for Arctic training. I'm not sure the army is intending to have people there 12 months out of the year, though.

National Defence committee  In terms of the science?

National Defence committee  Oh yes, yes. And we provide support as well to some scientific operations, as required.

National Defence committee  I can add to this, if you want me to. One of the issues that the UAVs are facing in the north is the transmission of their information south. Because they are so high up, just because of the latitude and so on, there are some issues. They need relaying stations so that we can h

National Defence committee  Not from Ottawa. We don't directly interact with them. I think that's done more at the operational level--Brigadier General Millar, I think.

National Defence committee  I don't believe that the army will deploy many permanent staff to the far north. We want to improve our operational capability in the far north as needed, but we don't need to deploy 500 or 600 soldiers on a permanent basis. A small group will likely be on site for a few months t

National Defence committee  Exactly.

National Defence committee  Mr. Gardam referred to Operation NANOOK. Most of the time, the coast guard participates in exercises led by our navy. A great deal of work is done as concerns interoperability.

National Defence committee  There are a number of people in academia, obviously, who are looking at that, but from our perspective, the issue of resources in the north and the accessibility and the potential for conflict.... These, again, are mostly international law issues that probably Foreign Affairs, fr

National Defence committee  All countries that have territory in the north make efforts to protect their sovereignty. All countries do so everywhere on their territory. We also do so on the east and west coasts in the same way. There has been new interest in the Arctic due to climate change, whether in Denm

National Defence committee  As Commodore Gardam said earlier, as things develop in the north, needs will have to be reassessed, and that's what we foresee for now. Current projects and initiatives correspond to the needs anticipated for the next 10, 15 or 20 years. Obviously, conditions can change drastical

National Defence committee  Yes, I think so.

National Defence committee  It will be basically during the navigable season, so when there are ships in the Arctic we'll be there to support operations.

National Defence committee  What I mean by that is that countries are trying to determine where the ice will melt first and what would be the best routes to take through the Arctic Ocean. There's the route that goes above the North Pole, which is the transpolar route. If one day, perhaps in 10, 20, 30 or 40

National Defence committee  Predictions concerning retreating ice cover are not always accurate from one year to the next. One of the most difficult things in the Arctic is certainly to predict weather conditions over the coming years.