National Defence committee  Yes, sir. The 1 CRPG resides in the north—north of 60—with one exception. There's a patrol in northern B.C. that's only accessible from the Yukon. So there is one patrol from 1 CRPG that's actually in British Columbia—in Atlin, B.C. It is an army unit. 1 CRPG belongs to the Canadian Army.

National Defence committee  I do know that the Twin Otter life extension project is in process. The Twin Otter is a phenomenal airframe, a phenomenal piece of equipment. It has a secondary search and rescue, or SAR, role. It's primarily for transport in the north, because that's exactly what it was designed for.

National Defence committee  The Arctic offshore patrol ships?

National Defence committee  I believe the construction procurement process is in line with the changing focus of the navy when it comes to maritime patrolling in the north. I don't know a lot about the ship itself. I'm not in that realm, but I do know that it's not an icebreaker. It's ice-capable, which means it will extend the time that the navy can operate in the north from what it now is, with the current maritime coastal defence vessels primarily.

National Defence committee  Thank you. If I may, I will answer in English. The force posture in the north is small, very small when you relate it to the geographic size, but relatively speaking, it is sufficient when you relate it to the population size, the population density. There's a total of 110,000 people in Canada's north, in all three territories combined.

National Defence committee  For vessels?

National Defence committee  As we have seen already in the short term, traffic in the north—adventurers, people with a desire to trek their way to the geographic or the magnetic North Pole—has been increasing over the last few decades as technology has enabled people to be able to conduct such undertakings.

National Defence committee  I would say not, assuming that individuals who do transit through the north have done so from a legal perspective—as they all do—and haven't just shown up. There's rarely a case where no one contacts Canada Border Services before entering sovereign Canadian territory. It is part of our country, including most of the waterways.

National Defence committee  No, there are no threats. We are expecting more activity, but not threats.