Foreign Affairs committee  We do our best to stay on top of new information that is being produced. But as Mr. Funston has noted, it is rather overwhelming, given the relatively small size of our staff. We have essentially two and a half folks working on the full range of things we do.

Foreign Affairs committee  I first must apologize for the current state of the website. I would say it has suffered over the past four or five years and is now nowhere near as up to date as I expect it to be. We're doing our very best to revitalize that. The Conference Board is one of the players that co

Foreign Affairs committee  On a more operational level, through bilateral dialogue that we've had over the past seven months, we have identified a number of areas where we, as independent commissions, can better coordinate work of various scientific organizations. In Canada, obviously, there's the academic

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for raising that. It gives me an opportunity to emphasize one of the pieces of our outward communication strategy, and that's very much focused on kids who live in the north. Curriculum, of course, is a territorial jurisdiction, but we absolutely recognize the need to

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for the opportunity. We're very proud of the fact that we now have a northern presence. Once again, we are mandated to do so, and for a number of years we were not in compliance with that mandate. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs did put funding on the table for u

Foreign Affairs committee  “David” is fine.

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely, yes. There are mobility challenges in both polar regions. Certainly, the climate in the north in the summer is much more favourable to doing Arctic field work than it is in the southern summer. I think there are a number of challenges. Access is certainly one of the

Foreign Affairs committee  I would simply add that on a research and knowledge creation front, international collaboration is one way to leverage in knowledge from around the world. When it undertakes investigations in northern Canada, Canada's rules and regulations are followed, the territorial science pe

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. In a little bit more detail, much of what we do is attempt to coordinate and encourage new partnerships to emerge. We work with federal agencies domestically to try to ensure that what Natural Resources is doing is perhaps more closely partnered with what Environment Canada

Foreign Affairs committee  I think an expression of that is the current science blueprint of the Canadian High Arctic Research Station. It's in its nascent phase, as I'm sure you're aware. There is a feasibility study that broadly outlines the thematic areas of research the government will pursue through t

Foreign Affairs committee  The short answer is yes. Those elements are covered not only in the High Arctic Research Station science blueprint, but also by some of the line departments, such as Environment Canada.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, honourable members, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for the opportunity to provide some background information on the Canadian Polar Commission. There are just a small number of slides—I believe you all have a paper copy. We'll quickly walk through it, to