Fisheries committee  This is from the NCE grant that we receive. I'm not supposed to tell you what the new grant that we have starting in 2011 is, because the official announcement has not been made by the government. But let's say that we--

Fisheries committee  We had $6.4 million in the first seven-year cycle, and out of that $6.4 million we used $2.2 million every year to charter the Amundsen to support ArcticNet's research program.

Fisheries committee  Yes, absolutely. For example, the Amundsen and ArcticNet provided an enormous amount of support for the Canadian program during the International Polar Year, from 2007 to 2008. In particular, two programs were carried out by ArcticNet researchers. One was the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study.

Fisheries committee  Those are some of the many examples.

Fisheries committee  That's an excellent question. The response of the communities varies from one end of the Canadian Arctic to the other. In the Inuvialuit region the people are extremely interested in sustainable economic development and reaping some of the benefits of that for their communities.

Fisheries committee  They do actually want the best of both worlds. We think we can achieve a true exchange of knowledge, both Inuit expertise and southern scientific knowledge. Actually, it is the vision of ArcticNet. It's a Canadian Arctic where, through the exchange of that knowledge, the coordination of the understanding of the environment and what's coming in terms of climate change and modernization, the well-being of Inuit people and northerners in general will be better than what it could have been if we hadn't done that.

Fisheries committee  It's been one of the driving objectives of ArcticNet since the start to improve access for Inuit to post-secondary schooling. We soon realized that to achieve that we needed actually to revamp the K-to-12 schooling system. Now, through those excess revenues that we have with the oil and gas partnerships in the Beaufort Sea, two of the 12 programs that I mentioned are exactly on that, that is, how to rebuild the education program not only for post-secondary, but for the entire education program.

Fisheries committee  For the Arctic?

Fisheries committee  We have the decisions of the National Energy Board to drill or not to drill, which will be based on the best scientific data possible. The other advantage for Canadians is that we have learned a lot from this partnership with the economic world. Our group, ArcticNet, has learned a lot from our industrial partners in this region of the Beaufort Sea.

Fisheries committee  Do you mean, Mr. Donnelly, for the Beaufort Sea and the exploration wells?

Fisheries committee  Yes. For ArcticNet overall, our annual budget from federal sources, from the NCE program, in 2009 and 2010, which are the years when we had partnerships with the oil industry, was $6.4 million. We do leverage about triple that amount every year. I would say that in 2009 and 2010 one-third of the overall budget of about $20 million came from the partnerships with the oil and gas.

Fisheries committee  With the non-profit organizations, no. We have several collaboration partnerships with international programs. For example, in 2009 one of the projects that was included in the schedule of the Amundsen was a project called Malina, which has been funded 100% by France. It is a France-Canada-United States collaboration that used the Amundsen under the aegis or the coordination of ArcticNet.

Fisheries committee  There are so many of them, but the main research question for ArcticNet is we have divided the maritime Arctic of Canada into four regions, and for each of these regions we're trying to project what the situation is going to be in 5, 10, 25 years and to assess the strategies that we need to develop and the decisions that need to be taken to minimize the impacts of climate change and modernization on each of these regions and to maximize the benefits of climate change or modernization in each of these regions.

Fisheries committee  The broader picture is very easy. The Arctic world is changing dramatically, much faster than predicted by most models, for example those used by the IPCC to predict the future climate. Also, the transformation of the Inuit world, independent of climate change, is extremely brutal, I would say.

Fisheries committee  Quite accurately. I would perhaps correct you on a few points. Under our mandate and those of all the networks of centres of excellence, we must very clearly try to associate with the private sector in order to develop a strategic research sector for Canada. Consequently, there is nothing blameworthy about our association with the private sector.